She should identify honestly the way she perceives herself. Be true to oneself.
I don’t think it will give her an advantage, but I agree the information will reflect part of her story if she intends to reveal that part of her past.
If she doesn’t really care either way, leave it blank.
And how do you know this?
Let’s not get into conspiracy theories. When they litigated the Princeton lawsuit, I did expect them to find some circumstantial evidence of bias – but what they discovered was that the greater (expected percentile) number of whites and the less-than-expected number of Asians could be completely explained by admissions of legacies and athletes – take them out of the mix and the credential gap disappeared. Obviously, AA is going to have some impact on those applicants who are not URMs, just as not being a legacy or a recruited athlete puts one at a disadvantage, but that’s a fact whether you check the box or not. I’ve never been involved in admissions, but I find the suggestion in #19 that admissions staff are filled with Asian-hating individuals (or at least folks who "don’t want too many Asians) engaging in deliberate discrimination is both absurd and slanderous.
By itself, being adopted is not a “hook,” but interesting and insightful essays seem to be key in getting a kid to stand out in a sea of other high stat, accomplished applicants. It may not be the case, but it appeared to some of us that the OP’s daughter might be able to write a compelling essay about this aspect of her life. If she has other passions that are more important to her, then she should write about them. We’re simply trying to make the point that a strong essay will far outweigh any perceived disadvantage because of race and that she should not give up an essay topic simply to keep her race ambiguous.
“And, am I correct that you identify race only once in the Common App, and every school gets the same information? Or can you change it each time before submitting the app so different schools see different things (like for the essay, I think)?”
It is my understanding from when my daughter filled out the common app (last year’s cycle), that you can’t change it for individual schools.
This could contribute amusing color to an admissions essay.
Darn. I was hoping for a clear direction on this. I really appreciate all the comments! I don’t think there would be any ‘ripple effect’ on her if she chooses not to check the box and identifying. She’s very comfortable with herself. Heck, she uses chop sticks to eat her scrambled eggs!
Also, I don’t know that not checking a box is ‘working the system’ any more than taking the ACT/SAT a bajillion times, or overly-embellishing on ECs, or any number of other ways kids try to improve their chances. It’s not lying, or cheating…just a way to try to gain some minute advantage.
Re: her essay: I’ve always thought the adoption essay would have gotten cliché, but I agree a good essay would probably trump any disadvantage of checking the box. Maybe she should write it in Chinese. 
Thanks @bsalum , that’s what I figured as far as the CA was concerned.
I’m pretty sure that you can change the essay – I think up to 3 times – so yes, you could send out several “batches” of applications. Here’s one account of why one might do that . http://www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/college-application/different-versions-common-app
Looking at this same story, though, it looks like making a change to anything other than the essay results in that change being shared with everyone who has already received the app, so i don’t think you can check the box on some and not the others.
But @2muchquan , your post made me chuckle – you’ve captured the essence of what I’ve felt through all of this – Darn!, no clear direction! This whole process is just one thing to worry about after another!
D faced the same issue, and chose to identify as Asian. She applied to LACs such as Denison, Wooster, Union, HWS and Sewanee. She wrote her essay about her favorite EC, unrelated to her ethnicity. She was accepted at each school and received merit scholarships from each. Had she been applying to schools such as UC Berkeley, or perhaps the top 10 LACs, she probably would not have identified as Asian. It really depends on where your D is applying.
I’m not sure the Chinese middle name will necessarily make a difference. In our social circle we have kids with strongly Arabic, Japanese, and Greek given names. They’re all garden-variety WASP; they just have parents who are hippies. ;o)
@petrichor11 I think most people just think her middle name contains a typo 
My parents almost named me China. Original hippies!
As has been mentioned many times on CC and in the press, Asians typically dominate academic competitions and often are tops in their high school classes. I was wondering if this carries over to Asian children that were adopted and if there have been any studies that looked at this?
That would be interesting @yearstogo. Simply anecdotally, I know dozens of Chinese adoptees and I’m willing to bet that the adoptees would lose to the biologicals at the Science Olympiad.
I left it to my daughter to decide. She has nothing in her records to I dictate she’s Chinese. Nothing. Not name, not activities, not language class. In the end she decided to check the race box, but chose a school that is very diverse and didn’t need her for numbers.
I don’t think it matters. I think it would matter more if you were applying from one of the NYC high schools that are 60% Asian than if you live in Kansas with a lower population of Asians applying to Yale or Columbia.
Unless she really wants it, I would not check the box. Its none of their business.
Re #32 #33
Probably best to look at the educational attainment of the adoptive and biological parents rather than the adopted kid’s race or ethnicity to predict educational attainment.
So, @suzyQ7, is it their business to know the race of any of their applicants? Or are you just suggesting this for this particular case? I agree, either way.
For all - but in this case especially. Asians have a tougher road than others, and if it were me, I’d recommend my child to not announce it, unless they felt is was a huge part of their application.
I get it - I get why colleges do it- no one wants to go to a college that is predominately a single race or a single ‘type of kid’ - be that Asian, preppy white, all Southerners, etc… So, I understand why colleges do it - I almost agree with it. But at the same time, its really not fair to be held to a different standard because you are Asian. Maybe its because alot of the Asian applicants are so similar in their study style (favoring math/science, driven by grades, focusing on music, etc…) that makes them too similar and not their race. I don’t know. I just feel that if it was my kid, and he/she did not particularly identify with it or was fine with not showing it, then I’d be OK with it too.
I saw that them main school I would like to ‘hide’ race from is on the Universal College App (UCA), but it looks like they have separate forms for recommenders, and D couldn’t ask teachers and her counselors write 2 different recommendations, one for UCA and one for CA. What a pain.