I find it interesting that the only time this question comes up is in regards to college apps. All of a sudden some students have an identity crisis. I agree with a previous poster. If you have to ask the question, then the answer is simply no. If you further state, as the OP stated, “I’m obviously an upper-middle-class white person.” The answer is still no. But it is up to the OP to do what he/she feels is right. My opinion is just that…an opinion.
The Common App demographic section, while it allows a little info about region, still will lead most Hispanics to check the white box, just as all school forms have been asking for years, such that most hispanic kids when faced with this question will think to themselves, “um, I guess I’m white.” There is no mestizo category. American Indian doesn’t seem applicable (clicking that leads to a question about tribe).
While the above questions are optional, the Common App then requires a response to the following:
There’s something odd about that last required response, as there is only the Yes option and nothing else.
If you don’t click the YES, the green check doesn’t appear and you go back, deciding whether you’ll complete the section or not; you can’t just “not complete” because you skipped it and then forgot about it.
The green check is a verification that the student completed everything but since the section is optional, this “Yes, I have completed this section…” is a way for them to keep the Race/ethnicity section optional yet making sure it’s not been inadvertently skipped.
“I’ve been told females and URM are even more underrepresented in stem schools by my college counselor” This is and has been shifting at top colleges. How URM and female affects your chances depends on the composition the school has already achieved. AND the qualifications you bring, as well as the strength of your own actual app package.
AIME qualifier is good, but many applicants will have this. Founding companies is not a tip, in itself. How much do you actually know about what MIT, CMU, and Caltech look for?
Now abou tthe check box. Colleges tend to go by the Cesus and govt definitions. “Hispanic” does include “Spanish culture or origin.” Okay? But just checking the box is not going to get some computer program to jump up and shout. Adcoms will look for your cultural involvement and other markers that your identity is such. That is NOT about family wealth or lack of it. They can be looking for the perspective you offer. So, Spanish is not, in itself, an “it.” In fact, I’ve seen Puerto Rican not tip anything.
I tend to think people compete in buckets. That can be by stats, or major, or geographic region … whatever is important to the college. So if they consider ethnicity it makes better sense to compare those kids to others in the same bucket (URM vs URM, not URM vs ORM). To me that means if they’re looking at kids of similar ethnicity they want the ones who will bring that culture to campus. What’s the point otherwise? So check the box if you want, but make sure the rest of your app is strong and on point for your targets.
While some buckets are obvious and explicit (e.g. admission by division or major at some schools), it is unlikely that a college will say that it uses buckets by race or ethnicity, since that will sound too much like quotas.
^ But there is a lot of daylight between what a college says and what it in fact does.
I’ll reiterate that in my opinion based on what I have seen specifically at MIT and CalTech, the stronger boost here, by far, is non-Asian female STEM. Especially if the AIME score is high or she was DHR on AMC12, OP will be in rarefied company.
Hispanic would just be a potential boost on top of that. Don’t think that colleges are above checking their own boxes for diversity mandates. Qualify NHRP, she’s Hispanic for purposes of diversity imo. People shouldn’t get angry at the OP or lecture on ethics. This is the system that has been created.
I agree, @ucbalumnus. But I think it serves OP better to operate from the assumption that checking the box won’t get her accepted over an equally qualified ORM. She has to present a strong application that can stand on it’s own merits.
@payton75
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/scholarships-and-recognition/national-hispanic-recognition-program
Females interested in STEM who are able to check the Hispanic box, even if no one knew previously they were Hispanic, have done astonishingly well in admissions from our high school at MIT, Stanford and the Ivies. Check the box if you can.
You are Hispanic, so check the box. Checking the Hispanic box may not provide the hook you’re looking for, but it definitely won’t hurt either. Don’t overthink this.
I’m inclined to agree with @roethlisburger . You meet the criteria, check the box… I doubt it helps much if at all, especially given what would be your sub-questions outlined in @evergreen5 's post, but if it’s true, why not check it?
Is there a downside?
I agree with the comment that if you meet the criteria, check the box, but also that you should be consistent. If you spent your life marking caucasian, then I probably wouldn’t switch now. As to identity, my daughter is Chinese but raised since 9 months by a caucasian mom. Doesn’t matter what she identifies as, she will always be Chinese and should check the Asian box.
Yes, she’s still Chinese. Again, race and ethnicity are different things.
If OP is a female AIME qualifier applying to MIT her chance of success is more than 90% no matter what her demographic is. This stat is based on my own observation of local math club AIME girls over the last decade. If her dream school is one of MIT/Caltech/CMU I would say she is a shoo-in. Her Hispanic status is just extra insurance. I’d say go for it.
@skieurope that is the point I was making to previous posters and using my daughter as an example
@jzducol - I know one or two Asian AIME girls who didn’t get in to MIT, but never a non-Asian AIME who failed to be accepted. You’re more clued in than I am, though, for sure. Now female USAMO, that’s a different story. Any race, any school, they are a very coveted and select group.
@SatchelSF Thanks so much for your answer and support! I’m less stressed-out now 
I am Hispanic according to how most colleges (if not all define what being “Hispanic” is (if you check closely being Spanish is included) and it may be silly to say that but historically and etymologically “Hispanic” means people with Spanish descent, it’s kind of America-centered to call “Hispanic” only people from former Spanish colonies. I spent lots of summers in Barcelona - but I don’t speak Spanish because there, we speak Catalan (which is more close to the ancient Latin language than Spanish)
So I don’t feel like I’m lying.
My question is more of if it’s worth to put it. I won’t put emphasis on my Hispanic background b/c I think it won’t matter if I don’t come from a low-income central American family. So I wasn’t sure if I should put it or not if I don’t talk about it?
Also, I have a green card but I’m German - and there are very very few German candidates - because universities are top-ranked and FREE back in Germany (the same in France), so very few people go to the US for undergraduate.
I was wondering if I should say I’m an international instead of US resident as well
I hope all these won’t matter too much. I never thought at all these before
Thanks all for your help!
Yes! I’ve always been one of rare no Asian girl at my maths clubs ahah
Most of my friends are Asians!
I wasn’t even close for USAMO camp - but have a pretty decent AIME score.
For the Common App, you don’t have a choice - you have to report both. You say you are a US Permanent Resident with German citizenship. Your German citizenship will not move the needle in the admissions process.
You can check the box if you want, or not if you don’t want. As I said earlier, I really doubt it’s going to move the needle for you. As I also said, each college determines how much of a bump URM will be for admissions. But you should assume that AOs will know that a Hispanic applicant living in the Overtown section of Miami will have had fewer opportunities than one living in Coconut Grove. The simple act of checking a box will not result in the sprinkling of fairy dust on your application.
Personally, I think you’d be better off concentrating on making your application as strong as possible on its own merits rather than trying to figure out where the magic backdoor is.
Good luck with whatever you decide.