<p>On the application - both Academy and NROTC - they ask for race and then ask for Ethnic Background. Race is easy; but assuming one grew up in an ordinary American home, what in the world is one supposed to mark for ethnic background?</p>
<p>Leave it blank.</p>
<p>I suppose it depends on what you think an "ordinary American home" is these days?</p>
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<p>Curious advice. :confused:</p>
<p>Why?</p>
<p>We were told that leaving it blank would slow down our sons application process.</p>
<p>I don't know if my daughter answered correctly last year, but she is a Plebe, so our answer must not have kept her out.</p>
<p>Rhetorical question: even though you "grew up in an ordinary American home," do you know enough about your ancestors to know where they came from, or whether they were Native Americans? In other words, would you consider yourself to have a __<strong><em>-American heritage, where _</em></strong> could be just about anything (Irish, Native American, Hispanic, Bantu, etc.) If your ancestors came from one or two specific cultures, I would list those as your ethnic background. If you really don't know, you could always enter "American" or "unknown."</p>
<p>Luigi:</p>
<p>The space was so small and it was so hard to fit Irish, English, Swiss, German, Polish and Slovak (as far as we know) in it that she just left it blank. When they first started asking this question on documents ages ago I used to write in American. But then I was always a wild and crazy guy.</p>
<p>2012MOM: In my day if you wrote in American you were probably identified as a troublemaker and not in tune with the program. Aquarius and all that.</p>
<p>It is my understanding the question is asked to identify those that fall within a minority group- especially in light that there is a move to increase Hispanic and African-American representation within the Brigade.</p>
<p>The field is optional- will not hurt to leave it blank, however if you fall into the minority categories listed above it might help.</p>
<p>Like I said, leave it blank. If you are of an ethnic group, you are probably aware of the fact and know what to write. I felt like my son had a rich ethnic history (great grandparents fleeing persecution in the Mother Land, etc...), but when you look at him, he's white. You can slice it however you want and hyphenate it several ways, but he's still a white European American.</p>
<p>"American" has not been traditionally considered an ethnicity; it describes a nationality.</p>
<p>The question for ethnicity becomes necessary because, for example, Hispanics [an ethnicity based on a common language], have been classified [using traditional classifications] either Caucasiod or Negroid [my 1962 version of The World Book Encyclopedia cites Mongoloid as a third classification].
I suspect this is the only reason this question is asked. I doubt teh Academy has much interest in your nationality. </p>
<p>How, for example, does an American from Chinese extraction classify themself on an application? By race or by ethnicity?
Is "Asian" a race or an ethnicity? Historically, the human "race" was classified by phycial attributes or color of skin. [About forty years ago, I was even taught that Jews were a separate race, even though I had never met one, and they are probably more properly classified as a "people"]</p>
<p>An ethnic "gypsy" for example could be from any one many central asian countries, e.g. Poland, Czech republic, or any number of new countries of which I did not exist in my 8th grade. But, since Gypsies are not "traditionally underrepresented" in Academy members, I think the question is really trying to determine if you are Hispanic or not.</p>
<p>Leaving it blank should not hurt your application in any way. [Is "Native American" a race or an ethnicity?]</p>
<p>This should get this thread going.</p>
<p>Bill0510: "American" was a humorous answer predicated upon the absurdity of the primary question. If you can get "extra points" for a certain ethnicity let's all trace back our heritage and find something to put in the required space. Hey! My Great, Great Grandfather was a Prussian Ulan. Ok. I am now Prussian American. There can't be many of those around. Actually there is no Kingdom of Prussia around anymore as a viable state. Bummer. As every other Irishman knows my ancestors were Kings in Ireland. Therefore I get the extra points for Irish ethnicity and bonus points for Royalty. Or maybe they subtract points for the last one. I get confused on that.</p>
<p>Poland and The Czech Republic are in Europe. But don't tell those ethnicly unique people from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.</p>
<p>Bill, check your Europe map...or put on your reading glasses.</p>
<p>My chinese tennis partner, married to a white European-American always told her sons they were to think of themselves as Americans. However, when it came time to apply for college and scholarships she said to them, "Now you're Chinese!!!"</p>
<p>again- the academy is actively seeking African Americans and Hispanic candidates - so if you fall into those 2 groups- and those 2 groups only- you may have a SLIGHT edge in the admisssions process- for now.</p>
<p>Up until this year, females were also given special consideration- however the percentage of females at the academy currently exceeds that of the fleet- so they will compete as any other group. </p>
<p>Fill it in- don't fill it in- won't matter.
