<p>derfred,</p>
<p>Are you an American citizen? Is your classmate?</p>
<p>This is 100% lying. I wish you could report her honestly, but I don’t see how you would go about doing that.</p>
<p>You have to LOOK black in order to be African-American. You must have sub-Saharan ancestry. White people from South Africa are Afrikaans, which means they have Dutch ancestry.</p>
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<p>Uh…no.</p>
<p>Frankly, I would have thought what your classmate was doing was legitimate had I not read this thread. It’s likely she thought she was maximizing her race, not out-and-out lying.</p>
<p>^^^ Umm yes. If people wouldn’t call you black or African-American, don’t put that on your application. Doing otherwise is gaming the system.</p>
<p>There are people who identify as African-America who don’t fit the physical stereotype. The same applies for any race. My half-Cuban cousins look nothing like their Cuban father, but to the Cuban side of their family, they are Cuban: Spanish-speaking, Hispanic food-eating, big-familiy-gathering Cuban. Their friends, however, would identify them as white (largely because their town is almost 100% white). </p>
<p>Your interpretation of someone’s race from their physical appearance has nothing to do with their racial background. College applications ask you to identify yourself, not for others to identify you.</p>
<p>^^^Actually, a Hispanic could be of any race.</p>
<p>If you report her, you’ll likely screw her chances of going anywhere good. It all depends on how close you are to this person.</p>
<p>I think the question that she ultimately needs to ask herself is that if there were no benefit or if there were a disadvantage to identifying herself as African American, would she honestly still do it because that is how she identifies herself? If not, then she is gaming the system by identifying herself as African American solely to gain an advantage.</p>
<p>I have to agree with the majority of the posters here that said:</p>
<p>If people would consider you black, you are African-American, if you would be considered as a white person, even if you are from Africa, you should put Caucasian. </p>
<p>Think about it. Put yourself back into the distant past. Say you were applying to colleges/a job/whatever else. If you looked Caucasian, despite being from Africa do you think you would have come under the same prejudice and discrimination a black person would have? I think not. For starters they probably wouldn’t even think you had any connections to Africa at all. You would just be considered as another white/Caucasian person. </p>
<p>Your classmate might have been trying to cheat the system and get an advantage which may not specifically apply to her due to her complexion. I think its up to you whether you want to report her or not but, remember this one thing. Colleges firstly compare students from the same school. So you would be competing directly with her for a spot at that university and as it stands, she probably has an advantage over you right now which was not necessarily meant for her.</p>
<p>Are you willing to take that risk?</p>
<p>Of course there is still the possibility that you might both get in to this university as its not like the colleges have a set amount that they take from each school.</p>
<p>There’s still the possibility that she was confused about the whole thing and put it there because she has African origin but as mentioned before by other posters, it is more likely that she is trying to cheat the system and gain an unfair advantage. Which could negatively affect you.</p>
<p>It’s up to you to analyze the situation and decide for yourself what the better thing to do is.</p>
<p>Technically though, her friend can only get the upper edge on her if they have essentially equal qualifications. Then, the college can accept her friend because she checked “African-American.” However if her friend is less qualified than OP, then her friend’s race <em>can not</em> be a deciding factor in the friend’s admission.</p>
<p>OP says that her scores are higher, so she should have nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>There was a SUPREME COURT ruling that whites from the nation of south africa are INDEED african american. THAT person didn’t lie…you did.</p>
<p>OMG! Calm the hell down. NO, you should not “report” her! If she is qualified, she is qualified and will get in. Affirmative action isn’t THAT strong. Don’t be so vengeful. You could really screw with her chances. If it really bothers you, know that she will get whatever she deserves in the end. But don’t ruin her chances because of a technicality.</p>
<p>Pretty sure I have read somewhere that the Supreme Court has said the South Africans origins in the US qualify as African Americans.</p>
<p>EDIT: Ah sorry, just saw asereph has mentioned this already.</p>
<p>Thank you for having some history intellect. Unlike others, posting opinionated responses about this topic.</p>
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<p>True. Latino/a would have been more appropriate. </p>
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<p>The numbers reveal that AA recepients receive a not unsubstantial boost in the admissions process. The court case you’re referring to technically only disallows quota systems that quantify the racial advantage.</p>
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<p>To what court case are you referring? According to an above poster, the census definition bars white South Africans from referring to themselves as African American or black. It seems that the technically, African American is a synonym for black rather than a literal description of one’s geographical origins.</p>
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<p>Yes, if she is qualified, she will get in, but affirmative action DOES significantly lower the necessary qualifications compared to non-URMs</p>
<p>UPDATE: </p>
<p>Sorry, I found out that she put African American and also checked White</p>
<p>So adcoms will prolly think she is mixed…</p>
<p>Does anyone know the court case??</p>
<p>I read about it last school year in History because we actually had a discussion about it, but I cannot remember the name, sorry. I’m sure if you look it up you’ll find something.
Nonetheless, I think checking African American AND White would be the best thing to do.</p>
<p>But then they will think you are mixed and not just white^^^^^^</p>