<p>I believe the cut-off is at 1/8th.</p>
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<p>What I never see in threads where this issue comes up is a link to any specific college statement on the issue. I can well believe that different colleges treat the issue differently, but I can’t find many (any?) statements by colleges about how they generally go about looking at American Indian or Alaska Native applicants. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any links at hand?</p>
<p>I heard that 1/16th was the cutoff. Do you know where I can find each school’s policy on that?</p>
<p>^ Yes, please, if anyone has links to a college statement on how the college defines (or verifies) applicant membership in the American Indian or Alaska Native race category, I would be glad to hear about it.</p>
<p>^
An example from [Central</a> Washington University:Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium](<a href=“http://www.cwu.edu/~scholar/outside/alaskanativetribalhealthconsortium.html]Central”>http://www.cwu.edu/~scholar/outside/alaskanativetribalhealthconsortium.html):</p>
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<p>^ Thanks. That’s a very interesting set of scholarship requirements for health sciences majors. </p>
<p>I haven’t seen a similarly detailed example of requirements for recognition in that race category as part of a general national university or national liberal arts college undergraduate admission process.</p>
<p>Providing your grandmothers Tribal ID is hardly sufficient. As far as I know there is not official cut off point as to when you are and are not considered Native American any longer. What does matter is whether you are officially enrolled to the tribe yourself. That proves that you are of sufficient decent to call yourself Native American. In the section of the Commonapp about Ethnicity one is asked to provide ones Tribal enrollment number if one checks off the box for Native American. Now most Native Americans will know what their number is, unlike many who just like to claim to be Native American for the sake of getting a hook.
If you are member of a federally recognized tribe from birth your Tribal enrollment number is supposed to be sufficient evidence of your heritage… </p>
<p>As to whether it is a good thing that Native Americans might be treated more favorably when applying to college… well as I am 50% Native American myself I must admit I am terribly biased as I do want to get into a good school too…</p>
<p>^ This leads to the question of what various tribes do to decide how they issue tribal enrollment numbers.</p>
<p>Well I can’t speak for all tribes, but I can speak for mine and I can only assume that most tribes have similar procedures… Normally one is enrolled shortly after birth, like in my case, my parents took me to our tribal headquarters in Oklahoma, with my birth certificate and my parents identification. Since my father is a full blooded member all that was needed was proof that I was his daughter and the membership was issued. I have some paperwork documenting that (although I have no idea where I put it lol) and so I got an enrollment number… If one wants membership in a tribe one has to prove the actually decent, I don’t know where the cut off is as to how native american one has to be in order to be considered one, but I have heard mention of DNA testing… I know that most tribes don’t just hand out memberships… especially not if the person is older, because one is supposed to be enrolled shortly after birth…</p>
<p>I believe most tribes will only issue you a tribal identification card/number if you have a certain amount of tribal heritage.</p>
<p>Well yeah, but where the cut off is, is a but unclear… but I would imagine it being at 50%, maybe 25% but I somehow doubt that a little. All the people that I know that actually have tribal identification are either 100% or 50% native american, so proving that they are native american has never really been an issue.</p>
<p>^ There is a [post</a> upthread](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064117836-post81.html]post”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064117836-post81.html) about DNA tests for showing American Indian or Alaska Native genetic ancestry (the science of which is not fully validated). There is a separate issue of tribal affiliation or community attachment, which is part of the federal definition of membership in that race category. By the federal definition, one could have plenty of genes but NOT be an American Indian if one had no tribal affiliation or community attachment. Or one could have few genes (by Mendelian genetics, possibly even NO genes) from American Indian ancestors and yet be part of the community and formally affiliated with the tribe. I’m curious about what the official tribal channels say about who is an American Indian, as well as about what colleges do (or don’t do) to check for any basis of claiming American Indian race. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone still waiting for admission news from this application cycle, and to all of you who will be applying next year.</p>
<p>A rather strange (and long!) article about historic admissions practices at HYP. More specifically H.
[gladwell</a> dot com - getting in](<a href=“http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_10_10_a_admissions.html]gladwell”>http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_10_10_a_admissions.html)</p>
<p>^ The review of Karabel’s book by Malcolm Gladwell gets submitted to most iterations of this FAQ and discussion thread. It is an interesting glimpse of history, a history that still influences current events.</p>
<p>News story about proposal to designate new federally recognized ethnic group (which I think will go nowhere): </p>
<p>[Declare</a> ‘Confederate Southern American’ on Census forms, group says | ajc.com](<a href=“http://www.ajc.com/news/declare-confederate-southern-american-405738.html]Declare”>http://www.ajc.com/news/declare-confederate-southern-american-405738.html)</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>tokenadult, on a related note, what do you think about the [declare</a> ‘Taiwanese’ on the 2010 Census movement](<a href=“http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_14782898]declare”>http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_14782898)?</p>
<p>^ Taiwanese people certainly have a distinct national identity, because of different historical experience, from ethnic Han people whose families have long lived in the mainland region of China, just as English-descended Americans have a distinct national identity from Britons. We filled out our Census form accordingly, and I have one child whose United States passport says “Taiwan” as his place of birth, despite his mother (who was born in the same city) having a United States passport that says “China” as her place of birth.</p>
<p>There may be a [new</a> Supreme Court case](<a href=“Obama Administration Enters Affirmative-Action Fray - WSJ”>Obama Administration Enters Affirmative-Action Fray - WSJ) on racial preferences in the making. It’s not there yet, but I’d be surprised if four Justices didn’t want to put it on the docket should it get there.</p>
<p>My daughter is white, her best friend since 2nd grade is black. My daughter’s GPA and standardized test scores were significantly higher than her friends. Yet, her friend was accepted at into at least one school that wait-listed my daughter, and for each of the schools they applied to, they both got in. Although she is black, my daughter’s friend is wealthier than we are, so her acceptance into a less expensive state school was not compassionate. My husband and I are liberal, and have devoted our careers to helping minorities. I had to deal with some self contempt for feeling angry knowing that my daughter saw her friend, a less able student, succeed where she didn’t based on race. However, the fact remains that life is unfair, and often it is the minority or impoverished child that suffers. My daughter still has many fine colleges to choose from, and we are fortunate.</p>
<p>I don’t think Taiwanese Aborigines should be considered Asian, they aren’t even Asian in origin, they’re Poly(?)/Mela(?)/Micro(?)nesian.</p>
<p>Also, what would Negritos be considered? Many have their origins in mainland Southeast Asia, not on any island.</p>
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<p>Numbers certainly aren’t everything. And also, why can’t you be happy for your daughter’s friend? I mean, think about it, she’s been with your daughter (presumably, seeing as how they’ve been friends for a decade) through thick and thin, and assuredly supported your daughter, so why can’t you just be happy for her?</p>