I’m Native American, but will it really affect my application at colleges practicing affirmative action?
Colleges generally do not give much in the way of specifics for aspects which are considered as part of subjective grading of your application. Obviously, how much of an effect there is (if any) depends on the college.
There is a tendency for many posters to exaggerate the URM effect in admissions. To be safe, it is best to make reach/match/safety assessments without assuming any URM effect. That way, you may be pleasantly surprised by more admissions than expected, rather than disappointed by fewer admissions than expected if you assume too much of a URM effect.
“I’m Native American, but will it really affect my application at colleges practicing affirmative action?”
If you have life experience as NA then it counts a lots at private univ/colleges. But if you are like Elizabeth Warren who just wants to check a box, I kind of doubt it.
Note that some (not all) colleges and scholarship programs require documented tribal affiliation to be considered as NA for their purposes.
Do you have a tribal affiliation and have you been brought up with the Native American culture as part of your life? If so it could help you. If you took some Ancestry DNA test and it came up that you have a percentage Native American as part of you background and that’s it then probably it won’t help.
There’s a race thread with 38 pages of discussion, where this topic should continue. My opinion is the best publicly available evidence indicates the boost can be substantial.
I have heard that it can be a huge asset. It is one of the most underrepresented minority groups. Good luck.
But it can also be none, since many colleges do not consider race/ethnicity at all in admissions.
^^Yeah, but if you are an American Indian with a documented tribal link (and authentic ties to said community) then you’d apply to the colleges that DO give you a substantial boost, wouldn’t you?
I would assume that any student would select colleges to apply to that are good fits (academically, financially, and otherwise), rather than using whether his/her race/ethnicity is a substantial boost as the primary filter.
^^That would be nice in a perfect world. Most people don’t have the luxury of fit vs. tons of debt, and I’d pick debt-free over warm fuzzy any day if I had a hook that let me do that.
@MotherOfDragons, How many colleges provide URMs with a free ride?
I didn’t say “free ride”, I said “debt-free”. I’m making some assumptions based on savings. You can put “less debt” in there if you want, the sentiment is the same.
American Indian, if proved with documentation is a significant hook, maybe only second to athlete. You think AO’s are guilty of how America treated blacks, they feel even more guilty on how America treated native Americans. I’m with motherofdragons, college admissions is not an ideal process, it’s an imperfect process made by flawed individuals (as all humans are flawed). Why wouldn’t you want to find a college that values diversity? Take advantage of it.
@ucbalumnus is right. There are 8 states which ban the use of AA in public universities for admissions.
I don’t agree with many hooks, but if I had one, I would use it to go to the best college for me which will give most financial aid.
Please read the pinned thread at the top of the college admissions forum about race.
@jzducol: Elizabeth Warren was raised with a family connection to her Native culture. She grew up in Oklahoma surrounded by her Delaware and Cherokee cultures, and was required to study said cultures in school.
Does she qualify for a CBIB card and Cherokee or Delaware citizenship? Apparently not. For Cherokee citizenship, your family must have lived in Eastern Oklahoma in 1906.
Many full blood Cherokees families are unable to register, since they lived in Texas, in Arkansas, or elsewhere at the time, or declined to register their families with the government (gee, I wonder why they would avoid registering since the last time they did they walked the Trail of Tears.)
Since Cherokees lived on the East Coast, they have had European contact and admixture going on five centuries now. The tribe is incredibly mixed. Our recent principal chiefs, with the exception of Wilma Mankiller, have been about 1/32. Does that make them “not Indian?” No, of course not.
I am Native. It really offends me when non-Natives give opinions on who is or isn’t Native and just how much is enough.
@Helen13 Sorry if my blanket statement offended you. But the boost from being a NA is so great that often times it brings scrutiny, which I would agree is a very offensive process. Here is an example in today’s news of a NA kid with ACT 28 who was accepted to all the most selective schools. When you have Harvard and Yale AO personally calling you for your attending their school you know you have got something truly valuable and rare. If OP can get a NA affiliation it would be huge in application. Good luck!
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/south-dakota/articles/2017-07-03/south-dakota-student-accepted-into-7-ivy-league-schools
moderators note:
please read thread on race and college admissions. closing thread