Are Filipinos considered Asian or Pacific Islander on the Common Application?
Asian.
While each college will classify as it sees fit, a common definition of Pacific Islander is:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130405075415/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_RHI525211.htm
No AO is going to debate the semantics that the Philippines is an island-nation located in the Pacific.
I believe Filipinos are considered Asian. According to this website (https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-rtq26.html), “Filipinos are classified as Asian on Census Bureau forms…”
The common application specifically excludes PI from the Pacific Islander category. In the Asian sub category it is listed there.
Also, I thought it was related to American territories.
Again, that gets into how a college classifies (and for what purpose) versus, as an example, a census definition. A college may want to have a category comprised on descendants of the indigenous people of the US. The US includes the 50 states plus DC as well as several overseas territories. So the indigenous peoples would include Native Americans/Native Alaskans/Native Hawaiians, and also Chamorros and Samoans from American Samoa (but not the country of Samoa). The broader census definition (which some colleges may or may not follow) would also include Fijians, Chuukese, etc.
The Common App, as @privatebanker correctly stated, specifically excludes the Philippines. However, it does allow the applicant to write-in a non_US territory option. The exact question on the CA is:
Anyway, bottom line, there’s no organization in the US that would include Filipinos as Pacific Islanders.
Not all places where Pacific Islander people originate from are US territories. Examples that are not US territories:
Fiji
Kiribati
New Zealand (indigenous Maori people)
Independent State of Samoa (distinct from American Samoa)
Solomon Islands
Tahiti (and other parts of French Polynesia)
Tonga
Tuvalu
Also most pacific islanders have tribal registry. I am Tahitian and I submitted my tribal papers to prove it.
The common app follows the Census definitions. And Census has been reviewing how they will categorize for 2020. I don’t think anyone expects them to change Filipino to Pacific Islander. You can check later this year.