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<p>I know Princeton has a pre-orientation program for International students, which is common, as it takes longer for international students to adjust to a whole new culture as well as all of their regular academic orientation. It’s not offered to them quietly, they have a whole page for it. I don’t know that Princeton offers any other pre-orientation type programs however.</p>
<p>No, it is not the pre-orientation for internationals, it is an academic prep course thing, it is not advertised to the general population, only by invitation. (Based on a very few years ago, perhaps they ended it.) </p>
<p>(My D’s two URM roommates had both attended, and were well-settled in by the time the other frosh arrived.)</p>
<p>But it is possible that they were identified based on their GPA or their need for some pre-requisite course and not their URM status for further academic prep? I’m sorry to harp on this, but it would be incredible for a college to say that only minority students, solely on the basis of their having skin of a different color, should be offered special prep courses during the summer. White students with lower GPAs, should not be offered this, in fact, GPA is not even a factor, just being black/hispanic/asian is enough for us to assume off the bat you’re going to fail. It’s a very racist proposition to make, which is why I think there may be assumptions being made here that don’t reflect the reality.</p>
<p>off topic for the OP, but to Smithie, Ursinus College has such a program.</p>
<p>It provides a 3 week summer session for minorities. Traditionally it is utilized by incoming freshmen. There are also on-going services which include “academic and personal support.” Most of the kids are encourage to utilize peer tutors provided by the school.</p>
<p>Possible negative consequences. I can think of but one - If your children were to get an award (at our house, we call it money for being brown), how do they respond to other kids who didn’t? Will kids who grew up strongly identifying themselves as Mexican or Hispanic look at your reward recipients and accuse them of gaming the system. How will they feel about that? </p>
<p>Honestly, that’s the only negative I can think of. That would bother mine, but mostly because they’ve always identified strongly with their cultural background (which is not Hispanic). But, only one gets questioned because the other really looks ethnic.</p>
<p>if i walked up to your kids and asked them “what they were” would they say hispanic or white, etc.? if the kid has answered hispanic/ mexican for the past 16/17 years of his/her life, then mark the box. If not, then it is very obvious that they don’t have hispanic culture and influence. eating mexican food doesn’t make a person hispanic, or else most of america would be hispanic as well.</p>
<p>@longhaul: Thanks. I find that surprising, but interesting to know.</p>
<p>Well…I’m out of date, but the GCs at my offspring’s old high school encouraged kids to check the box. </p>
<p>The one we all found hilarious was when a kid with a name like Weide Eng --not his actual name–was named a Hispanic scholar. He was 100% Chinese. However, his parents were immigrants from South America. His great-grandparents or grandparents–I forget which–had gone from China to South America to work on the construction of the railroads. His family stayed there for roughly 100 years. His parents then moved to the US. He qualified. Now I doubt that any admissions officer looked at a name like Weide Eng and thought “Hispanic.” But rules are rules. He qualified and got the money.</p>
<p>DEverly: Yes - have them check the Hispanic box. There is only one way that the United States Government determines whether a person is Hispanic or not: SELF REPORTING. If one identifies oneself with an Hispanic cultural identity, that person is Hispanic in the eyes of the United States Government. Colleges require colleges to ask whether applicants are Hispanic. (There is no requirement to answer).</p>
<p>If your kids are 1/4 Mexican and they identify at all with that heritage, they are legally entitled to self-identify themselves as Hispanic. Ask the United States Census Bureau.</p>
<p>If colleges are going to give you a tip for self-identifying as Hispanic, go ahead and mark the box. You do not make the rules, they do. If you get in, you get in. Your job is to do the best you can for your kids. Let the social scientists and political activists sort out the rest.</p>
<p>By the way, when you mention that your mil was discriminated against because she wasn’t white (which is a race, not an ethnic group, so you can be a white Hispanic but it sounds like she wasn’t), then it makes me think that perhaps the children are 1/4 Native American. Is that a possibility? I do realize that some schools want proof with NA but, if it’s true, it’s true. </p>
<p>jonri, yes, there are Asians in Latin America. The former president of Peru (Alberto Fujimori) was the son of Japanese and, when the next government tried to charge him with crimes, he sought exile in Japan. As a matter of fact, the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan is in Brazil. They are Hispanic and Asian. One’s an ethnic group and one’s a race.</p>
<p>Here is the definition they provide to qualify for NHRP:
