<p>^Perhaps we could start with anecodotal evidence. Has anyone ever known or heard of a candidate who identified themselves as an URM, who scored a 2400, and who was rejected by Harvard. I just did a search of CC and saw a handful of 2400 rejects or rumored rejects but all were ORMs. </p>
<p>Given that all applicants to Harvard are reviewed at the same time, how would it be possible for a URM to rejected for “the simple reason that the entering class of the college has already been filled by other applicants”?</p>
<p>^I’m all for affirmative action but I certainly understand the gripes people have against it. It doesn’t advance the ball forward by pretending that colleges don’t actively look for URMs that they believe will succeed in their schools and that a URM with a 2400 just might not be accepted at a top school for whatever reason. Not only would they be accepted they would be actively recruited.</p>
<p>Hi,
I am half Tunisian and half Spanish. Both parts of my heritage are strange because technically I am Hispanic and I am African-American, but I don’t really look African-American and I don’t really look Hispanic (in the sense that the average American would know). What should I write on the ethnicity box on SAT and College Admissions apps?</p>
<p>No. Tunisian people are ordinarily categorized as “white” people, as people from North Africa generally are. </p>
<p>The federal definitions for the race categories used in college applications are quoted in one of the FAQ posts near the beginning of this long thread, into which your question was merged. </p>
<p>This Hispanic or Latino category is an ethnicity category, which can fit a person of any race. Ordinarily, a person from Spain would be considered to have Hispanic ethnicity. </p>
<p>Correct. But doesn’t this fact merely invite the opportunity to falsely label oneself as a member of a race that will confer admission advantages?</p>
<p>I think AA is such a big deal to some people because Ivy Leagues care about diversity, and people are obsessed with Ivy Leagues here.
Average to slightly above average colleges may not care as much.
For example, my friend is Latino and he’s a pretty good student. 3.3-3.4 gpa, good EC’s, and AP classes. He got rejected from Northeastern, which is surprising to me, since I assumed his race would at least get him in if nothing else.
His sister is an Honors student and good all-around and got rejected from Umass Amherst.
However, his older brother only had a 3.6 gpa and did not care that much about academics, but got into Harvard. His essay was basically complaining about being discriminated against as a hispanic.</p>
<p>My pal (class of 2013) is an URM who got a 34 on the ACT. Sure, not a perfect score, but very very good. He was rejected from every Ivy he applied to. He was a mostly A (with a few B’s) student, and the god of our track team lol (a high jump freak). Volunteered at hospital, participated in all sorts of youth organizations, the whole nine yards. Oh, and I read his essay; it was great imo. So though race is a factor, I’m not sure how important it is.</p>
<p>Oh, on the bright side he got a full ride + tons of cash from 3rd party scholarships to go to a pretty good school, so it all worked out.</p>
<p>It would be wonderful if our thinking on this subject could be informed by more than speculation and anecdotes, but for now that is what most applicants have to go on as they plan where and how to apply. All any one applicant can do is read the rules about how to fill out the optional ethnicity and race questionnaire (one possibility is not to fill it out at all), and then apply to various colleges to see what happens.</p>
<p>Hello, I was born in a Hispanic country but my entire family is Asian. I am soon going to apply for college, and I hear that ethnicity plays a big role in college admissions. Some of the schools I’m planning on applying to have a large Asian community and so it might be more competitive to apply as an Asian; is it possible for me to apply as a person of Hispanic heritage? After all, I was born and raised in a Hispanic country.</p>
<p>If you are talking about the current President, the correct country is Indonesia. President Obama has never, as far as I have been able to research, revealed how he filled out his college application race questions. </p>
<p>To the OP, of this new merged thread, </p>
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</p>
<p>you have no doubt that you are Asian, but you wonder whether or not you are Hispanic. You are Hispanic if </p>
<p>You evidently have “country of birth” covered, and “People who identify their origin as Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino may be of any race,” so that’s a start. It’s not clear to me, and it might not be to a college, what else about your background connects you to Hispanic heritage, but that’s the factual question that is specific to your own life. Just think ahead about what you have to add to the college environment that reflects your unique cultural heritage, and you can answer the ethnicity and race questions accordingly. </p>
<p>It is also possible to decline to answer the race and ethnicity questions–they are optional. </p>