What ethnicity am I??

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My entire family and I was born in Egypt, and the common app is confusing me. It says....</p>

<p>Regardless of your answer to the prior question, please indicate how you identify
yourself. (Check all that apply.) </p>

<p>Please describe your background ________________________________________________
 Black or African American (including Africa and Caribbean)</p>

<p> White (including Middle Eastern)
Please describe your background ________________________________________________</p>

<p>Egypt is both in africa and a middle eastern country, so could I choose?</p>

2

<p>dont take this the wrong way, but if your skin is more black than white, or is more white than black, check one of the boxes. and on the line write egyptian.</p>

3

<p>Ha i take absolutely no offense to it, and I’m a dark person so Im leaning toward writing african american</p>

4

<p>haha okay check the african american box and in the descripption put egyptian. they shouldn’t have these confusing terminology anyway :P</p>

5

<p>Thats what I’m going to do, I mean I’m not lying or anything. How do colleges view egyptians, are they considered a minority?</p>

6

<p>If you are ethnically Egyptian, you are considered white for the purposes of the question.</p>

7

<p>egypt is in africa, and the common app says including africa, so why would I be incorrect?</p>

8

<p>well, were both your parents born in egypt? are they both black?</p>

9

<p>Egyptians are Caucasian. You are white.</p>

<p>Putting African is a flat out lie. You know perfectly well this describes a race of dark skinned curly black haired individuals. Region does not define race. I would say the exact same thing to a Caucasian from South Africa.</p>

<p>You could probably get away with the lie without getting caught. Just make sure you don’t apply to that one Ivy which asks your picture for verification .</p>

10

<p>yea both in egypt and both tan, not black</p>

11

<p>[Egypt</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt]Egypt”>Egypt - Wikipedia)

helpful, right?
@sentimentGX4 you’re right. it’s safer to put white, because then you wouldn’t be taking advantage of the minority thing with africans.</p>

12

<p>I believe they use the US Census definitions, which classify North Africans and Middle Easterners as white. That’s just the way it is. It is a little confusing.</p>

<p>ETA: IIRC there should be more detailed definitions of what they mean by the racial classifications somewhere on the site, and if you look at those, it’s pretty obvious that Middle East = Caucasian = white.</p>

13

<p>yea youre right and Ive been doing some research and egyptian is considered white by the us census so I think ill just be on the safe side and put white.</p>

14

<p>They are not asking you which continent you were born on; they are asking for self-identified ethnicity for obvious reasons. It would be unethical for you to put African American and you know it. If this is really over your head, you really shouldn’t be going to college in the first place.</p>

15

<p>honestly, i would personally put black. and they couldn’t really accuse you of anything because you are technically african. i know an egyptian person. he didn’t look like full black to me, but his skin was brown and his hair curly. </p>

<p>the AA boost can only help</p>

16

<p>You are Middle Eastern, not African-American. Cut that **** out.</p>

<p>‘African descent,’ for the purposes of that particular question, does NOT mean ‘descendant of Dutch settlers in South Africa,’ nor does it mean ‘human of any ethnicity, as humanity originated in Africa,’ and it certainly doesn’t mean 100% Egyptian (which makes you Caucasian and Middle Eastern, by the way). It means dark-skinned person with roots in Sub-Saharan Africa who, because of his or her distinctly <em>African-American</em> appearance, has been or can be subjected to a certain treatment by a certain type of people.</p>

<p>You’re trying to game the system AND playing dumb about it, which is just obnoxious.</p>

<p>Edit: Okay, you’re not. Maybe you were just genuinely confused. Sorry for going off on you.</p>

17

<p>I was just confused, thats all, I see that I have to put white after research. Take it easy ghostt i was just asking a question</p>

18

<p>Yes, I see that and apologize. The thing is, there are some people who try to pass themselves off as African American (in college admissions) despite knowing perfectly well that they just aren’t, and they annoy me a lot.</p>

<p>Again, sorry.</p>

19

<p>Its ok. That irritates me too thats why i wanted clarification. Thanks for the help</p>

20

<p>wouldn’t a white person from south africa not be ethnically south african? they would be ethnically dutch, no? if you are ethnically not african, then obviously don’t put african. </p>

<p>but if you are ethnically egyptian, i’ve always thought that you’d be ethnically black. excuse my ignorance. i was not aware that ethnic egyptians were classified as ethnic middle easterners and not ethnic africans.</p>