"Race" in College Admission FAQ & Discussion 9

Applying to College
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<p>^ You can always use the narrative parts of your application to explain any details about your background that may be of interest to college admission committees. As long as you fit the federal definitions, you have the option of “choose one or more” race categories (or choosing none at all) and you have the option of choosing the “Hispanic” ethnicity category if it fits you. If you think something important about your background will not be apparent from the usual checkboxes on the application form, you can write about that at more length in the free-form parts of the application. It’s up to you as an applicant to figure out what your most appealing characteristics might be to each college to which you apply. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications.</p>

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<p>Some colleges are stricter about the tribal enrollment than others; mostly schools in areas with larger NA populations. (Do SA tribes even have a similar registration or confirmation process?) Demographics Q1 asks, “Are you Hispanic/Latino?” And, “If yes, pplease describe your background.” You could use this to note your tribal connection.</p>

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<p>My son recently filed his common application, and refused to check the box giving his “race”. (he is white)</p>

<p>The application says the “race” section is optional. However, I fear that doing this might somehow harm his application. </p>

<p>I am a republican, so this sounds like something I might do, but he is a liberal. He didn’t do it because he is against affirmative action, because in fact, he is in favor of affirmative action. (not exactly sure why he did it)</p>

<p>My fear is that his behavior is not “politically correct”, and might draw the displeasure of admissions offices, who seem to value such information.</p>

<p>Any thoughts???</p>

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<p>Ummm…I have a feeling you have already been to the race FAQ…I think there is a new one…be right back.</p>

<p>I’m back!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1235538-race-college-admission-faq-discussion-9-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1235538-race-college-admission-faq-discussion-9-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Versions 1-8 are “fun” too, but you might want to stick to the first few posts for the “facts”.</p>

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<p>Hi, it looks you opened up a new thread, which another volunteer moderator merged into this FAQ thread. Yes, as Shrinkrap kindly already replied, the first few posts here are meant to lay out FAQs about what the federal regulations are on the subject, and what the college practices are insofar as those practices show up in general statistics reported to the federal government. </p>

<p>Your concern, in your words, is that an applicant treating the questions labeled as optional genuinely as optional (and thus left unanswered) might perhaps “harm” an application. To the best of my knowledge, there is not a set of definitive data on whether or not leaving the questions unanswered reduces probability of admission compared to answering the questions. But there is an abundance of data, more than 1 million individual cases, that show if a student leaves the questions blank a student can still be admitted to college. There are more than 1 million college students today who are reported to the federal government as “race unknown.” A few hundred of those (more than 10 percent of the enrolled undergraduates) attend Harvard University. If there is harm in not answering the questions, it is a harm that can be overcome by other features of the application. </p>

<p>As your post mentioned, there may be a whole variety of reasons–including sheer inadvertence–why a student might not mark the questions about ethnicity and race. Colleges seem pretty used to dealing with that situation and appear to follow the federal regulations in simply reporting such students as “race unknown” in the mandatory reporting they do to the federal government. Colleges are required by law to ask, but students are not required to tell. Hundreds of thousands of applicants each year decline to tell, and still get into college. </p>

<p>Good luck to your son in his application process.</p>

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<p>Btw, the term “race” is no longer used on the CA. It’s “identity.” Part of this may come from the fact that the old notion of different races is in dispute.</p>

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<p>The Common Application </p>

<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2012/2012AppFY_download.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2012/2012AppFY_download.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>has a demographic section that is optional information. The latest version of the form includes the usual federal questions, indeed not labeling them as pertaining to “races,” but the language and format of that part of the form comes straight from the federal regulations from previous admission seasons.</p>

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<p>Lame, I thought being Middle Eastern would give me an edge :(</p>

<p>Do colleges care (read: like) it if you were born out of the country (Pakistan for me) and moved to the states as a child?</p>

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<p>Since skin color doesn’t matter (duh), and everyone is equal, why are we not all judged equally on college admissions? It is generally well-known that if you are a underrepresented minority applying to college, your chances of getting accepted are exponentially higher. Why is race included? Shouldn’t the best candidates be getting accepted to universities, regardless of race? I would imagine that many, many a “majority” student who was more qualified than an underrepresented minority student was declined even though he or she was more deserving and had better credentials. This is just plain wrong and defies common sense. I know for a fact that this takes place in admission offices around the country. What I’m referring to here is affirmative action. Why is this so? This seems completely counter intuitive to me since our society stresses that all races are equal. I’m not a racist in the slightest; I’m pro-equality.</p>

