"Race" in College Admissions FAQ & Discussion 3

tokenadult · March 8, 2009, 7:22pm

Colleges in the Barron's category of "most selective" that have fairly high percentages of enrolled students reported to the federal government (and to Common Data Set organizations) as "race/ethnicity unknown":

32 percent 1st-year, 26 percent undergrad at Bryn Mawr

<a href="http://www.brynmawr.edu/institutionalresearch/documents/CDS2008_2009.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.brynmawr.edu/institutionalresearch/documents/CDS2008_2009.pdf</a>

29 percent 1st-year, 24 percent undergrad at Scripps College

Scripps</a> College : Common Data Set

23 percent 1st-year, 16 percent undergrad at William and Mary

22 percent 1st-year, 14 percent undergrad at Yale

22 percent 1st-year, 18 percent undergrad at Reed College

Reed</a> College 2008-09 Common Data Set SecB

22 percent 1st-year, 21 percent undergrad at Amherst College

<a href="https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/98052/original/2008%20Enrollment%20and%20Persistence.pdf%5B/url%5D">https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/98052/original/2008%20Enrollment%20and%20Persistence.pdf</a>

20 percent 1st-year, 15 percent undergrad at Vanderbilt

CDS</a> B

20 percent 1st-year at University of Rochester

College</a> Search - University of Rochester - U of R - At a Glance

18 percent 1st-year at Penn

College</a> Search - University of Pennsylvania - Penn - At a Glance

18 percent 1st-year, 15 percent undergrad at Case Western Reserve

<a href="http://www.case.edu/president/cir/200809cds/enroll08.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.case.edu/president/cir/200809cds/enroll08.pdf</a>

17 percent 1st-year, 14 percent undergrad at Brown

<a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Institutional_Research/documents/Enrollment2008.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Institutional_Research/documents/Enrollment2008.pdf</a>

16 percent 1st-year at Carnegie Mellon

College</a> Search - Carnegie Mellon University - At a Glance

16 percent 1st-year, 15 percent undergrad at Cornell

<a href="http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000420.pdf#pagemode=bookmarks%5B/url%5D">http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000420.pdf#pagemode=bookmarks</a>

16 percent 1st-year at Tufts University

College</a> Search - Tufts University - At a Glance

16 percent 1st-year, 11 percent undergrad at University of Richmond

<a href="http://oir.richmond.edu/CommonDataSets/CDS0809_B.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://oir.richmond.edu/CommonDataSets/CDS0809_B.pdf</a>

15 percent 1st-year at Harvard

College</a> Search - Harvard College - At a Glance

15 percent 1st-year at Chicago

College</a> Search - University of Chicago - At a Glance

14 percent 1st-year at Pomona

College</a> Search - Pomona College - At a Glance

14 percent 1st-year, 8 percent undergrad at Wesleyan University

<a href="http://www.wesleyan.edu/ir/cds/cds2008-09.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.wesleyan.edu/ir/cds/cds2008-09.pdf</a>

13 percent 1st-year, 7 percent undergrad at Stanford

Stanford</a> University: Common Data Set 2008-2009

13 percent 1st-year at Cooper Union

College</a> Search - Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art - Cooper - At a Glance

12 percent 1st-year at University of Miami

College</a> Search - University of Miami - UM - At a Glance

11 percent 1st-year at Washington U in St. Louis

College</a> Search - Washington University in St. Louis - Washington U. - At a Glance

11 percent 1st-year at NYU

College</a> Search - New York University - NYU - At a Glance

11 percent 1st-year at Lehigh

College</a> Search - Lehigh University - At a Glance

11 percent 1st-year at Whitman

College</a> Search - Whitman College - At a Glance

11 percent 1st-year, 8 percent undergrad at Hamilton College

<a href="https://my.hamilton.edu/college/institutional_research/CDS2008_2009.pdf%5B/url%5D">https://my.hamilton.edu/college/institutional_research/CDS2008_2009.pdf</a>

10 percent 1st-year, 11 percent undergrad at Swarthmore College

<a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/ir/cds2008.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/ir/cds2008.pdf</a>

