<p>The point is that a URM is what the college in question thinks it is, and no college that I know of is going to consider a person of Greekness to be a URM.</p>
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[quote]
Here's the problem...Greeks are Caucasians, so it's not really accurate to check "other" even if you also write in "Greek." Even though you're not being untruthful, you will look silly. The thing to do is to emphasize elsewhere in your application what been Greek means to you. Are you involved in Greek cultural activities? Do you speak Greek at home? Are you interested in Greek history and literature? All of that could be interesting to adcoms. The mere fact that you are of Greek origin is pretty meaningless.
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<p>Considering that race itself has no biological basis whatsoever, I find it odd that you use the word “accurate” to describe the race box.</p>
<p>Moreover, I disagree that OP will look silly. He’s not lying, and if it’s “pretty meaningless,” then it’s not going to hurt him, now will it?</p>
<p>Well, fabrizio, you don't think he'll look silly, and I do. Which of us thinks more like an adcom? Why take that risk for something pointless?
And while I agree with you on the biological basis of race, if "Caucasian" is defined to include Greeks, it is not accurate for a Greek to say he is something "other" than Caucasian. It would be like a Japanese person saying he is something "other" than Asian.</p>
<p>Doesn't the box actually say choose what you IDENTIFY with?</p>
<p>Here we have a student who society (now) deems as white. For whatever reason, he wishes to check Other and write Greek. He is not lying. Moreover, he is not being smart-alecky (c.f. checking Other and writing in Your Mother).</p>
<p>What's "silly" about that? I've routinely heard Filipinos and Indians claiming that they don't consider themselves Asians; they prefer checking Other and writing in Filipino and Indian, respectively. Why is the OP not allowed to do the same?</p>
<p>I agree with Hunt. An applicant does look silly if he does that. I understand that there may be controversy over what is defined as Caucasian, but the whole idea of different races is flawed (for proof, just attempt to define the different races for me), and the chances are that the adcoms don't care about diversity, but they don't want the campus to appear homogeneous. Therefore, being Greek is of little practical advantage to the OP. If adcoms really wanted true diversity, then they would filter by religion, nationality, ethnicity, hobbies, etc. Can you imagine how ridiculous that would be? ("No, we already have three tennis players...REJECT!"). That is not to say that if you are really involved in Greek culture not to highlight that as part of your life in your application, but just being Greek...nobody cares. At least, for AA, proponents cite studies that show african-americans are hired less than caucasian. There is no evidence that there is actual, modern discrimination against Greeks.</p>
<p>Edit: Just saw the latest post.</p>
<p>The OP IS allowed to do that. It's just that Hunt and I consider it to be frivolous and of no advantage in the admissions process. I doubt that the Asian who checked Other and wrote in Indian didn't have an advantage against those that didn't.</p>
<p>I think a Greek who checks other would give the impression that he doesn't know what a Caucasian is.</p>
<p>First of all, look up the actual application form used by each college. </p>
<p>Second, no, Greek-American persons are not underrepresented in American higher education. That was widely reported in the press when Michael Dukakis ran for President. I've not heard of any college that identifies Greek-Americans as a recruited "URM" group.</p>
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[quote]
Here we have a student who society (now) deems as white. For whatever reason, he wishes to check Other and write Greek. He is not lying. Moreover, he is not being smart-alecky (c.f. checking Other and writing in Your Mother).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What's silly about that is that it looks as silly as checking Other and writing in French.</p>
<p>"Second, no, Greek-American persons are not underrepresented in American higher education. " - most likely they are over represented.</p>
<p><<Tokenadult: "Quote:
The difference is that white, anglo-saxon protestants (Norwegians, Swedish, French, etc.) did not experience discrimination, whereas Mediterranean ethnicities (Greeks, Italians) did.</p>
<p>Where are you learning your history?"</p>
<p>I assume from the tone of your comment that you are being sarcastic and not asking for a source. I thought it was common knowledge that people of Mediterranean descent experienced more discrimination than white, anglo-saxon protestants. As I said before, some of what I've learned was from a PBS special on race. Some I have heard from relatives of Italian descent.>></p>
<p>Swedes, Norwegians, the French and most other Europeans are not "Anglo-Saxon." It appears that many do not understand the difference between a "WASP" and a person of Northern or Western European descent. A WASP is a person of ENGLISH descent. (And that does not include the Scots, Welsh, or Irish.) As a matter of fact, people of French descent HAVE experienced significant discrimination in the US--check out the history of French Canadians in New England. I don't know if one could say that Swedes and Norwegians have ever been discriminated against--although if you read Sinclair Lewis, for example, you'll find people talking about "dumb Swedes"--but as non-English-speaking immigrants they did not participate in the early established power structure, which was generally dominated by WASPs until some other ethnic groups managed to establish themselves in some locales, such as the Irish in Boston.</p>