<p>Are somalians and ethiopians considered the same as African Americans--I know, dumb question or do you check/write down that you are on the application? Also, are they given a higher boost?</p>
<p>A recent immigrant from Somalia is an African-American for purposes of this demographic question on college application forms. If the student is not yet a United States citizen or permanent resident, then the student is reported as "international."</p>
<p>The Miami Student: 'RACE</a>' exhibit questions perceptions of racism:
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The Cincinnati Museum Center is currently featuring an exhibition that encourages dialogue about race issues and challenges the grounds of racism as an institution. </p>
<p>"RACE:</a> Are We So Different?," is now situated in Cincinnati until April 26 after being launched in St. Paul, Minn. and touring through eight cities in the country.</p>
<p>Exhibit project manager, Joseph Jones of the American Anthropological Society, said the exhibition itself is part of a larger public education program.</p>
<p>"The project is used to convey three key messages," Jones said. "One, race is a recent human invention; two, race is about culture, not biology, (and) these are ideas that are not found in nature but are socially constructed; three, race and racism (are) embedded in institutions and everyday life..."
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</p>
<p>The museum exhibit mentioned by StitchInTime is a very good summary of current science on "race."</p>
<p>I'm regretting checking the African-American box on the Common App. I qualify genetically, but even if I qualified culturally/socioeconomically, I wouldn't select it. I'm applying to enough colleges, and have little enough loyalty to my top choices, that I would rather be accepted to fewer and know that it was based more on merit.
So far I've been accepted to two (Cornell and U Chicago) of the private colleges I applied to (+ Stanford, Pomona, Harvard, Brown, Duke). Anybody know anything that'll comfort me, or suggestions of ways to determine whether I legitimately (intellectually) belong at whatever top college?</p>
<p>Be outstanding in your graduating class at the college where you enroll, and speak up on campus for your newly considered point of view. Other than that, don't be hard on yourself and enjoy your opportunity to study at a great university.</p>
<p>Pulk: That's exactly why I do not like affirmative action. There are so many brilliant and talented URMs like you who deserve admission to top schools regardless of their ethnicity, but the current way affirmative action is applied means that these brilliant and talented kids go through college life wondering if people look at them as legitimate students. I have a good friend who is African American. She was so upset by the prospect of being admitted based on the color of her skin, she applied without identifying her ethnicity. She did not get accepted to some schools, but she was accepted to some other great schoools, and she had the comfort of knowing that she qualified to her school of choice on the basis of her accomplishments, and not because of her skin color. Her courage makes her one of my heroes.</p>
<p><a href="%5Burl=http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062110395-post185.html%5D#185%5B/url%5D">quote</a> I'm regretting checking the African-American box on the Common App. I qualify genetically, but even if I qualified culturally/socioeconomically, I wouldn't select it. I'm applying to enough colleges, and have little enough loyalty to my top choices, that I would rather be accepted to fewer and know that it was based more on merit. So far I've been accepted to two (Cornell and U Chicago) of the private colleges I applied to (+ Stanford, Pomona, Harvard, Brown, Duke). Anybody know anything that'll comfort me, or suggestions of ways to determine whether I legitimately (intellectually) belong at whatever top college?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You've answered your own question with the intellectual honesty inherent in your post. One of the most insightful thoughts Gandhi left us with is:
[quote]
You</a> must be the change you wish to see in the world.
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</p>
<p>When my sister's son mentioned to his doctor, his senior year, that although he was an A student, he didn't like thinking because he was bi-racial, that someone would think he had an "in" to his college. The doctor (who was Jewish) smiled and said, "You know you're a solid student, you know you have great potential, do the best you can you let your work tell the story". They wanted you, period. Don't be ashamed of your race. Denying it, is like denying part of yourself.
He went on to mention the many,many students that weren't qualified to be at his college, partied their years away, got extra points for grading, all because of "who they were" and how much their parents/grandparents paid to the college, thieir athletic ability, "favors owed" etc. and they were white. No one really talks much about that, not with the same anger they do for URM's. That alone shows how far we still have to go.</p>
<p>I can't speak for anyone else, but I personally am MORE angry about legacy/developmental admits than I am about affirmative action--because the legacy admits are perpetuating classism and societal inequity. However, just because one wrong is greater than another, does not excuse the "lesser" wrong from criticism or make it any more right.</p>
<p>Keilexandra: It's hard to be more angry about one type of discrimination and less about another. Both types reward things that the student had no control over. Whether someone's admission chances go up because they were born to Mr. and Mrs. Legacy or to Mr. and Mrs. URM, they are still getting a boost because of something they happen to be, and not something they earned. In my mind, both are equally wrong and both promote stupid "isms."</p>
<p>I'm not angry at the people benefiting, either way--I'm angry at the system. Affirmative action's ideals can at least be justified (though for me the ends do not justify the means), whereas legacy/developmental admits are purely selfish on the part of the school.</p>
<p>I am algerian-american. Am I a URM/ is this a hook?
Thanks!</p>
<p>yes....and yes.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I am algerian-american.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The default category for North African people is "white," and I am not aware of any university besides a few "historically black" state universities that actively recruit white students for ethnic balance.</p>
<p>Keilexandra: What exactly is the purpose in 2009 of affirmative action? Is it trying to right wrongs done 50 years ago or address perceived current discrimination?</p>
<p>^ You've got me. Different proponents posit different reasons (usually variants of one of the two you mentioned).</p>
<p>I guess thats the dilemma, Keilexandra. The purpose in 2009 of affirmative action is not clear. I attend a high school with all races. I personally do not see any discrimination that holds anyone back. People of all colors can be idiots, but most of the outright hate I see comes from African Americans, especially when it comes to Mexicans. Maybe my school is not like all other schools. Maybe there are schools in America today where African Americans are not allowed to learn, etc. But that doesnt happen at my school. They are treated like everyone else, they live in the same neighborhoods as the rest of us, so why do they deserve extra consideration? Thats the question me and my friends are asking.</p>
<p>How would you handle 1/8th? </p>
<p>I know one kid who is 1/8 Black. Can he check black? Or can he check both black and white? </p>
<p>I also know one kid whose father is 1/4 Native American and meets the blood quantum for the tribe-- but that makes the kid 1/8 and that tribe's blood quantum is 1/4. (Tribes vary in what they'll accept.) Does it go by tribe or can you just check if you're 1/8th?</p>
<p>The new federal regulations have students respond to questions with "choose one or more" in connection to the list of "race" categories. Does anyone who knows the kids you know actually think they fit all the categories they might possibly claim? Each case is different.</p>