Posting this question of behalf of my friend’s child.
The kid is bi-racial (or not?). Mother is Latina, father is white. Parents are divorced, joint custody. This kid loves and doesn’t want to offend relatives on both sides. Thus she says that she is bi-racial, half Hispanic and half white. Phenotypically, she looks Mediterranean: olive skin, dark curly hair, narrow face, European facial features. She speaks Spanish, regularly visits relatives in Latin America. Roman-Catholic, active in church. Born in USA.
What should she write on Common Application? Naturally, her mother wants her to put “Hispanic”. The kid doesn’t want to offend her father and wants to put both, Hispanic and white (non-Hispanic). If she does so, would she be counted as URM by colleges?
Generally, if a child puts more than one race (ethnic origin), is he/she counted as URM, as white, or as bi-racial? How colleges are reporting such kids? Do they count them towards URM pool of students?
She should put what she wants. Doesn’t matter how she looks or what she speaks or where she travels. She is both Hispanic (her ethnicity) and white (her race). For reporting ethnicity, I would imagine a college would count her as Hispanic.
For most institutions that are considering an applicant as an URM, it is important delineate your tie and relationship to said communities. By way of example, a biracial applicant that lives in coop in Grammercy Park, will not be treated the same, as a first generation college applicant from the Yakima Valley.
She qualifies as Hispanic. Her Dad doesn’t need to see and probably doesn’t care what she puts on her applications. She can put bi-racial if she prefers. It is unlikely to reduce her chances if she does and that makes her more comfortable.
Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race so the child is not bi-racial unless mom is black, Asian, or Native American/Aleutian. I suspect for many colleges, especially the liberal arts colleges, being Hispanic she would be considered URM but this varies. You need to check out each college.
I know that Hispanic is an ethnicity and not race. Somehow, it sounds weird to say bi-ethnic. Especially, since it is not true. Her father is German-Irish-something else in terms of ethnicity. In this sense, she is multi-ethnic. Hispanic-German-Irish-many others …
Just wonder: How colleges decide to report Hispanic-white students? Do they count towards URM if they check both boxes?
She really doesn’t want to be counted towards “Others”. I understand, because “others” sound like “whatever”, as if she doesn’t know or doesn’t care about her ancestors.
Could half-bloods get benefits of affirmative action?
I wonder if colleges look at the application as a whole or just the “race box”? If applicant checks 2 races (ethnicities) then college, probably, has to put her into “two-or-more-races” category. Most applicants in this category are Asian/White. They are not counted towards affirmative action.
If she checks 2 boxes, does she automatically give up affirmative action benefits? (Would be curious to know shat happens to Black/Hispanic kid).
What has she or her mother previously put down on forms? My kids are half Hispanic and have been considered Hispanic on preschool, elementary, middle school, high school and college forms when they specifically ask if you are Hispanic. When forms requested only their race, or what race we consider ourselves, we would put down Caucasian.
I think it could look odd/opportunistic if all of a sudden she “discovered” her Hispanic self for college admissions – though I would still recommend she mark Hispanic.
When my older ds was enrolling in school, my dh was highly insulted that the options for ethnicity were so limited. All four of his grandparents were born in the same Middle Eastern country, and he felt being reduced to “white” or “Anglo” was marginalizing. Well, all four of my grandparents were born in Mexico so we decided to mark Hispanic. I’m glad we did once college admissions rolled around!
A) It should be what she identifies with.
B) The National Hispanic Recognition Program (part of National Merit) requires that you be 25% Hispanic to qualify.
My DD has a Puerto Rican Grandmother, and the rest of her Gparents are American of unknown origins…she identifies as hispanic for her heritage.
@bopper: have friends exactly like your DD with puerto rican grandmother. are there any other benefits or programs or opportunities besides NHRP that you’ve seen or found that they might look into? hope you don’t mind me asking . . .
Unless its changed again since last year, the Common App makes it fairly easy and straightforward in this girls case.
First, the Common App asks the student if she identifies as Latino/a or Hispanic? Check yes. (This part addresses the ethnicity referenced above by others.) It will then ask a second question (this addresses race), if the student identifies as American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, black or African American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, or white. She can check as many of those as she wishes and based on what you have stated, she would check white.
The formatting of the questions this way recognizes the difference between ethnicity and race. The girl in question doesn’t have to choose either white or hispanic - she is both! I still think some people mistakenly assume hispanics/latinos look a certain way in terms of hair color, skin color, etc. They come in all colors and can be a mixture of white, black, and/or many different indigenous affiliations.
In general, she would be treated as a URM, but URMs can carry different weights in getting an edge in admissions based on hispanic/latino origin (Mexican vs Argentinean, for example), socioeconomic status, first generation or not, etc.
Just answer honestly. I always feel uncomfortable with these kind of questions because it implies one can pick and choose what to self-identify as just to get a perceived leg-up in any given situation.
It’s not as if an application asks “Are you an URM or over-represented background?”, it asks you to describe it. So what’s the problem with saying answering ‘yes’ to being Hispanic or Latino, and then selecting ‘White’ and ‘Asian’ as racial backgrounds?
Also, as a general comment -
Hispanic is an ethnicity. One can be of any race and be Hispanic.
As such, one is not ‘bi-racial’ because they are half-Hispanic.
Most people have more than one ethnicity.
Personally, I find it rather disconcerting to refer to someone who is Hispanic and white as a ‘half-blood’.
Blue eyes, white as snow skin here. Not Catholic, Irish name, and speak Spanish poorly. But I am white AND Hispanic. She should put whatever she wants.
I really don’t think it makes a difference to colleges. Even if it did, that shouldn’t make a lick of difference in her decision.
Please don’t ever call someone a half blood. I have fully human blood, TYVM
