<p>Ok so I have a problem I am 1/4 Portuguese (my grandfather comes from the azores), 1/4 Japanese and caucasian. I put Hispanic (specifying Portugal as my country of origin), Asian and Caucasian on the Common App. I asked my grandfather AND my guidance counselor, who both said Portuguese was considered Hispanic. I recently read some posts saying Portugal is by no means considered a Hispanic country; is this true? I'm so worried; I don't want the colleges to think I was lying, because I didn't mean to! Help!</p>
<p>While I've seen definitions of Hispanic that include Brazilians, I don't know of any that include ancestors from Portugal. See this thread:</p>
<p>I believe Hispanic is (technically) anything where Spanish is spoken. </p>
<p>
[quote]
The terms Hispanic and Latino tend to be used interchangeably in the United States for people with origins in Spanish–speaking countries
[/quote]
Wikipedia (not the best source, but it does the job.)</p>
<p>I'm half Venezuelan so I would have put Hispanic down (I didn't fill the race out, though)</p>
<p>^^^See the link I posted above. NHRP includes Brazilians (who speak Portuguese) in their definition of Hispanic.</p>
<p>You can be any race and be Hispanic/Latino which is an ethnic category. Next year there will be a 2 tier question, first Hispanic/non-Hispanic, and then any race(s) that apply.</p>
<p>Being Portuguese from Portugal is not considered Hispanic/Latino, as Spain is not considered Hispanic/Latino either. Countries considered Hispanic/Latino are those in Latin America (Central/South America) and of course, those in the Carribean- Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Portugal and Spain are considered to be Caucasian/European.</p>
<p>Hispanic means Spanish speaking. This definitely includes Spain.</p>
<p>^^^correct. ashley, please read the link that I gave in post #2 for the definitions used by colleges and the NHRP.</p>
<p>There are US federal governmental institutions that explicitly include people of Portuguese cultures as “Hispanic”, such as the US Dept of Transportation and the US Dept of Small Business Administration. The US Census lets people from Brazil or Portugal self-identify as Hispanic if they wish. As far as schools, there are some that clearly identify students or applicants of Portuguese-speaking descent, particularly Brazilians, as Latinos, and others that explicitly designate and consider people of any Portuguese-descent as “minority” candidates, such as Brown University. In practice, most schools see enough cultural affinities between the Spanish and the Portuguese-speakers to accept the latter as “Hispanic” or “Latinos”. Perhaps that’s why there has long been a precedent in the country’s universities to combine the departments of Spanish and Portuguese Studies.</p>
<p>US Census definition as given in the link in post #2:</p>
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</p>
<p>While Brazilians sometimes are defined as Hispanic (NHRP) and sometimes are not (CA), I have not seen any Hispanic definitions for college admissions that include strictly Portuguese descent (not via Brazil). vannman, if you have evidence to the contrary, please post it, this is definitely a ‘gray’ area in the Hispanic definition, so any relevant information would be helpful.</p>
<p>As always, if a candidate identifies as Hispanic, they should indicate it for admissions purposes and let the colleges decide what they want to do. As with any demographic group, individual colleges have their own broad or narrow definition and degree of importance they place on these qualities.</p>