<p>You ought to think about your comments Nin10. “Visably white” doesen’t have a lot of meaning for some people. Also, Hispanic refers to one’s language and culture, not “racial” appearance. I guess you’ve never met John Gavin, Rachel Welch, Terri Garr, Linda Ronstadt, Jose Ferrer and the list goes on. I’d recommend you to George Lopez’s joke about trying to break into show business when you look like Montezuma or Geronimo. Comments like yours are indicative of such stereotypes.</p>
<p>The use of the term “CHECK THE BOX” is a real problem and clearly just another way to denigrate people who see themselves in relation to ethnic or racial terms. Would people ever use the term “check the box” for something that is not related to ethnicity? Although the term refers in part to college applications in which people are actually checking boxes, people don’t use “ehck the box” for other parts of the application Should you check the box for being male – some colleges are looking to increase the percentage of men enrolled? Should you check the box for being an athlete? Should you check the box for religious affiliation (applying to religious schools)? People don’t ask those questions.</p>
<p>I say it’s a problem because it assumes that it is a choice for everyone. Many young people out there think of themselves as Chicano/Latino/Hispanic, and for them it’s not a matter of checking a box but how they define themselves. Sure, there are some people who suddently discover a great-grandparent while filling out applications, but there may be other students who have grown up always thinking of themselves in ethnic terms. </p>
<p>As far as the debates about getting advantages, anyone who has a passing acquaintance with admissions knows that at competitive colleges and universities it’s difficult to tell how or why people get in. So many factors are at play that it becomes difficult to tell whether ethnic identity is anything other than one factor among many. Having said that – who is getting the advantage, the students or the universities? Admissions is a meat market, and universities try to market themselves as “diverse” – a lot of great students don’t want to go to places that are not “diverse.” In some cases, it’s the universities that get the advantage of advertising certain ethnic percentages.</p>
<p>Isn’t there a distinction ultimately between Hispinics who have indigenous racial ancestry and those who have Eurasian ancestry?</p>
<p>Copterguy, Yes, I believe the common app asks gender. Many religious colleges asks students to check their faith. </p>
<p>ishmaelodyssey, Yes and no-- All races of Hispanic check ‘yes’ when asked about Hispanic ethnicity regardless of ancestry. Under the ‘race’ part of the question, the two individuals in your example could check a different race.</p>
<p>This is how it’s phrased on the common app: </p>
<p>. Are you Hispanic/Latino?
Yes, Hispanic or Latino (including Spain) No If yes, please describe your background.</p>
<hr>
<ol>
<li>Regardless of your answer to the prior question, please indicate how you identify
yourself. (Check one or more and describe your background.)
American Indian or Alaska Native (including all Original Peoples of the Americas)
Are you Enrolled? Yes No If yes, please enter Tribal Enrollment Number________________
Asian (including Indian subcontinent and Philippines)
Black or African American (including Africa and Caribbean)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Original Peoples)
White (including Middle Eastern)
___________________________________________________________</li>
</ol>
<p>Have read some, but not all, of this thread. Have to comment that the OP’s child does not meet the definition of hispanic and it would be completely dishonest to check the box. Clearly, the definition is based on CURRENT borders, not borders of 150 years ago. No wonder some members of their family think they are gaming the system - they are! The ancestor is from Texas, not Mexico. Otherwise, any ones whose great-grandparents were born in parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and CA could make the same claim. I hope that if they do decide to do this, they are found out. </p>
<p>In some cases it is enough to have a Spanish sur-name as noted on the Common App abpve. Personally, it is not clear to me why someone from Spain should have a preference over someone that is a recent immigrant from other parts of Europe. The cultural perspective from Spain is more closely aligned with America than perhaps the perspective from parts of Eastern Europe or the mideast. </p>
<p>I know one kid that received a scholarship to a very good school on the basis of her hispanic-sounding last name, that she refused to take because she was not actually a URM. Others that are actually Italian have been potentially considered hispanic due to similar sounding names. It is not always clear-cut.</p>
