<p>ok, here's the deal: im a mixed person (hence my sn), and i decided to apply as African American because it is what is on my birth certificate and it is the ethnicity that i have always identified myself as and blah blah blah...and it wouldn't be an issue except the thing is i have a lot of ecs that relate to being Native American (im a member of the Native American rights fund, have volunteered at both the Native American Museums in Washington DC and New York, and have be involved in helping to conduct a Native American genealogy study, volunteered at pow-wows.. blah blah) so is that going to look sketchy if i don't list Native American as my ethnicity? I've also been involved in the program to raise money for MLK's monument in DC...so is Harvard just going to get confused?</p>
<p>You can mark more than one ethnicity. I would mark both African American as well as Native American.</p>
<p>Only mark Native American if you can prove your tribal affiliation.</p>
<p>you could just check off mixed and then write in African American and Native American (if you are affiliated with an actual tribe). However, if you aren't affiliated with a tribe, then only mark off African American.</p>
<p>Wait, are you actually native american or not? From skimming your post, I wasn't sure...but it seems to me I read something on par with, "I was born White, but if I did a lot of EC's on African-American related things and studies, is it sketchy to not put down African-American as my race?"</p>
<p>yeah i am actually native american...im a little more than a fourth...the thing is that i don't think my family ever lived on a reservation...they were like coal/steel miners and stuff....kinda complicated to try to explain (lots of people are like that where i'm from) and so i contacted the census bureau office in the town my family is from so i can get birth certificates...which hopefully have the ethnicity listed, and then i'll be able to get the certificate of the degree of indian blood. either way it will be fine. im not putting it down just to look good for college applications. im already African American, so i don't have to lie. i just wanted to show that all my Native American-related activites had to do with my interest in my heritage and my understanding of where i come from, and that they didn't just come out of nowhere. but there are other ways to do that. i'll just talk about some of the restoration projects i've done or something.</p>
<p>There is an additional information part of the application ... you can certainly clarify there.</p>
<p>What about birracial or multiracial categories? I've heard they exist...never looked at an actual application before but I'm assuming there is one.</p>
<p>oh yeah I forgot about the additional information section, thanks twinmom! i'll see if i can get the proof on my own but if not i guess i'll just explain.</p>
<p>If you can get proof, I would just mark down that you are AA and Native American.</p>
<p>But if you can't, then the additional information section may be a good spot, or seeing if something relating to your heritage would fit in with your essay. There are a lot of ways to make your heritage known, whether it be through your ECs (which are wonderful, btw) or another portion of your application.</p>
<p>In my observation, students who are involved in cultural ECs outside their own ethnic background are more the rule than the exception at H.</p>
<p>^ ^ I totally agree with GaDad. It's wonderful to see.</p>
<p>Uh, just a side note: being Indian (Native American Indian) is probably the best minority when applying to colleges. Truth is, they <em>do</em> make it easier for URM to get in than for whites and ORMs, and Native Americans are cut the most, in general, slack of any race.</p>
<p>I remember reading a while back that Harvard doesn't check for proof of tribal affiliation. Did they ever change this?</p>
<p>thanks for the advice, you guys. i've got the paperwork going through so hopefully i'll have that certificate soon.
yeah, i read that article about them not checking too and i thought that was weird considering that supposed to be this coveted advantage. whatevs. do you guys think i should send them a copy of the certificate anyway?</p>
<p>The fact that it is considered a "coveted advantage" is probably why they don't check in the first place. They want to make it seem like ethnicity doesn't give the applicant an advantage. But it doesn't hurt to send in your certificate anyways. I know someone who sent a copy of their tribal id card when they applied.</p>