10 percent undergrad at Johns Hopkins University

U-CAN:</a> Johns Hopkins University

9 percent 1st-year, 8 percent undergrad at Columbia

College</a> Search - Columbia University - At a Glance

<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/opir/abstract/2008-enrollment_ethnicity.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.columbia.edu/cu/opir/abstract/2008-enrollment_ethnicity.htm</a>

9 percent 1st-year, 7 percent undergrad at Virginia

UVa</a> CDS: B. Enrollment

9 percent 1st-year at Davidson College

College</a> Search - Davidson College - At a Glance

8 percent 1st-year, 7 percent undergrad at Princeton

<a href="http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2008.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2008.pdf</a>

7 percent 1st-year at Rice University

College</a> Search - Rice University - Rice - At a Glance

7 percent 1st-year at Boston College

College</a> Search - Boston College - BC - At a Glance

7 percent 1st-year at Berkeley

College</a> Search - University of California: Berkeley - At a Glance

7 percent 1st-year at Northwestern University

College</a> Search - Northwestern University - NU - At a Glance

7 percent 1st-year, 16 percent undergrad at Claremont McKenna College

College</a> Search - Claremont McKenna College - CMC - At a Glance

U-CAN:</a> Claremont McKenna College

7 percent 1st-year, 7 percent undergrad at Emory University

<a href="http://www.emory.edu/PROVOST/IPR/documents/factbookprofile/CDS_2008_2009.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.emory.edu/PROVOST/IPR/documents/factbookprofile/CDS_2008_2009.pdf</a>

6 percent 1st-year at MIT

College</a> Search - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT - At a Glance

6 percent 1st-year, 5 percent undergrad at Middlebury

<a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/1DE1CC19-8DF2-4557-90DE-01B37B456F6E/0/CDS2008_2009.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/1DE1CC19-8DF2-4557-90DE-01B37B456F6E/0/CDS2008_2009.pdf</a>

5 percent 1st-year, 5 percent undergrad at Dartmouth

<a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Eoir/pdfs/CDS2008_2009.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.dartmouth.edu/~oir/pdfs/CDS2008_2009.pdf</a>

5 percent 1st-year, 5 percent undergrad at Duke

College</a> Search - Duke University - Duke - At a Glance

U-CAN:</a> Duke University

smarteeangel101 · March 8, 2009, 7:37pm

is there no longer an 'other' box or something?

tokenadult · March 8, 2009, 8:08pm

Here are some other colleges of varying levels of selectivity with high numbers of students reported as "race/ethnicity unknown":

99 percent 1st-year at Hillsdale College

College</a> Search - Hillsdale College - At a Glance

95 percent 1st-year at Howard University

College</a> Search - Howard University - At a Glance

86 percent 1st-year at Keystone College

College</a> Search - Keystone College - At a Glance

82 percent 1st-year at McGill University

College</a> Search - McGill University - McGill - At a Glance

80 percent 1st-year at Savannah College of Art and Design

College</a> Search - Savannah College of Art and Design - SCAD - At a Glance

54 percent 1st-year at Wilmington University

College</a> Search - Wilmington University - At a Glance

30 percent at Smith College

College</a> Search - Smith College - At a Glance

29 percent 1st-year at Champlain College

College</a> Search - Champlain College - CC - At a Glance

28 percent 1st-year at Rhode Island School of Design

College</a> Search - Rhode Island School of Design - RISD - At a Glance

26 percent 1st-year at George Mason

College</a> Search - George Mason University - At a Glance

23 percent 1st-year at Boston University

College</a> Search - Boston University - BU - At a Glance

23 percent 1st-year at Hartwick College

College</a> Search - Hartwick College - The Wick - At a Glance

22 percent 1st-year at SUNY Stony Brook

College</a> Search - State University of New York at Stony Brook - Stony Brook University - At a Glance

21 percent 1st-year at Lynn University

College</a> Search - Lynn University - LU - At a Glance

20 percent 1st-year at SUNY Binghamton

College</a> Search - State University of New York at Binghamton - Binghamton University - At a Glance

19 percent 1st-year at Adelphi

College</a> Search - Adelphi University - At a Glance

19 percent 1st-year at Fashion Institute of Technology

College</a> Search - Fashion Institute of Technology - FIT - At a Glance

18 percent 1st-year at Eugene Lang College

College</a> Search - Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts - Lang - At a Glance

