<p>MODERATOR'S NOTE: </p>
<p>This thread has been superseded by the current thread </p>
<p>on the subject, and thus is closed. </p>
<p>Ethnic Self-Identification Is Optional </p>
<p>Students are often puzzled about how to respond to questions on college applications about race or ethnicity. The questions are required by a federal regulation, and a new version of that regulation just came into effect for the 2009-2010 application season. The regulation </p>
<p>makes clear that self-identifying ethnicity is OPTIONAL for students in higher education. That self-identifying by ethnicity is optional has long been clear on the Common Application, </p>
<p>which more than 300 colleges (for example Harvard, Carleton, and the University of Virginia) use as their main or sole application form. The latest version of the Common Application includes a section titled Demographics with a subsection printed on a gray background with the heading "Optional The items with a gray background are optional. No information you provide will be used in a discriminatory manner." </p>
<p>The Common Application optional section includes the federally specified questions about ethnicity: </p>
<p>
- Are you Hispanic/Latino? O Yes, Hispanic or Latino (including Spain) O No Please describe your background ________________________________________________
- Regardless of your answer to the prior question, please select one or more of the following ethnicities that best describe you: O American Indian or Alaska Native (including all Original Peoples of the Americas) Are you Enrolled? O Yes O No If yes, please enter Tribal Enrollment Number ________________ Please describe your background ________________________________________________ O Asian (including Indian subcontinent and Philippines) Please describe your background ________________________________________________ O Black or African American (including Africa and Caribbean) Please describe your background ________________________________________________ O Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Original Peoples) Please describe your background ________________________________________________ O White (including Middle Eastern) Please describe your background ________________________________________________
</p>
<p>Self-identifying ethnicity has also always clearly been optional on the Universal College Application, </p>
<p>which 77 colleges, including Harvard, accept. </p>
<p>Columbia University has its own application form, </p>
<p>including an optional section for ethnic self-identification: </p>
<p>
ETHNICITY/RACE INFORMATION </p>
<p>The information below is optional. Please respond to questions 1 and 2, for governmental recordkeeping and reporting requirements. </p>
<ol> <li><p>Are you Hispanic or Latino (person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central America, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.) Yes No </p></li> <li><p>What is your race? (Select one or more of the following five categories.) </p></li> </ol>
<p>American Indian or Alaska Native </p>
<p>Asian </p>
<p>Black or African American </p>
<p>Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander </p>
<p>White </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Columbia asks additional optional questions to allow applicants to indicate affiliation with smaller groups that fit into the overall federally defined "race" categories, including asking for tribal affiliation and enrollment numbers for American Indian applicants. </p>
<p>MIT also has its own application form, which this year takes responses online but allows a .PDF download of how it looks as it is filled out. The online version of the form asks: </p>
<p>
Ethnicity (check all that apply): </p>
<p>1) Are you Hispanic or Latino? Yes, Hispanic or Latino (Including Spain) No Which best describes your background? Central America Cuba Mexico Puerto Rico South America (Excluding Brazil) Spain Other </p>
<p>2) Regardless of your answer to the previous question, please check one or more of the following groups in which you consider yourself to be a member: </p>
<p>American Indian or Alaska Native (including all Original Peoples of the Americas) Which best describes your background? Alaska Native Chippewa Choctaw Cherokee Navajo Sioux Other </p>
<pre><code> Are you Registered? No Yes, please enter Registration number </code></pre>
<p>Asian (including Indian subcontinent and Philippines) Which best describes your background? China India Japan Korea Pakistan Philippines Vietnam Other East Asian<br> Other Indian Subcontinent<br> Other Southeast Asian </p>
<p>Black or African American (including Africa and Caribbean) Which best describes your background? African American African Caribbean Other </p>
<p>Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Original Peoples) Which best describes your background? Guam Hawaii Samoa Other Pacific Islands (excluding Philippines) </p>
<p>White (including Middle Eastern) Which best describes your background? Europe Middle East Other </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>but the .PDF view of the form does not show all the detailed subgroups, and adds "(optional)" after the section heading. </p>
<p>Other colleges use their own application forms, but all must ask an ethnicity question as specified by the new federal regulation. But that question is optional in any case by law, whether the college notes that the question is optional or not. </p>
<p>The colleges have to ask for ethnicity data, and have to report them to the federal government, but students don't have to self-identify with any ethnic or racial category. Colleges are NOT required to use self-identified race or ethnicity as an admission factor. Some colleges do and some do not. (Some state colleges and universities are prohibited by state law in their states from considering race as an admission factor.) The questions are asked for federal reporting requirements but may or may not be a significant admission factor at some college you like. At ALL United States colleges, with a sole exception*, it is permissible to decline to answer the questions during the admission process. </p>
<p>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>*The sole exception to the general statement that self-identifying ethnicity is optional in the college admission process is a federally administered college for American Indians (Native Americans), </p>
<p>SIPI</a> - Admissions and Records </p>
<p>which is a unique example, even among tribal colleges, </p>
<p>Tribal</a> College List -- White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities </p>
<p>of a college that is truly for students of one ethnic group, a college operated by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). But even other BIA colleges appear to accept students from a variety of ethnicities, and that is definitely true of and reported by other tribal colleges. </p>
<p>College</a> Search - Leech Lake Tribal College - LLTC - At a Glance </p>
<p>College</a> Search - Little Priest Tribal College - LPTC - At a Glance </p>
<p>(scroll down for federal reported ethnicity of students)</p>