<p>I was born in Mexico (I lived there until I moved to the US at age 11), but my parents both came from Spain (they moved to Mexico as newlyweds...dad became Mexican citizen, mom remained Spanish citizen). MY husband is white/non-hispanic.</p>
<p>Should she check Hispanic/Mexican-American or Hispanic/other?</p>
<p>1) I don't think it matters. I'd be surprised if schools looking for hispanic diversity favor one hispanic origin over another.</p>
<p>2) Your D gets her hispanic-ness from you. Do you identify yourself as Mexican or Spanish? Do you celebrate any Mexican and/or Spanish holidays? Do you belong to a social circle with other people like you? Which culture have you shared with your D? That is what she should check (in addition to white/caucasian.)</p>
<p>In high school my D came home one day and mentioned that a senior was a National Hispanic Scholar. His parents were from Argentina. He had blond hair and green eyes, but he considered himself Hispanic.</p>
<p>In other words - your heritage is what you believe it to be - so check the box that your D most closely identifies with. If she has not figured it out by now - this is the time to do so.</p>
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Should she check Hispanic/Mexican-American or Hispanic/other?
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1) I don't think it matters. I'd be surprised if schools looking for hispanic diversity favor one hispanic origin over another.
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<p>The OPs question is valid, and colleges DO favor some Hispanic origins over others. In general, that order is Mexican-American/Puerto Rican > other Central and South American > Spain. This order is due to the fact that schools are looking for Hispanics that would be considered URMs. So, M-As and PRs are under-represented in colleges compared to their proportion of the general population in the US, this is not as much the case for other Hispanics. </p>
<p>However, there are other factors that are important beyond just the box you check. For instance, how much your application shows that you identify with your Hispanic culture, your interest in working with the Hispanic community, your SES, etc. </p>
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In high school my D came home one day and mentioned that a senior was a National Hispanic Scholar. His parents were from Argentina. He had blond hair and green eyes, but he considered himself Hispanic.
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<p>Being Hispanic has nothing to do with color of hair, skin or eyes. Most Argentines immigrated from either Spain or Italy, and the native inhabitants were killed long ago, with very little representation in the current population. This makes them no less Hispanic, people of any race can be Hispanic.</p>
<p>For the OP, the actual wording in the CA asks you to check the box if you "wish to be identified with a particular ethnic group", so I agree with SamK that she should put the one that she most identifies with.</p>
<p>Thank you for all your great advice!</p>
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2) Your D gets her hispanic-ness from you. Do you identify yourself as Mexican or Spanish? Do you celebrate any Mexican and/or Spanish holidays? Do you belong to a social circle with other people like you? Which culture have you shared with your D? That is what she should check (in addition to white/caucasian.)
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<p>That's a hard question. I live in Texas, so I have a large circle of Mexican-American friends; in fact, I belong to a Spanish language book club composed mainly of Mexicans but also women from other Latin cultures (Venezuela, Puerto Rico, one from Spain). My accent (when I speak Spanish) is Mexican (and my daughter's is Tex-Mex lol), but since I grew up with a Spanish mother, I do retain some things from her culture. My parents still live in Mexico, and we visit once a year, and I also have some aunts and an uncle (and many cousins) in Spain. My daughter has never been to Spain but she will be going this summer.</p>
<p>I guess my answer is Mexican because when I meet people from Spain, I always tell them I'm Mexican.</p>
<p>^^^A wonderful example how non-clear cut these "categories" are!</p>
<p>Imperialist .. Your hispanic not mexican ;)</p>
<p>I don't know if this would help... but my dad is mostly Mexican and part Native American, while my mom is Spanish (from Spain) and white. I chose "Hispanic/Latino" (I hope that's a choice xD) and "Caucasian"</p>
<p>You didn't put that you're part NA??</p>
<p>Tajamariee- You are much better off self identifying as Native American. They are much more under repesented. I recently spoke to Michele Hernandez (A is for Admission, Acing the College Application). She told me that hispanics are not really under represented anymore. The only ones who are going to get a push these days are low income hispanics, first generation college, etc. etc. The playing field is much more leveled.</p>
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You are much better off self identifying as Native American.
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<p>Don't you generally have to be enrolled in a tribe, or have an obvious community connection like having grown up on a reservation, to do this?</p>
<p>(I'm 1/16 NA - I am trying to learn to play the traditional flute and do some traditional cooking, but not having grown up with a community connection and not qualifying for tribal enrollment because of much-too-low blood quantum, I would feel wrong checking off that box, and did not check it off on my master's program applications.)</p>
<p>I don’t know that you have to live on a reservation or anything like that. You could look into it. From what I understand, from having a son that is half Hispanic, is that if one of your parents is Hispanic you can self identify as Hispanic. I don’t know how this relates to American Indians. </p>
<p>I also believe that this is all by an “honor system”. I don’t see how anyone would question you if you said your dad was a Cherokee or something.</p>
<p>For NAs from North America, there are some differences from other URMs. For instance, Yale requires a special form filled out by students that list themselves as NA, but not for other URMs. I don’t know how wide spread this practice is and what colleges will do now that the NA category applies to indigenous peoples from both North and South America. While in the US, people are legally recognized as members of a tribe, I don’t think there are such tribal affiliations for places such as Mexico and Peru where many people are the descendants of indigenous people.</p>