Hello,
I am a little bit stuck at the race/ethnicity questions on both the Common App and University of California App. Both of my parents are Chinese, but I was born in Italy and grew up there. I am an Italian citizen and I have always felt Italian. Therefore, I felt a bit thrown off with the race question. Plus, I don’t want my Chinese heritage to hurt my chances of getting into a college. What should I do?I really want college admissioners to know that I am not just asian.
You are not required to answer the race/ethnicity questions. The ones you see are the ones colleges are required to include under federal (US) law. In fact they are typically verbatim the same questions in the same order as they appear in the applicable federal regulation. No college will vary the questions from the regulation to allow you to do something different because the college’s objective is to avoid any question on race or ethnicity that the government couold assert is not in complicance with federal law or a student could assert demonstrates prejudice by the university. If you want the college to know of your Italian upbringing and citizenship, that is something you could mention in an essay.
UC’s do not use race as a consideration.
@drusba is it correct then if I select white and asian on the Common App?
if both parents are Chinese, are you white?
From the Census, which is often a guiide:
White – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
Asian – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including…
I’d seriously suggest you find a way to indicate the Italian experience in another, more effective way. If you’re international and applying from Italy, or your academic records are from an Italian school, it’s obvious. But you might think about a way to elaborate on this. It does sound like an uncommon perspective you’d bring. As said, the UCs don’t consider race.
Hispanic is the only category that has geographic/linguistic criteria. All the other categories are purely racial.
Unless your parents are Caucasian, then u aren’t white.
Your race is Chinese, but you can indicate Italian as your nationality. Are you a US citizen, too, or are you applying as an international? That has its own set of challenges.
@austinmshauri his race would be Asian*
I agree. Talk about your Italian background in an essay, and that will help make you stand out.
@austinmshauri No, I am applying as an international
@lookingforward should I then put Asian race or leave it blank on Common App?
It won’t matter.