<p>Richard, don't feel uncomfortable about it. You are, in fact, hispanic. Seven Nights has asked that you consider not the definition of the word but what people consider it to mean. Well, my guess is that you asked some random people what "hispanic" means, they'd say, "Like, a Spanish person," which is a partially correct (yet stupid) answer.</p>
<p>Seven Nights also warns you that if the adcoms think you're lying, you're in for a surprise. The truth is that if they think you're lying, they're incorrect; if they bring it up to you (which they won't), you can easily say that you weren't sure if it applied to you (which you weren't) and so you checked a dictionary (which you did). No lying involved. Saying that a hispanic person is either from Central or South America is just plain factually incorrect, especially since there are plenty of people from said places who aren't hispanic at all.</p>
<p>I'm tired and probably rambling, but all I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't worry at all.</p>
<p>I don't know. Spanish is very different from Hispanic. Spanish is European, and Hispanic is not considered so. I do think putting Hispanic on your application would be dishonest. The best thing for you to do would be to not say anything at all. They will see your name and assume you are hispanic, without you having to lie at all. "Spanish" is clearly not what they mean by "Hispanic."</p>
<p>i agree with dtown. Youre unsure nature of the situation, tied with the fact that Spanish people are oftentimes considered hispanic, and oftentimes not, frees you from any blame of malfeasance. I mean actually im pretty sure Spanish is hispanic, but just to address the situation, the issue is tricky enough that you can say "oh, well i wasn't sure, cuz im sort of hispanic" if it turns out spanish isnt hispanic. But i doubt thatll even come up, because even if the adcoms check into whether you actually are hispanic (which i doubt anyway), im sure theyll say "oh, spanish....yeah thats fine" rather than cause a ruckus and get people angry and question people's heritage. I say go for it.</p>
<p>The exact same discussion was on another thread I began. My friend's grandfather is from Spain and she put Hispanic on her Harvard apps. My suggestion? Don't do it.</p>
<p>"the US Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean a person of Latin American descent (including persons of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin) living in the US who may be of any race or ethnic group (white, black, Asian, etc.)"</p>
<p>taken directly from the CIA World Factbook under the section entitled "People" and the subsection "Ethnic groups"</p>
<p>Earlier Seven Nights claimed that "the word hispanic comes from the word hispanola which was an island in the carribean." On the contrary, the origin of the name of said island and that of the word Hispanic are the exact same. The island of Hispaniola was named as such because it was "discovered" by the Spanish, whose country in Latin was called Hispania (it was even on their coins). Today people who are Spanish can be espa</p>
<p>I take back the last part of what I said, since I've now come across multiple instances in which Brazil wasn't included, and Seven Nights has another instance in which the Spanish aren't included. (Don't want to just edit it in case people have already read it.)</p>
<p>dtown: earlier I had attempted to explain analytically the definition and origin of the word Hispanic, however, everyone on this forum starting arguing about the semantics of the word Hispanic. Faced with an obvious lack of 1) credibility and 2) sources for my claims, I searched for answers. I wanted to find out what the US GOVERNMENT defined a "Hispanics" as. After a few searches here and there, I found my initial assumptions to be true.</p>
<p>If you want to debate on the pure semantics of the issue then by all means I would love to debate you. I don't shy away from debates, but the substance of your argument at this point is digressing from the praxis of this thread.</p>
<p>Your claim that the Census Bureau counts a Hispanic whose family comes from a Spanish speaking country is flawed because you cannot site a single, credible source to confirm your claim. This is uniquely important because the debate is uniquely centered on what the exact definition of the word Hispanic is. If we all simply began to define race according to our own definitions then we could theoretically call ourselves anything. Its an infinitely regressive argument.</p>
<p>Examples usually help: I'm applying to Yale RD this year and will check Hispanic. I was born in Washington, D.C., my father is American for all intents and purposes, my mother is Argentine. I have been taking Spanish for 13 years, and have lived in Costa Rica, but if someone saw me on the street I doubt they would think I am Hispanic. </p>
<p>I also felt guilty about checking the box because before the application process I never really thought of myself as Hispanic because I grew up in the US with tons of American friends, but my counselor encouraged me to check it because, as has been established, it gives you another edge. IMO, I would check the box as long as you are more than (or exactly) half Hispanic. However, if you are applying to a selective program such as Huntsman at Penn, and you need to prove your fluency in your language, obviously don't check it since you speak French...</p>
<p>at this point i really feel that this debate will never end. their are opinions and evidence on both sides of the issue to satisfy critics and supporters alike. even if we were spend 10 pages discussing this issue then we still probably wouldn't be any closer to resolution.</p>
