Would I be lying if I wrote that I'm African-American on my college apps?

Applying to College
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<p>Hi,
Let me start with a heads-up, I am very confused right now and I am probably gonna come up as pretty stupid, haha. So basically, my grandmother was born in Morocco and my grandfather was born in Libya. Although my mom is VERY dark skinned and so are both of my grandparents from her side (not black, just extremely tanned), I am white. I am white due to the fact that my father's side is Russian (although they had immigrated to the US in the 1880s vs my grandparents immigrating from Africa in the 1990s with my mom). So, on a college app, would I write that I'm both African American and Caucasion?</p>

<p>The reason why I am asking is because me and my friend had gotten in an argument over this... haha</p>

2

<p>People from the Middle East or North Africa are specifically described as White on the census paperwork. Black people are defined as those descending from residents of sub-Saharan Africa. </p>

<p>African American is a cultural group, composed of people whose families trace their origins to slavery. People who immigrated from Africa, even sub-Saharan Africa, in the 1990’s aren’t members of this cultural group. </p>

<p>It sounds as though you are neither black nor African American, and that describing yourself as such would indeed be lying.</p>

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<p>Thank you, that’s what I thought. Guess I won the argument! :D</p>

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<p>Take the time to write a personal essay which discribes the importance your North African heritage to you. Don’t get caught up in everything you read about colleges longing for URMs. Just write about yourself. Best of luck.</p>

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<p>You might want to consider that with all the noise about college entrance being sold to those who can afford it that that claiming to be a minority just might be taking a step backwards.</p>

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<p>^^^^So you automatically assume all URMs are lower economic status???
The amount of income that household generates is put on another specific space in the app, not by your race!</p>

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<p>If you have to ask about what ethnicity/race you are, then don’t put african-american.</p>

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<p>I won’t put African American on a college app if I’m not. I just thought it would be a plus for me to be both a first generation for college (which I am), and a URM (which I guess I’m not).</p>

<p>Thank you for all your responses!</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t even consider taking the chance of misrepresenting your background. There are some people out there that might know that you lied on an application, and there would be nothing to stop them from reporting to the school that you are admitted to that you falsified an application. Many schools make it very clear that they can rescind an admission, kick you out of school, or revoke a degree that they conferred on you if they ever find out that you falsified an application. In fact, my son knows a classmate who is going to be attending Princeton who claimed that he was Hispanic, but he is of Portuguese descent and does not have any Hispanic blood and freely admits this and toto lying on his application. I don’t want to know what happens to him. This is a good kid, and I hope that he is just bragging and that he actually does have some Hispanic lineage to back up his claim.</p>

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<p>^^^
I may be really ignorant, but doesn’t Portuguese descent also imply being Hispanic? Sorry for my ignorance - just trying to get clarity on this.</p>

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<p>No. Although “Hispanic” is largely self-defined, it doesn’t really include Portuguese or Brazilians. See [Who?s</a> Hispanic? | Pew Hispanic Center](<a href=“http://www.pewhispanic.org/2009/05/28/whos-hispanic/]Who?s”>Who is Hispanic? | Pew Research Center)</p>

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<p>Interesting. What about if you are of mixed races? There generally isn’t a space for that on the apps. What if one parent IS hispanic, or african american, and the other parent ISN’T?</p>

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Some forms allow you to check multiple categories, or to indicate mixed race. Or you can simply decide how you identify.</p>

<p>The Common Application, for example, asks you to check one or more, and to explain your background.</p>

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<p>Strictly Portuguese descent is never considered Hispanic. But with Brazilians it gets a little fuzzy. While not usually included for college admissions (the CA specifically precludes Brazilians), the National Hispanic Recognition Program, based on the PSAT and one of the largest Hispanic scholarship programs, includes students with Brazilian backgrounds:</p>

<p>[PSAT/NMSQT</a> Scholarships & Recognition](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>For Students: National Recognition Programs - BigFuture)</p>

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<p>For some scholarship programs, like NHRP, there is a % descent threshold, but college admissions uses the US Census definitions which is based on self-identifying. So mixed race/ethnicity applicants will be considered within the URM pool. However, within these pools, adcoms recognized many additional factors; for instance for Hispanic students: country of origin, SES, involvement in Hispanic community, etc.</p>

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<p>Interesting posts- from what I’ve read, true Portuguese do NOT consider themselves Hispanic, and my son’s classmate knows this. Oh well, c’est la vie!</p>