<p>If forced to put race on a college app, which would you choose: the race of "higher percentage" OR the race of slightly "lower percentage" (still at least 25%) that you fit in slightly more. Select "other"? What about if one of these races is URM and the other is ORM? Would you feel guilty ignoring one to get URM status?</p>
<p>Anyone can post here but, please, no stupid AA debates or "you're just selling out because you want an easier admission" comments.</p>
<p>You should mark the group with which you identify. </p>
<p>I know that's not as simple as it sounds since once can identify with different groups at different times. My mother is Japanese and my father white. My daughter's mother is black, so she's 1/2 black, 1/4 asian, and 1/4 white. Most people consider her black; her self-identity sometimes is black, sometimes is multi-racial. I don't think there's anything wrong or dishonest about a racial identity that fluctuates in these circumstances. If you're multi-racial, you know what I mean. Identity is a composite of what you know is your heritage and what others perceive you to be.</p>
<p>As far as percentages, race is a social construct, not biological (e.g., one-drop rule to be considered black in the US) so those percentages are meaningless.</p>
<p>I'd put it this way: colleges are looking for racial diversity. Do your life experiences as a member of a particular racial group give you unique insight that will contribute to the life of the college and the experience of your college peers? If yes, then marking that group is valid.</p>
<p>hkstrpd--
I am African-American, my H is Anglo-Australian, and as the mother of a mixed race child, I must say your post is the most coherent, thoughtful, sensible and appropriate description/explanation of multi-racial identity I have read on CC (and many other places!)
Many thanks.</p>
<p>I'm half hispanic, half caucasian. I don't identify more with one than the other, but I've always marked "hispanic" because once when I was a kid, filling out some form, I asked my mom and that's what she told me to put. I know this is kind of a cop out answer, but it's true.</p>
<p>This is really old news from my vantage point, mixed raced blacks have always been considered blacks in the African American community but with a variation on the theme. This is just my humble opinion.</p>
<p>It may depend on how they ask the question. The Common Application says, "If you wish to be identified with a particular ethnic group, please check all that apply." They leave you free to check more than one block, or to check "other" and explain in a very short space. </p>
<p>I'm white; my wife is African American. My children (both of whom are quite young) are racially ambiguous in appearance.</p>
<p>The other day, they were playing a computer game that allowed them to chose digitized images of themselves from various drop-down menus. I was fascinated to observe that skin they chose for their digital selves is much darker than their actual skin.</p>
<p>Sometimes racial identity is something other people try to impose on you. My son's second grade teacher informed my wife one day that our son has a "great sense of rhythm." My wife replied that "he gets that from his father, he used to be a professional musician." The teacher then said, "oh, no, I'm sure he gets a lot of it from you."</p>
<p>Maybe there's a clue there. There are a lot of people out there who want to fit people into neat little boxes; my children may be responding to that in some sense.</p>
<p>But the good thing about the Common Application is that it's you, and not the rest of the world, that gets to decide how you "wish to be identified." If you're most comfortable in one box, so be it. If you're more comfortable in two or three, or in "other," the choice is literally in your hands.</p>
<p>Nowadays, it refers to the people of Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas. Historically, it referred to Spaniards. Latino is the proper term for someone from Latin America, although the term Hispanic is used for all.</p>
<p>Hispanic people can be Caucasian/white, black, Asian, or indigenous to the Americas.</p>
<p>i know most "native americans" aren't 100%. Perhaps 1/8 or 1/16, and usually people just put that down b/c putting anything else may hurt them</p>
<p>b/c come to think of it, a lot of African Americans have some caucasion blood in them (just the matter of more or less), but historically, if there's some african blood, they count it as African American.
(If anyone ever read Mark Twain's Pudd'n head Wilson, they many know what I'm referring to)</p>
<p>so even if someone is half white half black, in most cases they'd identify them selves as black (historically), i dont know if that's the case nowadays...but putting black down definitely beats putting white down (if u dont want to put down both)</p>
<p>I always put Hispanic, even though I am under half Hispanic. I'll be honest, I'm using the system, but who gives a crap. You can tell me moral reasons why I shouldn't do it, but I wouldn't waste your time. </p>
<p>OP do what ever you want, if you want to increase your chances then go with the part of you that colleges will like the most.</p>
<p>lol, think about it.
if your father's asian and mother's native American, you'll probably have a asian last name.
So it's not impossible to have an asian last name while you're native American (there are few 100% native Americans in the USA anyway)</p>