<p>if richard wants to put hispanic down then he can by all means. i have come to the conclusion that this thread has really highlighted an important part of the admissions process, the definition of ethnicity and or race.</p>
<p>Seven Nights, if you really have a problem with it, why don't you just call up Yale and report Richard Espinosa, considering he was dumb enough to list so much personal info in addition to stating his intent to be dishonest by acknowledging that he's multi-racial. Still, he still wants to put down hispanic for an "edge," although he is in fact 0% hispanic according to the US Census Bureau and the Merriam-Webster dictionary.</p>
<p>I mean, I wouldn't blame you. He's *****ing with YOU and your future. Infinite regression, huh? Someone has been watching Planet of the Apes.</p>
<p>To continue discussing the Census Bureau, I would point to <a href="http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Hispanic%20%28U.S.%20Census%29%5B/url%5D">http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Hispanic%20%28U.S.%20Census%29</a>
(which seems like a reasonably credible source to me). Here it notes that "For the 2000 census the Census Bureau considers race to be separate from Hispanic origin." According to that, someone who the Census Bureau considers to be Hispanic isn't necessarily of that race. Still, I can't really say that disproves your argument at all. I agree with you that neither of us is going to find evidence to convince the other.</p>
<p>I can argue, however, with your point that we can't just define race according to our own definitions. It has a lot to do with comfort level (as run4fun's post would show). A friend of mine who's a couple years older than I am is from Argentina. Being from Argentina, Spanish was his first language. However, while he is Hispanic by nationality, he is not of Hispanic ethnicity: he is Italian. So when he had to fill out college applications, he said he was white, since it asks for ethnicity. His brother, on the other hand, was older when they moved from Argentina, and therefore felt that he was more Hispanic than anything, having spent longer in that culture; his applications had him down as his race being Hispanic, although he is not.</p>
<p>Deep down maybe we can just hope that some school is randomly reading this thread right now and thinking, "Hey, maybe we /should/ clear that up."</p>
<p>The application itself has "Other Hispanic" as one of the options and asks for the country of origin, and I could just put Spain. And then if they don't consider Spanish to be Hispanic or an underrepresented minority, I guess they could just disregard it if they'd like.</p>
<p>And, Seven Nights, may I suggest you take a deep breath and relax? It was a casual question; no need to make it into an ideological hullabaloo. ;)</p>
<p>ivyleaguechamp: i have stated that I at this point no longer care. if he wants to say he is Hispanic the he can by all means. this issue doesnt concern me at all but the candidate. moreover, i will not call Yale and turn him in. i am not a sore loser nor do I turn people in. thats the job of other people not me. I, however, was concerned about the larger issue, the definition of Hispanic. this discussion has no longer become academic in nature, but just infinitely regressive.</p>
<p>the term "Infinitely regression" comes from debate. its a term commonly used to refer to an argument that will produce no offensive ground for the debater in contrast to an opposing argument (most people define it as a mute point). i have never watched Planet of the Apes btw.</p>
<p>one of the guys said that infinite regression was the only way to time-travel. well what the hell does all this race ******** mean anyway? is there a clearcut amount of time that your family has to spend in a country before you are considered part of that country? people are contantly moving around and no one's blood is "pure." i guess it just comes down to how you look, physically. there can be a guy in china with 80% mongolian blood but his faimly has been there for 8 generations and he doesnt even know, but he considers himself chinese right?</p>
<p>richard: do whatever you want. the decision shouldn't be made by us CC'ers or this thread. if deep down inside you feel Hispanic then say so. I honestly dont care what ethnicity you state. it doesn't concern us CC'ers (including myself), but YOU!</p>
<p>what I am concerned about and what I have said on multiple posts on this thread is the larger picture. the debate about what the exact definition of Hispanic is.</p>
<p>and like dtown and others (including myself have said) we need clarification on this issue of ethnicity because there seems to be multiple definitions of Hispanic. i just want to find uniformity and clarity on this issue.</p>
<p>That's not very fair. These kinds of issues are very imporant to people. And given this context, "ideological hullabaloo" might be anything but.</p>
<p>Anyway, putting "Spain" seems like a good choice.</p>
<p>This thread reminds me of my problem with putting Black/African-American (it's not really a problem), but both of my parents are Nigerian, so I'm Nigerian too (obviously). I wasn't born there, so.... nevemrind just thought I'd say something..</p>
<p>ummmm i seriously dont find ANYTHING wrong with whoever it is putting Spanish as hispanic. Honestly, this will not cause anyone to be like prosecuted. At very best, he/she will get their edge, and its not like theyre lying. At worst, Yale might be skeptical, but then say "oh, spanish descent...eh, whatever." Nothing bad will come of anything, so it's absolutely no big deal if he/she puts hispanic. Jeeeez</p>