What should I put for race?

<p>gosh sometimes being asian is so... frustrating (let's put it that way)
but i have broken many molds of being one (not strictly in a positive sense)...</p>

<p>Like many posts, the answer is "it depends". Certainly some schools with big reputations have lots of international applicants. So there being an international (not specifically S Korean) does hurt as you'll be vying against many other Internationals.</p>

<p>However, some LACs and other lesser-known but still fantastic schools are hungry for qualified internationals. Applying to those, you'll be unique and get special consideration.</p>

<p>At others, your international status won't be a plus or minus. </p>

<p>Again, it's your INTERNATIONAL status that is the main factor, not that you're ethnically Korean.</p>

<p>Finally, I find that often when Americans ask "Does being Asian hurt my chances?" -- my reply is "that it's all relative" -- because on the whole, Asian Americans have better educational opportunities and achievement than their non-Asian peers. The likelihood for success is heightened by this relationship -- so being Asian is a good thing overall. Maybe not for admissions to HYPS etc but that gets lost on a site like CC</p>

<p>(BTW, I'm Chinese-American and graduated from an HYP college)</p>

<p>You're just now enrolling in a tribe in order to gain an edge in admissions? Seems disingenuous.</p>

<p>If you have lived your live as a white person, I don't think you have the grounds to check off "Native American", buddy...</p>

<p>I disagree. Native american hook is the prerogative of each college. If they determine a person is NA by blood, but not culture, that is for the adcom to decide, not you.</p>

<p>By your reasoning, an african american who grew up in affluent suburbia around mostly non AM neighbors and friends should not apply as an AM.</p>

<p>Go confirm you NA status, and apply as such.</p>

<p>Call the tribe or speak to your grandparents. You're absolutely entitled to apply as a Native American.</p>

<p>
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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?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That's an interesting question. I don't know how (or even if) the Common Application allows unchecking answers that have previously been checked, but it seems to me that it would have to do this, just to cover the cases when someone clicks the wrong checkbox out of inadvertence.</p>

<p>
[quote]
How do I prove that I am 1/8 Native American?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If that is what the Common Application is doing, what happens if you check Native American as a self-identification by race and leave the enrollment information blank? Enrollment is not a requirement under federal law to self-identify as Native American.</p>

<p>Mistofolis, Hahaa no, I am totally the same way...Kind of.
I try too hard to be Asian, but in the end, I live in an all-white community so it's been really hard to show them that I'm not really the sushi-lovin, anime-obsessing, 2400 SAT Asian they expect me to be. I think. (but I love sushi and I think anime is..fun)</p>

<p>Being Asian regardless of sub-ethnicity hurts. Sucks for me since I'm South-Asian because I'm Bengali. Oh well.</p>

<p>Well... Internationals, whether Asians or not, have a tough time getting in anywhere. However, Koreans do enjoy a great deal of success in this field so good luck to you. </p>

<p>And for domestic Asians. The "being Asian hurts" thing is more of a myth than truth. According to several books and a Department of Education study, the reason why Whites get into ultra selective colleges with lower scores and GPA than Asians is because of solely two things.
1) Legacies and 2) Athletes. </p>

<p>So... its just bad holistic factors at work, not that the is system at fault. As a domestic Korean resident myself, I wish you all luck.</p>

<p>MODERATOR'S NOTE TO "Does it hurt to be Asian?" THREAD: </p>

<p>Insofar as there is a definite answer to the question in the "Does it hurt to be Asian?" thread, it is found in the general FAQ thread on race in college admission, into which the thread is now merged. </p>

<p>


</p>

<p>What will put you most at disadvantage in the admission process is not being a United States citizen or permanent resident. It is generally harder for international students to be admitted to most United states colleges and universities, other things being equal.</p>

<p>WHAT? Even if you proved you're 1/8 native american, wouldn't you have to put down the other 7/8ths of our ancestry? Are you really ONLY designating yourself as a Native American? That could be problematic...</p>

<p>The federally approved forms next year will say "choose one or more" when asking about ethnicity. It's fine for any applicant to decide what to self-identify with among the ethnicities to which that applicant has some genuine connection, or to self-identify with none of them at all.</p>

<p>Let's get down to cases
I signed up to this site specifically for posters help an opinion-</p>

<p>Applicant (American citizen) is 1/2 Egyptian- Father's history and family currently lives on Sudanesse border.
Is applicant able to put AFRICAN AMERICAN?</p>

<p>Hi, WALK LIKE ONE, </p>

<p>I saw your private message. The ordinary application of the federal definitions would call a citizen of the country Egypt a "white" person, because most Egyptian people are of North African or Arab ancestry such that they look "white" to most Americans. However, Egypt is a multiracial country in much the same way the United States is, and there can be people in Egypt who would be regarded as "black" in the United States, because of their tropical African ancestry. If you have received local advice that a particular person can self-identify as black, because that person looks black to people who know him, I wouldn't second-guess that.</p>

<p>I am a U.S. Citizen, but my race is "other" (I am Lebanese-American). Will this help me in my college admissions?</p>

<p>I'm not a fan of affirmative action btw because I think it is unfair to many people (no time for political arguments though!); however, just for curiousities sake, I was wondering.</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>I'm applying to: Yale, Harvard, Columbia, U.Penn., Duke, Washington University in St. Louis, UNC, Georgetown, Cornell, and also Princeton.</p>

<p>MODERATOR'S NOTE TO THE "Question about minority status?" THREAD: </p>

<p>This new thread was merged into the existing FAQ and discussion thread about race in college admissions. </p>

<p>


</p>

<p>The race of a Lebanese person is "white" by the federal definitions, which appear in the second post in this FAQ and discussion thread. Whether the detail of being from Lebanon (rather than from, say, England) will be of interest to a college admission office is unknown, as I have never heard of a college statement one way or the other about whether Lebanese-American applicants are considered underrepresented. </p>

<p>By law, you can decline to self-identify with any race. Some colleges this year give a choice of marking "other" on a racial self-identification question, but that choice will disappear for next year's applicants if all colleges follow the currently published federal regulations, which take effect next school year. So if you choose to mark a category this year, you may have the choice of "other," or otherwise you would mark "white," which would definitely be your expected choice next year. It will still be the law next year that you are allowed not to self-identify with any race, but that will be much less clear to applicants on next year's college forms, because the federal Department of Education would like to gather more data from more applicants that fit the defined federal ethic and racial categories. </p>

<p>Good luck in your applications. Do you have a safety college lined up to apply to along with all those highly selective colleges?</p>

<p>i check both caucasian and cuban-american? my dad was raised in honduras but is american by heritage; my mom is a first-generation cuban-american, raised in miami. i certainly identify with cuban culture and it's certainly a huge part of my identity, but i'm not first-generation.</p>

<p>so if i check caucasian and cuban-american on the common app, do i still get put in the URM category?</p>