<p>I'm half-white and half-asian. Is it ok to put just white when the app asks you to check your ethnicity that you identify with?</p>
<p>i think there's a choice 'mixed race'</p>
<p>i may be wrong</p>
<p>Not on the common app</p>
<p>See the FAQ: </p>
<p>You can choose to designate no group at all. The FAQ thread has definitions and links to federal documents on this issue.</p>
<p>White, Asian, both, or leaving it blank are all acceptable. It's up to you.</p>
<p>you can leave it blank. if you're applying to a college that has a low asian population and is trying to add diversity, then i would put asian. good luck.</p>
<p>^Chubeebo, I can't think of a top college which has a low Asian population. lol</p>
<p>I think Asians have a harder time getting into top colleges then White people, simply because the Asian demographic is more competitive. So, putting white or "other" might be beneficial here, if only so slightly.</p>
<p>^Vanderbilt? According to the admitted class profile, it has 7% Asians. Compare that with peer schools with Asian populations above 20% and Cal with an Asian population at 50%.</p>
<p>Lots of small schools also tend to lack Asians.</p>
<p>hi monoTombo. you got me there, buddy.. :)</p>
<p>actually, i was thinking more in terms of colleges like Wake Forest, or some LACs with low Asian populations.</p>
<p>What Race Should I be?: </p>
<p>Human</p>
<p>Which one do you consider yourself to be?</p>
<p>While the CA does not have a mixed-race category, it does say to mark all categories that apply, which serves the same purpose.</p>
<p>Be as honest as possible unless there's only one option, in which case put the one you most recognize with or mixed race, if that's an option.</p>
<p>I never filled out an application that didn't have the option to 'Choose all that apply'. If you feel the need to add your race, why not mark both Asian and white?</p>
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<p>I disagree. Most schools don't consider Asians "underrepresented minorities" ("URMs") so they don't benefit from affirmative action; but they surely don't consider whites URMs, either. I just think if you're Asian or white you're in the same pool, and schools will just choose the candidates within that pool who have the best stats, essays, ECs, represent geographical diversity, etc. African-American and Latino applicants are considered URMS, they do lend racial/ethnic diversity, and they may get a little boost on that basis; Asian-American and non-Hispanic white applicants generally don't.</p>
<p>That said, however, most schools draw most of their applicants from a regional pool, and most schools (well maybe not all publics, but certainly the top publics) do want geographic diversity. So if you're half-Asian and from NY, you may get geographic diversity points, and possibly even ethnic diversity points, in parts of the South or Midwest where they generally see relatively few New Yorkers and local Asian populations are small. For example, Grinnell, a very fine LAC in Iowa, says its student body is "15 percent students of color," by which I'm pretty sure they mean black, Latino, and Asian combined. That's pretty good for Iowa but very low for New York or California. I'll bet as a half-Asian New Yorker you'd be a pretty attractive catch for them, provided your stats are in the range they're looking for.</p>
<p>Bottom line; I don't think it will ever hurt to identify yourself as "white and Asian" and at a place like Grinnell or Vanderbilt it might help.</p>
<p>btw, don't put no race so you can gain any sort of advantage because you won't. They'll no your race by ur name.</p>
<p>Check the facts that colleges report to the federal government: </p>
<p>@meadow36</p>
<p>If I put no race then they'd think I was white, because my name is 100% German. </p>
<p>I think I'll just put no race and if they require it I'll then have to think more about that. Oh college application woes >_<</p>
<p>I would choose all that apply or multiracial :)</p>