17 percent 1st-year, 16 percent undergrad at American University

<a href="http://www.american.edu/academic.depts/provost/oir/CommonDataSet_2008.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.american.edu/academic.depts/provost/oir/CommonDataSet_2008.pdf</a>

17 percent 1st-year at Syracuse University

College</a> Search - Syracuse University - SU - At a Glance

16 percent 1st-year at Marist College

College</a> Search - Marist College - At a Glance

16 percent at Fisk University

College</a> Search - Fisk University - At a Glance

14 percent 1st-year at McDaniel College

College</a> Search - McDaniel College - The Hill - At a Glance

14 percent 1st-year at University of Scranton

College</a> Search - University of Scranton - At a Glance

14 percent 1st-year at Franklin College

College</a> Search - Franklin College - FC - At a Glance

14 percent at Embry/Riddle Worldwide Campus

College</a> Search - Marist College - At a Glance

13 percent 1st-year at Tuskegee University

College</a> Search - Tuskegee University - TU - At a Glance

11 percent 1st-year at Gettysburg College

College</a> Search - Gettysburg College - At a Glance

9 percent 1st-year, 13 percent undergrad at Agnes Scott

<a href="http://www.agnesscott.edu/Media/Website%20Resources/pdf/ir/cdsb.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.agnesscott.edu/Media/Website%20Resources/pdf/ir/cdsb.pdf</a>

9 percent 1st-year at Grinnell College

College</a> Search - Grinnell College - At a Glance

9 percent 1st-year at Albion College

College</a> Search - Albion College - At a Glance

StitchInTime · March 9, 2009, 10:53am

<a href="%5Burl=http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061854547-post21.html%5D#21%5B/url%5D">quote</a> <a href="%5Burl=http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061852339-post20.html%5D#20%5B/url%5D">quote</a> Remarks</a> as Prepared for Delivery by Attorney General Eric Holder at the Department of Justice African American History Month Program (2009-02-18)
[quote]

...Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards...

[/quote]

[/quote]
It was cowardly and convenient for the Attorney General nominee to not share his admonition, contempt, and disdain for the people of the United States during his confirmation process.

[/quote]

Attorney</a> general chided for language on race:

[quote]
President Barack Obama has chided his attorney general, Eric Holder Jr., for describing America as a "nation of cowards" when discussing race, wading into a tumult that flared over Holder's indictment of the way this country talks about ethnicity.

"I think it's fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language," Obama said in a mild rebuke from America's first black president to its first black attorney general.

[/quote]

tokenadult · March 9, 2009, 11:09am

^ Thanks for posting the response by the President to the Attorney General's remarks.

2collegewego · March 10, 2009, 8:26pm

Tokenadult, You wrote "No college in the United States requires an applicant or student to self-identify with any race or ethnic group." I haven't had time to read all the pages of this thread but I think there's one exception-- tribal colleges. I was looking at them because they have a very reasonable tuition but it does look to me like they're restricted to native Americans who can prove it.

tokenadult · March 10, 2009, 8:28pm

After edit: As I checked some websites of various tribal colleges (there are three in Minnesota, and others elsewhere), I didn't see any rigid requirement to identify ethnicity to attend the ones for which I could check that issue.

tokenadult · March 13, 2009, 1:02am

Further follow-up: I found one college operated by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs that appears to take steps to verify that all enrolled students are American Indians or Alaskan Natives. There may be just a few other colleges that rigidly apply such a rule; most tribal colleges are officially open to anyone who applies, and several report substantial numbers of students who self-identified as "white."

Franciscog24 · March 13, 2009, 5:44pm

My violin teacher once told me about a previous student she had who's stepfather was a hispanic and adopted her as his own child. Therefore, on her college applications she put down she was 'hispanic' (she took his last name), obviously she was caucasian, but I guess with adoption papers she could prove otherwise. Anyway, she ended up getting into Oxford University, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and UPenn. I know it sounds a bit cunning but it worked. Last summer at a college Q&A session, I was informed that if you have a last name that SOUNDS hispanic (ex. Garcia, Hernandez, etc.), but you're either caucasian or asian (asians aren't considered a minority in the college admissions process, except UCBerkeley because they removed affirmative action), then don't put down your race. Of course don't lie, but since it's an optional section, don't willingly put something down that would make you seem like "one of the many".

