<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I am 50% Hawaiian (Father) and 50% (Mexican descent mother). What am I? Latino or Pacific Islander/Hawaiian? Should I check both?</p>
<p>You can put both, but I’d put Latino</p>
<p>Please read the sticky thread about the definition of Hispanic for an extensive answer. </p>
<p>The first thing to understand is the difference between ethnicity and race. Being Hispanic is an ethnicity and Hispanics can be (and are) of any race(s). College applications ask two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li> Are you Hispanic (Y/N)? You would answer yes, and for background would answer Mexico.</li>
</ol>
<p>then, regardless of what you answered in question 1:</p>
<ol>
<li> What race(s) are you (NA, Asian, AA, PI, white)? You would mark PI, background Hawaii; and whatever race(s) your mother is. For instance, she could be a mix of white (Spain) and NA (Original peoples of Mexico).<br></li>
</ol>
<p>This last designation, NA, is going strictly by the CA definition which states: American Indian or Alaska Native (including Original Peoples of the Americas). You would not have a tribal enrollment number, so you might want to forgo this designation since you will already have indicated that you are Hispanic via Mexico and adcoms understand that many Mexicans are of mixed race but do not keep track of NA descent as we do here in the US.</p>