So I am American citizen now, and I am an ethnic minority of Russia and I have no idea what to mark on common app? I was honestly thinking of leaving it blank.
My father is relatively white,Chechen and Kazakhstani, I do not know what my mother was but she was very dark skinned. I am told I am a “brown” person. My skin is dark and though I am not Hispanic I am regularly mistaken for either a bi-racial African-American or a dark skinned Mexican and when I tell them I am Russian no one believes me… I don’t think I can write in Brown on common app…
Any other dark skinned Russians out there? I know we are few and far between.
You don’t know your mom? Maybe you can write an essay about that.
My biological mother has passed away and no, I’m not going to write essay about that.
For future reference you should take a DNA test. There are several companies that do them. The results will give you an ethnic breakdown. For Chechen, however, it will probably read generically as from the Caucasus region. If your dad is part ethnically Kazakh, it might read as Asian, or Central Asia. You already know this, but you will find out more about your mother’s side this way. It would be interesting for you to know. If your mother was from Africa or was partially African, then it will tell you. Same thing if your mother was South Asian. These tests give a percentage breakdown. They are very disappointing to those who think they have Native American ancestry and find out otherwise!
Whatever you do, please do not mark Mexican or Hispanic because others have mistaken you for that.
It is what is in the blood, not what others tell you appear to resemble.
I had no intention of doing that 
I am not Hispanic and even if my mother was definitively of African descent I don’ think I would feel comfortable marking African American. In Russia I am called black, but so is anyone who is even as dark as Hispanics who is not Kazakh/Asian. In America I am just called “mixed”, Hispanic or Brown, or people just stare with a weird look on their face because they can’t figure it out.
“in the blood” I thought Hispanics were not race? I thought it was more like culture? I know that there are black Hispanics and very light skinned Hispanics? One of my classmates was a Mexican exchange student with blonde hair light skin and green eyes.
Did you know your mother when she was alive? It sounds like you didn’t. Honestly this whole race thing is very confusing, particularly your example.
Is there a box for Other? IF so, check that, otherwise leave it blank.
There is often a selection of ‘more than one’. I would choose that.
You are correct, Hispanic is a culture. The odd thing is that for the rationale used by colleges, being ‘different’ or mistaken for a minority would give you some of the disadvantages of having grown up in that minority. With the cultural shift toward identifying as whatever you want, you could reasonably make the argument that you are Russian, but identify as [fill in the blank].
One of my friends who also a “dark skinned mystery” told me that he just marked other and wrote in “brown” lol. what I hate is that the common app forces you to check “I have completed this section to my satisfaction”. No Ireally haven’t and I’m sure there are lots of people who haven’t.
Oddly, the US census definitions of “white” and “Asian” do not include Caucasian (e.g. Chechen) and central Asian (e.g. Kazakh) people:
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-05.pdf
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-11.pdf
Is there an option for “other”, writing in “Russian, Chechen, Kazakh, and unknown”?
Yeah, I’m just going to write other all the way. They have a character limit so I’ll probably just write in Russian and mixed race? One of my short essays talks about my heritage a little bit, so I’m sure they’ll get the picture.
For the Common App, at least, no. However, this section is entirely optional, so it might be best just to leave it blank.
There’s often an “other/multiracial” box that you could check, and write in “Minority ‘Black’ Chechen/Brown unknown”… You’re not African American or Hispanic, but it doesn’t mean you’re not a minority.