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<p>Required by federal law. Colleges are required to ask but you are not required to answer. It provides information that is used for government reports on those attending college and provides records that indicate whether a college is or is not discriminating. </p>

<p>As to your other question – whether race shuld be a factor in admission – the Supreme Court has determined that race legally can be a factor considered but states or colleges can choose not to. Many who believe they are “more qualified” are outraged by any system that considers race as a factor and are certain they are not racist.</p>

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<p>Some colleges surely like that. It depends in part on how different your experiences are from some other applicants the same college has. And of course it depends on how well you explain how your personal differences add to an interesting group of enrolled students at the college. </p>

<p>By the way, Pakistan is part of south Asia rather than part of the Middle East for purposes of the federal categories, so the usual case of a Pakistani-American applicant would be described as “Asian” in the optional race categories, while an Iranian-American would be described as “white.” Yeah, I know, some of the same ethnic groups live on both sides of the common border of those two countries, so there are “edge cases” in answering the optional question, but that is the usual expectation. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications.</p>

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<p>The federally mandated questions about “race” categories on college applications are required of colleges by a federal regulation, but they are optional for each student. You get to decide whether or not to mark the questions at all. Some colleges, by state law, don’t consider race at all in the admission process if they are following state law. You can gain a more detailed understanding of the issue by reading the stickied FAQ thread into which your new question overnight was merged. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications.</p>

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<p>Your initial post included the OMB’s (I’m assuming you are referring to the Office of Management and Budget) definition of African-American. I don’t think the colleges explicitly employ that definition, nor is the OMB a respected lexicographer. I really can’t see any clear connection between the OMB and a privately operated college or university. In the case of a white South African-American reporting that he was an African-American, fraud would be out of the question. In the very least, even if the OMB’s definition were the operative definition, the claim being made was of a sufficiently ambiguous nature that the South African could not be held accountable.</p>

<p>Edit:
My reasoning in the last sentence is based on the fact that, in general, if a contract uses definitions that contradict the literal definitions of terms, people who interpret them literally are usually excused.</p>

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<p>How big of an affect does it have?
I’ve heard not so much but I’ve also heard that it makes a huge difference, that (at least for African-Americans) you’re pretty much only being compared to other applicants of your race if you’re a minority.
What’s your experience? What do you know about it (specifically for African Americans)?</p>

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<p>I would say that there are so few qualified african american applicants (for reasons beyond the scope of this short post) that they are held to a somewhat easier standard. </p>

<p>Instead of having to be the most qualified among thousands of qualified applicants, they only have to be reasonably qualified. In other words, their stats only have to be in the ballpark. They need to be only plausible candidates.</p>

<p>So it is my impression that universities will not take a totally unqualified minority, but if they find one that is reasonably qualified, they will take him.</p>

<p>The universities have a problem in this regard, because all the top universities are trying to get african americans, so they are all going after the same people.</p>

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<p>So let’s say we have a student with Nat’l Achievement Semi-finalist, 2200 SAT, good grades, where does that place them in terms of getting into college, if they’re black.</p>

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<p>For review, while I compose some more specific replies to some incorrect statements up above: </p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Would being black make up for not so good grades? What if they have around a 2250 SAT and have pretty good ECs but around a B+ average?</p>

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<p>Are you implying that they are racist?</p>

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<p>Yes to both. It just depends on what kinds of schools you’re talking about. Non-selective universities admit anyone who passes a numbers threshold. Selective universities consider subjective criteria, often including racial classification.</p>

<p>At those schools, being a so-called “underrepresented” minority can make a “huge difference.” Note that “huge difference” is not the same as “guaranteed admission.”</p>

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<p>*I would say that there are so few qualified african american applicants…that they are held to a somewhat easier standard. *
Not something a parent or hs kid can generalize about. I’ll keep saying: I read for a top school and am blown away by the quality and quantity of achievements by URMs, first-gens, kids from lousy high schools, kids with all levels of challenges. But, that’s just IME. Can’t speak for state schools and less-selective schools.</p>

<p>Wannabe- how your URM identity affects your chances depends on the selectivity of the college and the greatness, the compelling nature, of your app package. Especially applies to top schools. 2200/good gpa will get attention, but still needs activities, leadership, some sense that you will fit and thrive, can master the school’s challenges- and add to the vibrance there. </p>

<p>TokenAdult, thanks for all your work and attention to this.</p>