<p>lets say this kid is asian. the entire family is asian per se. and this kid was in a hispanic country, lived there for like 14 years and then came to the U.S.</p>
<p>I say it would make a really interesting essay, but wouldn’t make you any more hispanic than going on vacation in Cancun…</p>
<p>An interesting question…at what point in time does one ‘become’ Hispanic? Race (blood) is not the issue, as Hispanic is an ethnic category and Hispanics can be of any race. How about Alberto Fujimori, past president of Peru? </p>
<p>If “the kid” is 17ish now and spent 14 years in a Hispanic country before immigrating to the US, were they born in that country or somewhere else? Do they associate with their Hispanic culture? </p>
<p>In a sense all of these questions are immaterial, as the truth of the matter is that college admissions follow the guidelines of the US Census, which is if someone self-identifies as Hispanic, then that is what they will be considered. That said, if you do not really identify as being Hispanic, I wouldn’t recommend doing so for college admissions, because it could boomerang on you if adcoms think that you are lying to game the system. But if you do consider yourself Hispanic, I wouldn’t hesitate to check that box, adcoms do understand that Hispanics cover a very wide range of experiences and races. If you’re going to mark Hispanic, you might consider including other examples of your ethnic identity beyond checking the box, via ECs, essays, etc.</p>
<p>Please read post #1 of the sticky thread on this forum, it answers your question:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/641650-hispanic-latino-defined-aka-am-i-hispanic.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/641650-hispanic-latino-defined-aka-am-i-hispanic.html</a></p>
<p>i forgot to say that this kid was indeed born in a hispanic country and he does like the hispanic culture, and if by putting himself as hispanic will get him more scholarships, then he would do it if possible.</p>
<p>also, he wasn’t aware if he could put hispanic or not, so when he took state tests, psat, sats , he wrote down non-hispanic. if he was to say hispanic on other things, would that be a problem? </p>
<p>please separate the answers so that i don’t get confused as to which question you are answering.</p>
<p>It definitely would have been better if the ‘kid’ had been consistent in indicating his ethnicity, but this does not preclude him from marking Hispanic on college applications. As far as scholarships, organizations sometimes do ask the HS GC for verification of ethnicity (eg. NHRP). Assuming the ‘kid’ has not been marking Hispanic on school records either, then he or his parents need to be able to explain their situation to the GC.</p>
<p>I can’t predict whether it would be a ‘problem’ or not, that really depends on the ‘kid’, what his situation is and how he presents it. In other words, if the ‘kid’ is honest about his Hispanic ethnicity, then I see no reason why he shouldn’t indicate it on college applications.</p>
<p>I know of a student who was in a very similar situation. One parent was from India, the other a non-hispanic from the States, and the student was born in Puerto Rico and lived her entire pre-college life there. Bi-lingual in Spanish and English. In her college applications she self-identified as hispanic but went on to explain her background more thoroughly elsewhere in the common app so that the colleges could make their own decisions about how they wanted to classify her. She had no problems from the colleges. I think the thing is to be honest; colleges know many people don’t fit nicely into the boxes the application provides.</p>
<p>I think it’s irresponsible for people to mark their ethnicity based on what’s convenient or what will get them the most money. If he truly identified as Hispanic, he would have marked everything as such from the beginning. To say he is Hispanic [when he isn’t biologically] only when there’s a real incentive just seems like lying to me.</p>
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<p>True</p>
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<p>Unless they did not understand the difference between ethnicity and race and assumed that since they are Asian racially that they were not considered Hispanic in the US. Most people believe this way, I should know because I have explained this so many times on this forum. Take a look at all of the ‘am I Hispanic?’ type threads on this forum, look at post #2, look at the part of your sentence that I cite below.</p>
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<p>Once again, race is a biological concept, Hispanic is not. You inherit being Hispanic only in the sense that your parents or ancestors pass the culture down to you, it is not part of your blood or genes.</p>
<p>One more time, from the US Census bureau:</p>
<p>[Persons</a> of Hispanic or Latino origin, percent, 2000](<a href=“http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_68188.htm]Persons”>http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_68188.htm)</p>
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<p>As sunmachine and I have said, it is honesty that is the key.</p>
<p>You’re not Hispanic, dude.</p>
<p>^^Please read the sticky thread about how Hispanic is defined for college admissions purposes. When you do, you will understand that your comment is unfounded.</p>
<p>Old thread, closing.</p>