<p>I heard that Asians are actually at a disadvantage when applying to the more selective colleges (Ivy Leagues), so should I mark myself as Asian? Or should I leave the section for race blank and not specify my race? Would I be at an advantage or disadvantage for marking myself as a minority?</p>
<p>Since our last names indicate that we’re Asian (assuming you last name is Kim based off your profile name) I would personally just put Asian</p>
<p>You are who you are. Most high schools have your ethnicity marked on your personal information page. All of that and transcripts get sent to your colleges. Why would you think avoiding answering that question wouldn’t raise flags? </p>
<p>The admissions committees know that people try everything to “increase” their advantages. An underrepresented minority (URM) are those cultures who are American kids who are typically underrepresented in the colleges: the Hispanic, African American, Native American and Pacific Islanders.</p>
<p>It is optional. You don’t need to specify ethnicity. If you don’t specify it will not hurt your chances of admission. There was an article in the NT Times a couple of years ago that mentioned that about 10% of the freshman class at Yale did not indicate ethnicity on their appilication. My son did not specify ethnicity. </p>
<p>If it were really a disadvantage, do you think failing to mark the box would help you if your application otherwise indicates that you are Asian? Unless your name is Robert E. Lee, maybe, it will make no difference.</p>
<p>You have a right not to declare your race if you decide not to.</p>
<p>Doesn’t the common app ask for the names of universities attended by parents and parents’ country of birth? </p>
<p>As far as I know, while they can obviously tell that you are Asian from details on your app, unless you self-identify as Asian they cannot include you in the statistics they report for demographics to the govt.
Does that mean they won’t compare you to other Asian applicants? I have no idea.</p>
<p>This is what I don’t get–people think there is an insidious plot by Ivy League schools to discriminate against Asians–but they think they can thwart this plot by declining to indicate their race on a form? Leave it off if you like, but don’t fool yourself.</p>
<p>Not really related but an interesting conundrum. There is a thread on CC somewhere started by an immigrant to the US from Africa - ergo an African American student . The student is 100% Caucasian but wanted to know if indicating “African American” status was correct.</p>
<p>"I heard that Asians are actually at a disadvantage when applying to the more selective colleges (Ivy Leagues) "</p>
<p>This is a point of heated debate. However, my take on it is this: </p>
<p>Academically strong students, regardless of race, are at a disadvantage when applying to the more selective colleges (Ivy Leagues)** unless they can distinguish themselves.**</p>
<p>I’m sure you joke w/your friends about the “typical” Asian stereotype: Premed or pre-engineering, math/sci whiz. Tennis, Piano or violin. Science club. My kid goes to a school with 85% Asians. Not kidding at all. They see it and laugh – they know how monolithic they appear. </p>
<p>(I’m Asian, BTW)</p>
<p>Hunt - so for applicants who don’t report race Yale uses other means to establish what the color of your skin is? They Google Facebook, Flickr, Vimeo, Instagram, etc. for instance? Do they use a database of last names only used by non-white people?</p>
<p>I doubt if they do any of those things–but if they really had a nefarious plot to discriminate against Asians, they might. And I’ll bet for 99% of applications from Asian students, they wouldn’t need to do any of that. It’s usually pretty obvious that Asian applicants are Asian based on the name and other information. Plus, Yale has interviews, so if the interviewers are in on the plot, they could use that method as well. It’s just silly to think that declining to identify your race on the application form could have any impact at all.</p>
<p>
If you’re willing to go back far enough, we’re all from Africa.</p>
<p>Let me just say, for the record, that if I were an admissions officer, any white kid from South Africa who marked “African American” on his application would be an automatic reject. My advice is to not try this.</p>
<p>@Hunt I know what you mean, lol. But reality is if he’s heritage is from Africa and he’s an immigrant he’s an African American. Doesn’t the common ask both country of origin and race?</p>
<p>Saona63: this question hasn’t come up because it’s hypothetical. Colleges clearly wish to attract African Americans who are the descendants of slaves or other black African immigrants. When non-Blacks wish to dabble in this, their character is immediately (and I would say irreparably) suspect.</p>
<p>@Keesh17: Yale doesn’t really care about the actual ethnicity of the non-URM applicants – if there’s something that grabs the reader, it won’t matter if the applicant’s ancestors hail from Europe, the Middle East, or the Far East. They’re not going to try to “discover” or “establish” the race of the applicant – because it won’t matter to them. That’s frankly, inane.</p>
<p>I do have a very hard time calling someone of a black race “African American”, just the same we don’t call whites “European American”. You are either white, black, mixed, asian, etc… I wondered what’s the difference of a black person coming from a caribbean island or a black in the US? They all came from Africa. Columbus brought the african slaves in the 1400 or 1500+ to the islands and killed all of or beautiful native indians:(</p>
<p>“African American” is a defined term that does not include white people. I shake my head in dismay every time this question arises.</p>
<p>Saona63: I’m sure you know that people can ask to be referred to by the terms THEY choose, right? Once it was “negro” then “colored” then “black” then “Afro-American” now mostly “African American”. Descendants of Africa who live in the UK call themselves “black British”. In Canada, they call themselves “Black Canadians” mostly. Sometimes “African Canadians” or “Caribbean Canadians”</p>
<p>If people of European ancestry moved to be referred to as “European Americans” rather than white, then would I simply refuse b/c I find “European Americans” difficult to utter?</p>
<p>“You are either white, black, mixed, asian,” </p>
<p>Ummmm… Why does my ethnicity get the privilege to be associated with a landmass and no others? Why wouldn’t someone just call “yellow” since it flows with the logic presented?</p>
<p>I’m not trying to put you on the spot Saona63. I think there are things to wonder about to oneself. Labels and titles have much stronger influence than we and our society care to admit, sadly.</p>