“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>I had a couple of young college women work for me who I would never have taken for Hispanic if they hadn’t told me. Both spoke flawless “American English” and looked like your average Nordic stereotype. They were born in Chile. Their parents were born in Chile and migrated to the US when the girls were toddlers. Their four grandparents were from Germany. </p>
<p>These girls were by commonly accepted definitions Hispanic and that’s what they told their respective colleges. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve got a definition of what constitutes an Hispanic student that is commonly accepted by colleges. If your child fits that definition and it helps with admissions, scholarships or whatever…use it to your advantage. No one needs to know outside the admissions office and you are not doing anything unethical.</p>
<p>Yes, I am fully aware that there are Asians in South America. I also understand that one is an ethnic group and one is a race. That’s basically the point of my story, after all.</p>
<p>Do NOT ever list that you are Native American unless you have proof. It can back fire, big time. Moreover, in some cases, “Native American” is defined in such a way that Mayans, Aztecs, etc. do NOT come within the definition of “Native American.”</p>
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<p>Your children qualify; they are 1/4 Hispanic. I say check the box. I don’t see any reason not to. The box to be checked isn’t “check only if you speak Spanish / identify strongly with your Hispanic heritage / are underprivileged / are dark-skinned / blah blah blah.” The box is “check if you are 1/4 or more Hispanic.” I would check it and not think twice. I believe in using whatever advantages you legitimately have, and this is one of them.</p>
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<p>Irrelevant. That’s not what the box asks. It says nothing about how strongly you self-identify with a given culture (and there is not just one mass “Hispanic culture,” and certainly it’s not all Mexican). It just asks what your background is.</p>
<p>Following this logic, should my son check the native-american box because my mother-in-law’s mother was half cherokee indian? I think this is gaming the system.</p>
<p>In our upper-income community, there are hispanic-descent and african-american parents who have attended ivy league schools, have extremely renumerative professional careers, and maintain well-heeled households. Their children no longer fit the description of “under-privileged” minority group. Yet both parents and colleges are counting on their URM participation, which seems inappropriate given original mission of “URM”.</p>
<p>[UVA’s</a> Center for Diversity in Engineering](<a href=“http://www.seas.virginia.edu/admin/diversity/undergrad/bridge.php]UVA’s”>http://www.seas.virginia.edu/admin/diversity/undergrad/bridge.php)
“BRIDGE is an intensive six-week summer program, designed to assist incoming first-year minority students in making a smooth transition from high school to college. Through participation in BRIDGE, students will receive instruction in the difficult subjects that are usually offered during the fall semester. Participants will also gain first-hand experience about college life. While minority students are targeted for this program, participation is open to all accepted incoming first-year students.”</p>
<p>Not remedial, it’s more like summer semester, and not limited to minority students</p>
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<p>MIT does provide a summer program to incoming URM freshmen</p>
<p>Interphase Program
Interphase is a rigorous seven-week Summer residential academic- , confidence- and community-building program for admitted freshmen in transition to MIT. Interphase is designed to foster high achievement and content-mastery both for underrepresented minorities (African American, Mexican American, Hispanic/Latino and Native American) and for other students who demonstrate the bright promise of ability and have overcome significant odds to be admitted to MIT.</p>
<p>I guess I stand corrected. Surprised, but corrected.</p>
<p>I’m still a little confused about just how Hispanic the OP’s husband is. Were his Mexican ancestors Spanish-speaking Mexicans? Or were they Anglo ranchers in what was then Mexico, and is now Texas? If it’s the former, then I would probably check Hispanic. If it’s the latter, well, it’s kind of like the white South Africans who want to check “African-American.” I do think that might lead to a stigma, but perhaps not the one OP was referring to.</p>
<p>jonri, right… which is why I don’t understand at all how people could think the OP’s kids are Hispanic. (And I say that as a Hispanic!) It seems to me that her husband’s family is native Texan. She says the last of his family to be in Mexico was there 150 years ago. (Certainly way before the mil was born although she may have had some sort of stigma which, to me, sounds like it’s because she wasn’t white.) So, to me, if these children are seen as Hispanic, then people can ‘inherit’ being H and people who find out that their ancestors set foot in Latin America or were from Spain 500 years ago are H-- and I don’t think that’s the same as saying they’re “1/4 Hispanic.”</p>