<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>The Harvard Common Data Set says that they DO consider race in admissions. So, what were to happen if I would leave the optional race part of the Common App blank? Would it have any effect? Would it put me in a negative light? (BTW i am an ORM)</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>They would probably have an inclination to believe that you’re Asian and would see it as dishonesty, the reprecussions of which are far worse than being an ORM. Just stick with the truth and let fate take care of the rest.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that colleges can see your legal name on all of your forms, which for many people (especially East Asians, Indians, etc.) would give away their race anyway. Just go with the race you are.</p>
<p>I did NOT mean lying about my race, i simply meant leaving that part of the application BLANK because it is optional. Also, colleges are strictly forbidden on making assumptions about race from last names because of thing like remarrying and intermarrying and stuff like that. Again, I’m reiterating that I am not thinking about lying, rather leaving an optional part of the common app blank</p>
<p>Imo, what colleges are SUPPOSED to do in admissions is not often what they actually do. But hey, none of us are admissions officers. With one admissions officer, you MIGHT have a better shot at getting in, while another might not appreciate this sleight-of-hand.</p>
<p>Won’t hurt you.</p>
<p>What would they do if someone who’s Filipino checks the Hispanic box?</p>
<p>I know for that:</p>
<p>If u u got accepted and then they found out u LIEd, not left it blank, then u lied on the app and that would be grounds for admission to be rescinded</p>
<p>or if he/ she checks mixed race, even though being full asian.
He/ she can argue that either her grandparents or parents being Hispanic. How would she/ he be identified?</p>
<p>
FYI, not answering an optional question is completely honest. Leaving the race question blank just ensures that your race is not a factor in your admission decision.</p>
<p>I’m going to guess they have thought of this. And they’ll just assume you’re white since they have aline around the block of completely qualified applicants who did answer the question and allow them to fill the quota they may have in mind at a particualr point in time. It’s Harvard and they won’t play your reindeer games. :)</p>
<p>That’s not true. They do admit applicants who have chosen not to answer the race question. They already discriminate based on race… think they’re going to discriminate based on the race question too?</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion. I’m not saying that leaving that section blank would be a lie, but I remember reading an article where answering that question was encouraged in order to avoid having an admission officer speculate that you’re trying to hide information. Same thing for AP scores. </p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think they would analyze your choice to respond the race box that deeply, but it’s always best to be proud of your heritage(and who you are, in general), and let the admissions officers decide your fit for a particular school rather than to play the system.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>@classicgirll: They do admit applicants who have chosen not to answer the race question. </p>
<p>Yes, of course thay admit applicants who don’t answer it. But the question here is whether it helps or hinders or has no effect. I contend it hinders. Again, what could motivate any non-white to purposely not answer that question? And if one simply missed answering the question, doesn’t that point to a lack of attention to detail? hinders no matter what.</p>
<p>*@classicgirll: They already discriminate based on race… think they’re going to discriminate based on the race question too? *</p>
<p>I don’t follow what you mean by they already discriminate based on race. If you mean they admit students in order to fill demographic quotas, and you view that as discrimination, then yes I guess they do. If you think they discriminate by keeping URM’s out of colleges, then I disagree and evidence points to supporting that.</p>
<p>Lots of people, certainly including some URMs, refuse to answer that question on moral/policy grounds. </p>
<p>This is sort of interesting. I just checked a number of different colleges’ Common Data Sets, and there is enormous variation among them as to what percentage of their enrolled students did not answer this question. At Harvard, it was about 11%, Yale 3%, Princeton 2%, Stanford 7%, Cornell 10%, MIT 5%, Amherst 22%, Wesleyan 9%, Swarthmore 8%, Williams 0% (!!! - hard to believe that).</p>
<p>What I can’t tell is whether some colleges DO penalize applicants for not specifying their race, or whether they engage in other means of trying to get enrolled students to specify their race even if they didn’t when they applied.</p>
<p>@TheDukeofEarl
I don’t think it has any measurable effect. The admissions office isn’t going to try to infer an applicant’s race by his choice to answer a simple question. I’d love to see how the demographic would be broken up if there was no mention of race/country-identifiers in the application. Thus, by the term “discrimination”, I was referring to your first scenario.</p>
<p>OK got it, classicgirll – I see where you were coming from… I guess it’s hard to say what the true effect is. Maybe it’s like the SATs where a blank answer is less impactful than a “wrong” answer. 
</p>
<p>And good post too, JHS. I had never considered the aspect that you mention, about "Lots of people, certainly including some URMs, refuse to answer that question on moral/policy grounds. " I guess I can see that. Sort of like the US Census* every 10 years where folks refuse to tell the government whether they have a sink with a faucet, or a flush toilet, or what time they leave for work in the morning (all real US Census questions)… maybe the answer to the question really has no effect except that some clerk gets to file it away for a pie chart they will someday make for a report nobody reads. </p>
<ul>
<li>P.S.- My uncle jokes about the US Census question that asks "Are you now or have you ever been treated for mental illness? He said he answers “Me? No. But <em>I</em> have. And so have I.”</li>
</ul>
<p>I knew that not including my race might have a positive effect on my application, but I chose to include it anyway.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want to go a university anyway where I was chosen because of my (lack of) race.</p>
<p>I would take the Fifth when it comes to this question. :D</p>