<p>So my birth certificate says that I am Indian. My passport, however, due to some BS says that I am Nepalese. My dad is from Nepal and my mom is Indian. My guidance counselor says that I can write one or the other (or both). What should I do?</p>
<p>I know that they're basically the same thing, but there are definitely a lot more Indian applicants. My father says that it'd be a little bit more unique to write Nepalese. Help?</p>
<p>Under the classification system that most colleges seem to use, both would be considered Asian-American (I am assuming here that your family lives in the US now, hence the “-American”). However, if your school asks or allows you to specify a subgroup within that, your guidance counselor is right, you can put either or both.</p>
<p>Nepalese-American applicants are indeed less common that Indian-American applicants.</p>
<p>If my earlier assumption was wrong, and you are an international applicant wanting to know what nationality you count as, I don’t know what the right thing to put is. Ask the individual schools.</p>
<p>Colleges love diversity. Lots of Indian student apply, but not so many Nepalese. I’d stress the later when ever possible.</p>
<p>Please see the current CA:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/CommonApp2010.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/CommonApp2010.pdf</a></p>
<p>It asks for Citizenship in one spot (mandatory) and race (optional) in another. Under race, there is only Asian (describe your background), there is no longer a separate Asian-American option since it’s redundant.</p>
<p>And see the current FAQ and discussion thread </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/772621-race-college-admissions-faq-discussion-5-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/772621-race-college-admissions-faq-discussion-5-a.html</a> </p>
<p>for links to official definitions of “race” categories in the United States.</p>