Steven89 · March 13, 2009, 6:57pm

To answer the original question, I am "Hispanic" (not in the actual sense but in the sense of what it means in today's world) and I choose not to answer the question of "race and ethnicity" when I apply for scholarships or schools because I don't want what I feel to be a handout.

Yes, I know of acquaintances who aren't "white" gaining acceptance into schools with less than recommended averages and SAT scores. It's the norm, and sadly, it's what colleges have to do. Certain colleges need to say that they're diverse so they look for people who they can put into their schools to boost a false fact. I feel like sports scholarships are this way too. If you're a school and you know that a certain sport attracts a certain race by default, there's no doubt you're going to offer that scholarship in the hopes that you'll make the school a more diverse place and utilize the students to boost another part of the school. I still feel, though, that the priority of the student overrides that of the school; if the student wants to get into the school and it'll be a good opportunity for them regardless of what race they are, they should go for it.

I'm a human. I don't deserve to be treated worse because the color of my skin dictates that I'm not superior, NOR do I deserve to be treated better because in the past, my ancestors weren't on par with those who felt superior.

tokenadult · March 14, 2009, 3:40pm

Yes, in the next application year the forms will not make clear that ethnicity questions are optional (by the new federal regulation, which takes effect that year), but it will still be each student's choice whether to answer the question or not at all.

tokenadult · March 16, 2009, 12:33am

Just a reminder that you can ask colleges questions about their policies at their regional information meetings or at college fairs.

<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/650085-spring-2009-college-fairs-info-sessions.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/650085-spring-2009-college-fairs-info-sessions.html</a>

tokenadult · March 16, 2009, 9:25am

See post</a> #101 and post</a> #103 of this thread for a lot of current information about how many students are admitted to colleges without self-identifying with any race or ethnicity.

tokenadult · March 16, 2009, 6:45pm

By the way, what have college representatives told you recently about their admission policies in regard to "race"?

toughquestions · March 16, 2009, 7:42pm

Steven89: FYI: my daughter has gotten 1 total free ride offer (tuition plus room and board and fees),two tuition plus half of room and board and two full tuition scholarships for checking the "hispanic" box. She was one point short of the score (in her state, where it is exceptionally high) on the PSAT to qualify as a National Merit Scholar. She did qualify as a national Hispanic Scholar by virtue of her score and that is why all the money rolled in.
I hope your parents are proud of your principled stand.

blueliner2112 · March 17, 2009, 12:04am

I check "prefer not to respond" on the race section of an application.

The school called my house today asking for my race, my mother answered, I was unavailable, she says she answered and they hung up on her after she did.

Thankfully I wasn't seriously considering the school, they were in the running a little bit, now they're completely out. Let's just say the phone call rubbed me the wrong way.

Are they legally allowed to ask that question if I didn't want to respond on my app after I have been accepted?

belevitt · March 17, 2009, 12:17am

I imagine they can ask. This isn't a job interview and they can choose to offer you admission if you are minority even if they wouldn't offer it to you if you are white. The whole thing seems a bit unfair to me and I remember the ire that the law school at the University of Michigan raised when it was discovered that their admissions policies were intentionally not 'color blind'. This phone call inquiring about your race seems really awkward and I can definitely understand why it would turn you off of a school.

Ari7 · March 17, 2009, 12:19am

Thats WEIRD. That would definitely rub me the wrong way. They don't need to know that

happymomof1 · March 17, 2009, 7:40am

They may suspect that you have a particular race/ethnic background because of your name, address, HS, etc. and may have scholarship money dedicated for someone with that background.

They may have a nervous statistician on staff who is trying to make sure that their "count" is accurate. All educational institutions that receive federal funding are required by law to collect information about gender, race, ethnicity, etc. It used to be all self-reported, but this may have changed. Not long ago, I read an article about the pressure put on the public schools in some states for the school staff to report the race/ethnicity for students who have not self-reported.

molliegym · March 17, 2009, 8:55am

I'm pretty sure they're not legally allowed to require you to tell them your race. If you are a URM, it's true that it is generally of your benefit to tell them your race, but you don't have to.

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