<p>
[quote]
does ethnicity play a big part into college admissions?
And does it help a lot if I'm condiered "pacific islander"?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Colleges don't release figures that make clear how big a part ethnicity plays in college admission. I think that the category of Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander is considered to be an underrepresented minority ("URM") at some colleges, although I'm not sure which ones.</p>
<p>MODERATOR'S NOTE TO "What will my ethnicity be?" THREAD: </p>
<p>The thread has been merged from the Common Application Forum to the main FAQ thread on the College Admissions Forum. As the first few posts in this FAQ thread make clear, students of Pakistani ancestry would be expected to check "Asian" as an ethnic self-identification, regardless of nationality (country of citizenship). It is, of course, possible and legal to check no ethnicity category at all, and in the United States, if you are truly an international student, your ethnicity will be reported to the federal government as "international." Post #2 in this thread gives links to the federal definitions. Post #4 links to information from various colleges about what they report to the federal government, which will give you plenty of examples.</p>
<p>
[quote]
a Sudanese kid with an American passport claimed himself to be an African-American
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A Sudanese kid with an American passport IS an African-American, and no one would expect him to designate any other race category on a college application, unless he chose to designate nothing at all.</p>
<p>No one has mentioned the West Indes, and I was wondering if it falls under the "black/african-american" subcategory. </p>
<p>I'm talking about Martinique in particular, where indigenous people are black. Martinique is now a French state, and obviously it's not in Africa, so...?</p>
<p>Some places don't have a slot for it (so "other" makes the most sense), and some places just use "black." Should I specify or is Martiniquais black-black?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Martinique
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The federal definition is </p>
<p>"Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as 'Black, African Am., or Negro,' or provide written entries such as African American, Afro American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian." </p>
<p>You can see Haiti, which has a similar history in this regard to Martinique, listed there. In general, a black person of known historical African ancestry from the Caribbean (any country) can self-identify as "Black or African American" within the letter and the spirit of the federal race categories in the United States. If a person from Martinique applying to a United States college is still not a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, the college should report the student as "international," but the situation you describe would be described as a "Black or African American" student applying to college if the student is an American citizen or permanent resident. </p>
<p>It is always the applicant's choice, by federal law, not to self-identify an ethnic group or race at all, but black would be the usually expected race for someone from Martinique. </p>
<p>Good luck in your applications.</p>
<p>Thank you, I didn't even see Haiti, or else I wouldn't have asked. </p>
<p>So between "African American" and "Other: Caribbean" I might as well go with AA?</p>
<p>By next year, colleges won't have a choice of "other." There will be a forced choice among the federally defined ethnicity and race categories. For an Afro-Caribbean who is a United States citizen or permanent resident, the most fitting choice is Black or African American, and for the Afro-Caribbean who is a citizen of a different country, the college should report that as "international."</p>
<p>Howard University reports NO race or ethnicity for 98 percent of its students. (The other 2 percent are reported as non-Hispanic black.) </p>
<p>My father told me that I am 1/8 Native American but on the Common App, it asks for the tribe and the date enrolled. What if i was never enrolled? How do I get enrolled?</p>
<p>Maybe you're not native american?</p>
<p>Search the tribe's name and their site will have directions about confirming your heritage. There are a lot of folks in our state that weren't told about their heritage because their parents didn't want the social consequences for their children - sad. This happened in my family.</p>
<p>It is not always easy to prove, though. If your great-grandparent wanted badly enough to avoid being labeled, they may not appear on any of the standard rolls.</p>
<p>I'm Asian, but not Asian-American; I am fully South Korean. I am not a citizen or a permanent resident of the US, so I will be considered an international.</p>
<p>In this case, does it hurt to be Asian in terms of college admissions?</p>
<p>I'm in the same boat. I'm 100% Skorean baby!!! Anyways. There was a report released (a year or two back?) that it actually can be detrimental to be Asian because of stereotypes. Although admission officers may not be trying to make assumptions, it seems to be a subconscious thing that being Asian = higher test scores. Thus, even if your test scores really aren't that bad at all, compared to what they "should" be, it might make them seem...not as good. As a result, I am not putting my ethnicity on my applications (even though it's kind of obvious when they ask for my parents' place of birth...).</p>
<p>you're not? Wouldn't they know by the name anyway?
Hmmm I wonder if I should do the same.</p>
<p>Lol yeah, that's the irony about it. But I'm still not going to. Just to reduce hammering it into their heads that I'm Asian. I'm sure Yale is overrun with Asians and I just don't want to overdo it.</p>
<p>lol when I asked this questions to Emory's admission guy</p>
<p>he mummbled for a bit and said Yes</p>
<p>ughhhhh
stupid over-achieving asians.</p>
<p>so when I was filling out my common app, at first I filled in that I'm Asian because I figured my name would give it away anyway.</p>
<p>then I tried to uncheck it and it still shows up in my print previews that I'm Asian. will this show up when I send them the actual app or no?
and how do I make the ethnicity answer go away even though I already unchecked the box and did not select anything from the drop down menu?</p>
<p>Do a DNA test and send the result to colleges.</p>
<p>"he mummbled for a bit and said Yes"</p>
<p>hahhahaa</p>