<p>If you're white, would it be more beneficial to include your ethnicity or leave it blank? Would not putting your ethnicity boost you're chances?</p>
<p>It’s neutral.</p>
<p>And think about your question: why wouldn’t EVERYONE who is white or Asian leave it blank if it conferred an advantage?</p>
<p>Put it down. White is neutral and might even help. Only Asian is ‘rumored/theorized’ to ‘possibly’ hurt chances at ‘some’ colleges.</p>
<p>Lol just wondering, but do you think it would be better to leave it blank if you were an Asian?</p>
<p>@Zonlicht: Yeah, maybe in Virginia Tech</p>
<p>I’m quarter white and I put mine as white!</p>
<p>Leaving it blank makes no sense. Colleges look to add students who have certain knowledge and experiences that are underrepresented in their college. Whether it’s the knowledge and experience that comes with being a star wide receiver, or the knowledge and experience that comes with knowing how to play the bassoon, or the knowledge and experience that comes with being an African American, Latino or Native American in this country. </p>
<p>They aren’t going to give you credit for having that knowledge or experience, unless you are able to tell them (honestly) that you have it. Not putting your race in hopes that they’ll guess that you might be AA or Latino or NA is like not putting that you play basketball in hopes that they’ll recruit you for crew, or not putting that you play violin in hopes that they’ll recruit you for bassoon.</p>
<p>CuriousJane: this person is white and feels that being “common” might be a disadvantage.</p>
<p>Bumppppppp</p>
<p>Why bump? Looking for a different answer? You’ve gotten a wide swath of opinion. Do what you see fit.</p>
<p>T26E4: I get what they are asking, but clearly didn’t do a good job of articulating my point. Colleges aren’t saying “Ewww yuck, white people, we don’t want those”. If they were they wouldn’t be majority white. What they are saying, when they get an applicant who is an URM, “here is someone who offers something that is missing from our community”. It’s no different than them deciding they want more students for the orchestra, or to fill vacancies on the football team. </p>
<p>If you leave the race off they aren’t going to look at it and say “Oh maybe they’re Native American we better accept them”. They know that the majority of applicants who don’t specify race are white, just like the majority who do specify are (exception if you’re applying to Howard or other HBCU). For a college to offer you admissions benefits related to race they need to know your race. Just like leaving the “sports played” box blank isn’t going to lead to the football coach recruiting you. </p>
<p>I’m not arguing the admissions preference, just stating what seems clear, which is that you won’t get admissions preference for being “undecided” when it comes to race.</p>