I’m a female, half Asian, half Caucasian (I was born in America), applying to college for computer science. On my applications, there are questions like, “What is your ethnicity?” and “Describe your cultural background”, etc.
Should I say that I’m Asian? (I ask because I’ve been told it could lower my chances of being accepted into more competitive colleges)
You told us here that you’re Asian and white. Don’t assume the Asian part is the determinant. Learn what matters to your targets. It’s more than stats, some clubs, founding something…or your family heritage. You’ll have a full and lengthy app package to submit.
You should tell them that you are half Asian and half Caucasian.
I would leave out 1% here or 2% there, but if you are one of a great many people who are a mix, then just be honest. They really should be able to deal with the fact that many of us are a mix.
You don’t even need to answer that question if you’d rather not.
You do what’s comfortable for you. Asian isn’t going to hurt you, IMO, any more than White, but it’s not going to help except at schools where you are URM.
Honesty is the best policy. For competitive colleges, you are trying to present a story of yourself that will be attractive to that college. That narrative needs to be consistent. The AO’s are evaluating you in a way where they look at all the pieces of the app, and say to themselves, I know this person and this person will be a great asset on campus. If you are trying to portray yourself/your background as something that you are not, you risk inconsistencies or a feeling that this app/person is not genuine.
Whatever race or ethnicity (or mix of races or ethnicities) your parents wrote down when you registered for kindergarten many moons ago is still, in fact, your race or ethnicity. Those things don’t change for personal convenience when applying to college. Answer the question or don’t answer it are your two choices.
You’re biracial or mixed. Is that an option?
So what do you identify with on a daily basis. If someone your age called you up on a blind date and asked those questions, without thinking about it what would you say? That is your answer.
Also… Doesn’t a birth certificate have this on it?
Re-read the wording.
Many institutions have only Hispanic and not Hispanic as options for ethnicity, and race is a different category with several options.
You get to indicate how you self-identify. You can check as many boxes as you feel like, or none if you prefer to check none. This really is primarily so the colleges and universities having numbers to report to the US Department of Education as evidence that they aren’t discriminating against any particular category of students.
When this category is reported, it is typically the count of those who indicate more than one category.
Here is what the Common APP instructions say about answering the question:
https://appsupport.commonapp.org/applicantsupport/s/article/Why-do-you-ask-about-ethnicity
“…The ethnicity question on the Common Application has been updated to meet the Department of Education reporting requirements. Answers to the ethnicity question are not required for submission. If you choose to answer this question, you may provide whatever answer you feel best applies to you or any groups of which you feel you are a part…”