<p>Sorry, mom2and, your definition is wrong. It is a question of ancestry and I’m sure if the ancestry is chased back far enough it would go into what you think of as Mexico proper. It’s not a question of exactly which generation traces back to Mexico or wherever. So yes, lots of people could trace their Hispanic origins back to what is now the USA.</p>
<p>And that’s just for the example given in Post #11. For the U.S. Census and many standardized forms, race and ethnicity are completely self-identified. No % blood line is required. Third-generation Americans of Puerto Rican descent can be categorized as Hispanic.</p>
<p>As far as Native Americans, I have lived on an Indian reservation and know that there are many people who consider themselves Native Americans who are not eligible to be enrolled members of a tribe. Sometimes they are almost fully NA but don’t have enough of any one tribe to enroll. Or the paper trail was broken. For the purposes mentioned in this thread, they can certainly categorize themselves as Native American.</p>
<p>The OP tried to turn the conversation back to her concern as to whether there might be negative consequences to stating Hispanic ancestry. Personally, I think not.</p>
<p>“To qualify for this program, you must be at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnic category, not a racial category, and you may be of any race. For purposes of the NHRP, you must be from a family whose ancestors came from at least one of these countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay or Venezuela.” </p>
<p>Based on this, as mentioned in another thread, and like a previous poster on this thread, I might actually qualify as a white Hispanic. The general consensus on that thread was that it was ripping off the system, and I wouldn’t do it simply because I don’t believe in affirmative action as a rule (I check off “do not wish to say” usually). Not that it can’t be helpful to some people, but the current system is CRA-ZY.
I’m a second-generation American on my mom’s side, and 1/4 Hispanic, apparently- my grandmother is first/second generation (dad/mom) Argentinean who probably would have stayed forever except that she married my grandfather. Fortunately she didn’t stay- a lot of my family there is now poverty-stricken by various regimes and my great aunt disappeared under the junta in the eighties. However, I grew up in a non-culturally Hispanic home (except for my grandma’s amazing empanadas and her futile efforts to teach me Spanish) and do not really consider myself Hispanic (but then again, culturally I don’t consider myself white, either- if there is a white culture, even- just Jewish).
I ain’t saying nothing- but can my siblings, who haven’t registered as anything yet, write down Hispanic on their apps? (I’m going to guess not, but it’s worth a shot.)
And yes, this is hypothetical: I’ve read the angry posts previous and I know that nobody will agree. Which is fine. I’m just curious.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s okay to put Hispanic. D applied last year. She answered all the questions asked about her background on her applications honestly.</p>
<p>Since she met the criteria for “Hispanic” per College Board, she checked that she was Hispanic on all her tests and applications. She also said on the common app or wherever she could that her race was white and that she was also of Russian / Eastern European descent. It was also clear from her resume that she was Jewish. </p>
<p>So based on her Argentinian grandmother (3 generations lived there before coming to American in the late 1950’s) D is 1/4 Hispanic and 3/4 Eastern European. She felt comfortable with that because it was truthful and who she is.</p>
<p>As to how schools used that info, it is hard to tell. She got into NYU ED. I don’t think her checking Hispanic counted for a lot since she had applied for a portfolio based program. She had met one of the faculty members for an informal review of her portfolio before the final submission, so they knew her ahead of time.</p>
<p>I do think that being a National Hispanic scholar based on her PSAT score was a good thing to have on her app. Some schools did offer scholarships based on that, but not NYU.</p>
<p>As a parent, I have made total peace with how she filled out her apps. I was happy that she was able to show that her Hispanic heritage made up a portion of her ethnic makeup, but that she was also of Eastern European descent.</p>
<p>Closing year old thread. Rather than reviving an old thread please start a New Thread to ask your question.</p>
<p>For an accurate definition of Hispanic for college admissions and scholarships, please see the Definition sticky thread at the top of the Hispanic Students forum (under College Admissions, Specialty Topics).</p>
<p>A Search on the Hispanic Students forum will also yield discussions of Hispanics with backgrounds of Original Peoples of the Americas.</p>