<p>Hey guys,
In many of the chance me threads, everyone includes their race. How does your race affect your college application at all? Does Harvard actually look at your race?</p>
<p>cynically, i say yes to both questions.</p>
<p>It matters if you are a URM, when it helps. Realistically, if you are an 'ORM' it probably hurts a bit, in that you are up against a very strong sub-pool. It is naive to think otherwise...</p>
<p>urm status, however, doesn't wield as much power/weight/help as most people might think.</p>
<p>Self-reporting ethnicity is OPTIONAL on the Common Application, which is what Harvard uses as its main application form. (I haven't checked the Universal Application, which Harvard also accepts, on this point, but you could look it up.) Harvard is required by federal law, like all colleges in the United States, to track voluntarily self-reported ethnic data on students. Harvard's U-CAN page </p>
<p>U-CAN:</a> Harvard University :: Page 1 </p>
<p>reports, based on that federally mandated data tracking, that 15 percent of its students are "race unknown," so evidently quite a few applicants to Harvard decline to self-report their ethnicity and yet are still admitted. </p>
<p>Bottom line: don't worry about it. Self-report or not as you wish. Recognize that students from a variety of ethnic groups--including whatever one you would claim for yourself--are admitted to Harvard each year. On the other hand, admission to Harvard is just plain competitive, so lots of outstanding students of each ethnic group you can imagine are not admitted each year. Do your best on your application, apply to a safety, and relax.</p>
<p>Businesses also are required to report ethnic composition, and based on what I know they do, I am guessing Harvard does the same - ie: if you don't state, they will guess. I would imagine they use your name to guess.</p>
<p>If you are a URM, it would be silly NOT to state your ethnicity. If you are an 'ORM', don't, and if they can figure it out from your name, so be it. If you are an ORM and your name doesn't imply it, it would be silly to state it. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, since you can't do anything about this other than following some commonsense guidelines, there's no point worrying about it</p>
<p>IMHO,Tokenadult's response gives the best explanation & advice!</p>
<p>Thanks guys, I truly appreciate the posts.</p>
<p>Quick question though, what are URMs and ORMs?</p>
<p>Thanks,
rohin</p>
<p>Under and over represented minorities.</p>
<p>I'm officially hispanic on my mother's side ( I have a German surname) but I haven't had a disadvantaged background. Would I still be considered a URM and get a possible admission advantage???</p>
<p>What would Indian fall under?</p>
<p>South Asian.</p>
<p>I'm going to be cynical here. If you can reasonably claim to be Hispanic, I'd do it. It can only help. The fact that you are not from a "disadvantaged" background won't matter to some places, who want to boost their diversity on paper with students whom they are sure can cut it academically. </p>
<p>I noted when I checked out Questbridge that a number of their featured students were graduates of prep schools. Obviously, in high school at least, those kids were not struggling with bad schools in poor neighborhoods: in fact, they had an education that is normally purchased for top dollar. (If they qualified for Questbridge, the likelihood is that they were on scholarship there, of course.)</p>
<p>I have a family member who goes to an expensive private prep school in a midwestern city. I gather that they routinely get a number of kids into Yale, most of whom are URMs. Again, the college gets to look more diverse while accepting kids who have had the benefit of a private, expensive education.</p>
<p>It was the same deal back when I was in college. There was an AA girl in my dorm whose parents were both physicians, yet she had a full scholarship. They obviously were willing to go the extra mile for students of color who could reliably succeed at a demanding school.</p>
<p>Read The Gatekeepers, and check out the treatment accorded the black/latina (IIRC) girl at Harvard-Westlake. She was an outstanding student. But if she were the same student and not an URM, I strongly doubt that they would have been flying her around the country. </p>
<p>I'm not saying that URM kids aren't qualified, don't get me wrong. I'm saying that if you are an URM and you ARE qualified you appear to have a significant hook.</p>
<p>Rohin, if by Indian you mean Native American, you are a highly desirable URM. If you mean "from India," I think you're probably an ORM, alas.</p>
<p>The fact is that admission is so competitive, and everyone uses what they have: legacy, URM status, recruited athletes, et al.</p>
<p>consolation</p>
<p>i appreciate your post. I am from India.</p>
<p>How does your race become an ORM? Just too many smart ppl in your race?</p>
<p>Good question. It's not about smart, probably. It's probably about cultures that support or devalue education.</p>
<p>Thanks Consolation for your insight. </p>
<p>I'm completely legitimately qualified to mark that I'm Hispanic and I guess I'm happy to get hook which I'll take.....but it doesn't seem quite right.</p>
<p>I don't think that 1) athletes, 2) legacies, 3) development candidates feel bad about getting in based on subjective factors.</p>
<p>I understand and agree with what Consolation says. Secretly I think it's all about making the college appear more "diverse," but not necessarily admitting URM's who have an underprivileged background. I wonder how much being a URM will really help if you have low SAT scores or GPA or class rank. It seems like colleges just look for the already-smart URM's who are at an educational advantage at a good school.</p>
<p>Which is one of the reasons why I think URM status should only count if you've been disadvantaged economically or if you go to a "bad" high school and not one of the private prep schools that Consolation mentioned. Idk. I am Hispanic and will mention that in my application, but coming from a poor high school and having not so stellar test scores, I doubt it will help me much.</p>
<p>Consolation ... :confused:
someone going to a prep school does not mean they are rich. If they
are going to a prep school and poor enough to qualify via Questbridge
it means with a high probability that they attended the prep school based
on scholarships (possibly merit/possibly need based).</p>
<p>The same holds for someone doing EPGY or other prestigious courses.</p>
<p>Yes, the EPGY financial aid is very generous and extends well up into the middle class. Indeed, EPGY was the first program I encountered that clued me into the idea that one doesn't have to be poor to be eligible for substantial financial aid. That's a point Harvard is trying to communicate now. </p>
<p>The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: Recruiting a New Elite </p>
<p>The</a> Harvard Crimson :: Opinion :: New Possibilities in the Post-Early Admissions Era </p>
<p>At</a> elite colleges, new aid for the middle - The Boston Globe</p>