You will be interviewed by your BGO, and if you fall within the ethnicity of Hispanic or African American it will be so noted- which will be to your advantage. Other than that, it won't mean a hill of beans.</p>
<p>As for Asian- right now they fall into the majority pool of candidates.</p>
<p>In putting the class together, there is a move to make the Brigade more representative of the fleet- thus, the % of officers of a specific ethnicity should mirror the % of that group in the fleet. Right now there is a need to increase African American and Hispanic Officers. The admissions board is well aware of those that might stretch their ethnicity- and are prepared to put any application in question into the majority pool. Take it for what it's worth, but gaming the system will hurt more than it will help- and this is no exception. Please keep in mind that every candidate- EVERY CANDIDATE- will be interviewed, and most BGOs will not look kindly on someone trying to pull the wool over their eyes. "Honesty"- it counts- a lot.</p>
<p>bill- sent you a PM- time sensitive-</p>
<p>Just follow the instructions. The preliminary application asks for ‘Race’, either ‘White’ or one of the possibly targeted minorities and is mandatory that it be filled in. Next the application asks for ‘Ethnicity’. It is also mandatory and is nothing more than a further clarification for the ‘Race’ input. If one is white, there is no choice but ‘Other’. However, for example, if one selected ‘Asian’ for race, their choices for ethnicity would be ‘Filipino’, ‘Korean’, ‘Japanese’, ‘Chinese’, ‘Guamanian’, Vietnamese, or ‘Other Asian Descent’. A ‘Hispanic’ race would require a “Puerto Rican’, ‘Cuban’, ‘Mexican’, ‘Latin American with Hispanic Descent’, or ‘Other Hispanic Descent’. Not rocket science. If you feel that it is none of their business, simply select ‘Declined to Respond’ for race and ‘Other’ for ethnicity. They don't really care about white Europeans.</p>
<p>What about African-Americans from South Africa? Do they fall into the desirable to recruit category, since their skin is actually white? We had a student who got a lot of grief for filling out a form here and stating he was African American...he was truly more African than others who check the box, but some thought he was a wise guy.</p>
<p>Typo.<br>
2010. Got your PM; thank you.</p>
<p>As 2010 pointed out, you can fill it our or not. You can agree w/ it or not.<br>
Hispanics [as an ethnicity] and Negroes [as a race] are under-represented at the Academy. Asians--regardless of ethnicity or nationality--are not.</p>
<p>Your student acquaintance gets in trouble because, in fact, he was being a wise guy. That's okay, wise guys lend a little bit of levity to the circumstances.<br>
but, once again, confusion exists as to nationality, race, and ethnicity questions.
There is no such classification of race known as "African-American." [Africa is a continent.] That is how we have developed the term here in the US, but the class does not exist as a race. There are, for example, Negro Haitians who have nothing to do with Africa.</p>
<p>Your student friend, might have responded to a question of nationality as: South African-American. His race, however, would remain Caucasian. Ethnically speaking, he may have been Afrikaner, i.e. a group of humans who identify with each other on the basis of a common ancestry, cultural, religous, or biological traits.</p>
<p>Two students, most of their circumstances and scores being equal, one hispanic or black, the other white . . .</p>
<p>So if African-American is ok to put, could you put "North America-American"?</p>
<p>Anyone know what the specific requirement is to be considered of a particular race @ USNA. For example, @ the Ivies, it's 1/64. That's right ...if Great-great-great- great ...... grampa was a Sioux, then so can be you.</p>
<p>What's the USNA policy on this?</p>