<p>wondering if i should give my race on the "optional" section of the common app. i'm chinese-american and don't know if it'd be better to leave it blank since asians don't seem to be an underrepresented minority any more. also, i've heard that applying as an asian can be a disadvantage, especially to schools where there are a lot of ambitious and competitive asians applying. thanks for the help!</p>
<p>If you have a distinctly Chinese last name, I would suggest you "own up" to your ethnicity. Good luck RD!</p>
<p>Optional should mean optional. I read that an increasing number of applicants of all conceivable ethnic categories are leaving that question blank on the common application.</p>
<p>I left it blank as a matter of principle. Given my name and location it's fairly obvious I'm a white Jew, but I object to my race being used in making a decision about me so I don't touch that part on any application.</p>
<p>I made sure to point out that I'm white because my last name is Hispanic and I didn't want them to think I was Hispanic. I didn't want an unfair advantage (though I'm assuming I wouldn't have been treated as a Hispanic anyway).</p>
<p>As opposed to the white girl at my school who put "Hispanic" on her application, wrote an essay about being discriminated against by all the cool kids for being Mexican (her mom is Puerto Rican and she's the most popular girl in the school), got into Cornell ED. Yay.</p>
<p>I hate to say this, but there are some kids I am not at all happy to see getting into their first choice schools. Some kids simply do not deserve it. </p>
<p>I just found out one of my good friends got into Pratt for fashion design a couple days ago, though, so yay for him! For real! :)</p>
<p>It's a great feeling getting in, and it's a great feeling when a friend gets in. I know a kid that got into West Point and I flipped out when I found out. It's nice to see those people get into schools when they have worked hard alongside you for the past four years. I'm happy to say I wasn't glad to see anyone rejected or angry to see anyone accepted...but maybe that's because eveyone I know is truthful on his/her application (as far as I know). I would be ****ed off if someone got in and lied or made a huuuge stretch on his/her application.</p>
<p>i figured id just own up to my whiteness because i figure leaving it blank would put me in the pool with the asians (i think they assume you're white/asian if you leave it blank) and i wouldnt want that.</p>
<p>i also put my ethnicity..</p>
<p>as an asian, there's nothing to lose, might as well be honest about it.. :)</p>
<p>Sometimes, it does seem more and more with "holistic" approaches, ethnicity would matter, even though it's something you can't control. </p>
<p>However, I have to say I admire the people who've posted so far who've done much to stand for their principles. The world needs more of that, especially those that attend the top schools and those who end up in a position of power.</p>
<p>"...got into Cornell ED. Yay."</p>
<p>haha... the joke's on her. she has to spend 4 years in ITHACA! haha...
okay i'm kidding... Cornell is a great school, but anyway...</p>
<p>really you guys, if H likes you, they're going to accept you, regardless of your race... so focus on the content of your application instead of trying to play some game with checking certain boxes on the forms.</p>
<p>Well, I'm white with an italian last name, so if they don't like me, they don't like me</p>
<p>I think you should put it. If they don't accept you just because you are an asian, then I wouldn't want to go to that school. :/ But it is your choice..</p>
<p>If anyone obviously thinks that his or her rejection was because of his or her race, I think you need to get a life.</p>
<p>THE COLLEGE DIDN'T WANT YOU so stop making excuses. I've been rejected for a whole lot of prestigious programs but i've never blamed anyone else but myself.</p>
<p>Seriously, people on CC need to wake up if they want to succeed in the real world. </p>
<p>People who spit out this kinda nonsense, "omg omg if i put down my race on this box Im gonna be rejected!" KNOW THAT THEY'RE GOING TO BE REJECTED ANYWAY. If a person was confident about his or her chances then he/she wouldn't be uptight about this negligible matter because he/she knows that he/she has a great shot. Only subpar applicants agonize about this issue because they know their applications really don't stand a chance anyway.</p>
<p>And honestly, I have no remorse for people who like to blame others for their defiencies, aka crappy application.</p>
<p>I agree that it's not right to blame one's rejection over nothing but their race, but at the same time you have to look at what affirmative action means. By definition, via AA a minority who would not have otherwise gotten in will get in. I'm not saying that's wrong or right (because we are NOT having this discussion again :p), but that's simply what AA means. So in order to keep a fairly constant level of acceptees, it goes without saying that some non-minorities who otherwise would have gotten in would not. To pinpoint exactly which people those are and to say "I would have gotten in if there were no AA!" is very conceited and a terrible attitude, obviously--it's equivalent to saying that you're an auto-admit based on your other factors, which NO ONE except Michael Viscardi can rightly say. But you can't deny that, right or wrong, under AA some people are rejected because of their race.</p>
<p>i disagree that it's arrogant for a person to think he/she would have gotten in were there no AA.</p>
<p>I mean, of course we have no way of knowing exactly how the adcoms came to a decision on our applications, but that doesn't mean in any way that it's unreasonable for minorities who were accepted to believe they were strong candidates to begin with who very well might have been accepted regardless.</p>
<p>I personally have had many non-minority peers tell me they think I would have gotten in even without AA.</p>
<p>And I also disagree that AA is about rejecting people... AA is about accepting people, not rejecting them... and i reject the idea that there are non-minorities who are "victims" of AA... give me a break people...</p>
<p>Candlize--Are we talking about two different things here? I'm talking about if a non-minority (most likely white or Asian, I guess) thinks they would have gotten in without AA. I think it's perfectly alright for a minority to believe that they would have gotten in regardless of AA, even though of course that isn't always the case.</p>
<p>oh okay, i misunderstood then. oopsie!</p>
<p>
[quote]
because we are NOT having this discussion again
[/quote]
I was reading your response, and I was so scared you were going to start an AA discussion. Thank God! :)</p>