Mistaken ethnicity?

Paying for College
1

I recently received a scholarship for “minority students” from my first choice university. I however am 100% white and confused on why I got this money. I know I can’t take the money but I am worried if I bring it to their attention they will think I lied on my
app. I clearly listed white on my common app, but it’s possible I mistakenly checked the wrong bubble on a standardized test. Any advice or has this happened to anyone else?

2

That is odd. They may be using “minority” to refer to more than just race? You should be honest with them since I would guess they primarily base your race off of the common app and not some AP or SAT type test.

3

This happened to me the other day, a college sent me an email the other day about a minority scholarship. I made sure to email them about the mistake since I am not actually a minority. The college probably just mixed up something along the way, I don’t think it would be anything you did wrong.

Another thing to consider is where you are located geographically. Apparently some geographic locations are considered minorities, but don’t take my word on that. I haven’t actually researched it, that is just what my school’s librarian told me. He said that his siblings got scholarships from being Appalachian part of Ohio.

4

Just contact the school, and let them know you think there has been an error as you are not a minority student. They will appreciate your honesty.

5

I’ve seen some other threads with similar situations before. It’s usually an email mixup or a computer glitch on their part.

6

Are you the first in your family to go to college?

7

Minority doesn’t always refer solely to race. Is your sex underrepresented at the school or major? Are you low income? Are you a first generation student?

8

There are dozens of possible explanations . . . but @thumper1 had the right answer: @shane55u should contact the school and ask if there’s been a mistake. If there hasn’t been, they’ll tell him and he won’t need to worry about it anymore. And if there has been, they will appreciate his honesty. No one will blame it on him.