You are ‘allowed’ to check whatever boxes, or no boxes, you wish. It is self reporting. If you hope to benefit from NA, you may be asked for more documentation, registration in a tribe, history of participation in tribal or Indian events.
[deleted] - Thanks for the link @InigoMontoya, worth looking into some more.
Thanks for that link @Dolemite. Very interesting information in there. We adopted my D19 and she is naturally curious about her genetic heritage. We’ve discussed doing DNA testing but she’s not ready for that yet. But if you were to ask her how she identifies right now, she’d say I don’t know. She looks in the mirror and guesses she’s white with Hispanic ancestry, but she feels unable to identify with any greater specificity than that.
@Corinthian ‘Hispanic’ is probably the hardest to identify in a genetics test due to what it is. It’ll be a moving target based on the number of samples they get from people self identified as Hispanic from specific regions.
@Lindagaf @doschicos @ucbalumnus
Can you elaborate on what you mean by “identify as”? I’m really trying to understand this.
And connected to that question @twoinanddone - when you say someone is “allowed” to check whatever boxes one wishes since it is self-reporting - how does that play out if a student marks a box that is markedly different from outside observation?
I’m not trying to be snarky - I’m trying to understand.
Did the OP grow up living their life as Asian/white, etc? Upbringing, identification at schools thus far, culturally, etc. I don’t think you just change everything because you took a dna test, @Hoggirl .
OP is Asian or Asian/Caucasian. To me, those are the choices here.
Thanks, @doschicos -
I guess I meant in more general terms of the definition/use of “identify with.” I guess I don’t understand what that means in the context of race?? Several people used that phrased, and I’m trying to understand what that means.
Basically, do you think of yourself as ____ in contexts other than checking boxes on college applications or the results of a DNA test.
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In my case, I’ve always believed I was 50% French, 50% Irish. Now I’ve learned that I’m 47% Irish, very little French, and 27% Norwegian. Not sure I’ll really “identify as” Norwegian. I know nothing about Norwegian culture. There are no family stories about Norway. I have no idea where that lineage came from. Genetically it’s in the test results, but I’m not sure how to answer questions about my heritage now. I’ll likely always “identify as” half Irish, half French.
Could get very complex very quickly if students perceive that there is an advantage in claiming one race over another for college acceptance. I can see some trial in the future debating on whether the college was asking what race do you perceive yourself to be vs. What race does “science” perceive you to be. What if 23 and Me says that I fit into multiple racial categories? Should I check all the boxes. (roll the sarcasm).
To me it’s not so much how I “perceive” myself as opposed to what I spent 50 years of my life believing and the stories and ethnic identity I was raised in. Unless genetic testing is going to be required to prove identity, there will always be people who check boxes that aren’t scientifically accurate. Yes, there may be some that try to game the system - hence why Native American requires tribal enrollment.
What do students who were adopted but not provided any family history check? In the case I mentioned earlier of the Irish Catholic and Jewish babies that were switched in the hospital, what do their descendants now check, as opposed to what they would have checked prior to testing? It’s an interesting conundrum.
@InigoMontoya Interesting Yes! And would make a great college essay. One could easily explore the ethics, dilemmas and many other aspects of checking off a box.
They aren’t asking for a scientific answer (or quasi.) It asks how you identify yourself. Most people have a sense of their family identity, traditionally, culturally, socio-economically, and yes, appearance, etc, which comes from more than a DNA test. The difficulty does, in many cases, come for adoptees, who may have been immersed in a culture (or cultures) not linked to that DNA, for most of their lives.
For the rest, learning suddenly that some ancestor(s) lived somewhere, had some ethnicity , far back in time, isn’t enough. You didn’t live that life, it’s the past. If you didn’t even know it was in your genes until some test, you have a hard time justifying it as your “identity.”
And what most affects your admission is how you come across.
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@indigomontoya You’re caucasian. 
The ancestry you are discussing is all based in western Europe which it makes it simple on college apps, census surveys, etc. since none of them break it down to more detail
Also, answering the questions is always optional. You don’t need to answer.
In admissions, Native American does not require enrollment info for all colleges. Really, primarily in those in areas with a high concentration of NA (eg, parts of the midwest and southwest,) mostly public U’s or some scholarships.
And for the reasons above, the uncertainty in testing results, and more, many tribes no longer use genetic testing.
A student completing the application is allowed to choose any box or no box at all. The only one that might raise questions is checking Native American because the tribes have restrictions on claiming that status.
My daughter is 100% Han Chinese, but was raised in the US and doesn’t identify as Chinese at all. She doesn’t like Chinese music or food or art or folk stories. She Identifies as American, likes country music, likes surfer clothing, likes salad. Most of her friends are white.
She thought long and hard before checking the Asian box on her application, and only did it because it might help the school in the diversity stats. If she ever took a DNA test, it would be for the medical information, not to find out if she is anything other than Chinese.
Correct, which is why I also cited examples where the difference might be greater, such as the switched at birth Irish and Jewish situation. There are also situations where people find out the person they thought was their father really wasn’t their father, and the biological father might be someone who “checks a different box”.
I can only speak to my situation, but in researching ancestry test results I’ve read about many interesting scenarios that have much more significant impact than just changing what part of western Europe someone is descended from.
Strictly speaking, people with ancestry from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Russia (e.g. Chechnya) would be those who are more accurately described as “Caucasian”.
Sure, at one point, @ucbalumnus, but the term isn’t defined so narrowly in current usage.
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Isn’t the reason that Northern Europeans, etc are referred to as Caucasians because their ancestors migrated from the Caucasus mountains?