<p>Out of millions of kids who apply to college, you can’t use this singular example that you know of as some sort of “evidence” that race was the determining factor. I know white kids who were admitted to colleges that rejected other white kids with higher stats. </p>
<p>In your case, maybe the “white rank 2” was a personality-less, grade grind who wrote a mediocre essay. Admissions decisions aren’t driven strictly by a bunch of numbers. Remember, HYP could flll every freshman class with HS valedictorians. The Princeton adcom told me that to my face. So, why don’t they? Why do some white kids get into HYP with LESS than perfect stats or HS rank?</p>
<p>^ Agreed that this or that anecdote is not the way to gauge what influence race has as an admission factor. Anecdotes are tied up in their facts, and usually not all of the relevant facts are reported. </p>
<p>What do you think about the idea that all of our fellow human beings might be better off if we get farther away from dividing up humankind into arbitrary “race” categories? That’s more my public policy concern with regard to any practice of considering race for any purpose.</p>
<p>If I my grandmother on my mother’s side is part Caucasian but I have an Asian last name from my father’s side; what would I be able to put myself down as?</p>
<p>^ You could leave the boxes blank; anyone has that right under federal law. </p>
<p>Or you could indicate “one or more” of the race categories that fit you, if more than one fits you–that is, as few as one or as many as all of them, depending on what fits the facts. Presumably, you would mark as the only category, if you were to mark only one category, the category that fits you best (if one category fits you better than any other). </p>
<p>What do you think? See the first post of this FAQ thread for examples of the questions that are asked, and links out to the federal regulations.</p>
<p>If I left the ethnicity section on the common app blank, would it be assumed I’m white or Asian? I have a Spanish-sounding last name, but I’m Asian. At the interview, though, they might see me, but do you think the interviewer would make comments on my race if I left it blank? Could the Spanish-sounding last name potentially lead to them thinking I’m hispanic/latino?</p>
<p>^trying to “game” the system is never a good idea. I personally don’t think race should ever be taken into consideration but leaving that aside, I think you CAN leave it blank. </p>
<p>Read this… Its long but if you have a question, you can always PM tokenadult.</p>
<p>I imagine they’ll assume you’re white or Asian. Many Filipinos have Asian sounding last names (so I’m assuming you’re Filipino), and I find it hard to believe colleges aren’t aware of that.</p>
<p>What did you check on the SAT? If you have the scores but don’t list National Hispanic Scholar that might also be a give away. So would taking basic Spanish or not reporting it as a language you speak. What are your parent’s fist names? Does your HS have a hispanic population? Do you play piano and have a high math score? Just a few thoughts on how hard it is for them not to have a pretty good idea.</p>
<p>if you dont wanna put it, then dont put it. it really doesnt matter.</p>
<p>i didnt put it on any of my applications just because i dont like the idea of asking about ethnicity in general, though in my case it was obvious that im asian because of my last name and the fact that my parents were both born in china (which the commonapp asks about).</p>
<p>so in your case dont put it. it seems like you dont want to put it. but its not gonna help you at all -_-</p>
<p>I see you were referred to this thread before your question was merged in here. </p>
<p>Colleges don’t necessarily assume anything about your ethnicity if you don’t self-report it. The federal law is that college students are permitted not to answer questions about ethnicity (which colleges must ask, by the same federal law). [Many</a> colleges admit quite a few students reported as "race/ethnicity unknown,](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064853385-post4.html]Many”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064853385-post4.html) so this is not an unfamiliar situation to colleges, and apparently not invariably off-putting either.</p>
<p>So, would an Asain person ever be a URM? (By the way, when I first encounted that acronym, I thought “Unaccompanied Refugee Minor”?)</p>
<p>The US Census splits that racial category into factions. And in the “Asian” category, there’s a huge difference in educational achievement between the Chinese decent (almost 1/2 with college degrees according to the 2000 census) and those in the Lao/Cambodian/Hmong category (less than 1/2 with a high school diploma). </p>
<p>Would a Lao/Cambodian/Hmong kid ever be a URM?</p>
<p>Good luck in your applications. As I write in the first post each time this FAQ thread is posted, “Don’t worry about it. Self-identify or not as you wish. You are always free to self-identify with humankind as a whole by not self-identifying with any narrower subset of humankind. Recognize that students from a variety of ethnic groups–including whatever group or groups you would identify with, if any–are admitted to each of your favorite colleges each year. On the other hand, admission to some colleges (e.g., Yale or Amherst) is just plain competitive, so lots of outstanding students self-identified with each ethnic group you can imagine (or not self-identified with any group) are not admitted each year. Do your best on your application, apply to a safety, and relax.”</p>
<p>Is it an edge to be Asian and be more interested in political science, history, and economics? That’s pretty much me. I want to apply as a political science major to all my schools and I was just wondering, does this give me an edge? I don’t care if it does or doesn’t but it’s something that’s kind of kept me occupied.</p>
<p>i know a chinese girl, not that interesting, 9th in class (9th in class at my school usually goes to penn state, unc, tulane, etc level schools) got into columbia. major? philosophy. i think that’s why she got in.</p>
<p>if you showed passion for history/politics (just like every CCer reiterates haha), you’ll be good.</p>
<p>That’s an ethnic group. Race is a social construct. I (as a black American) share more ancestral ties and cultural characteristics with white Americans than I do with black Nigerians. </p>
<p>tb0mb93: Why are you assuming that their admissions decisions had anything to do with their race? Did you read their applications and interview the admissions panel?</p>
<p>Redroses: Not speaking Spanish or taking basic Spanish…? Seriously? There are a lot of Hispanic people who do not speak Spanish and are not National Hispanic Scholars, particularly since PSAT scores and not SAT scores are what determines that.</p>
<p>I doubt it. Schools that are trying to promote ethnic diversity don’t care so much about your major, and a lot of people change their majors anyway after their first year. But I’m not convinced that being Asian is going to disadvantage you in the process anyway, given that Asians are overrepresented at most universities. (I.E., if they were disadvantaged in the process, then they wouldn’t be overrepresented.)</p>