lillyambers

Do admissions officers put Filipinos in the same category with Chinese, Koreans.. etc? Many students have spoke about how it is hard for Asians to get into top schools because Asians must compete with other Asians, who tend to be the most accomplished applicants. So are Filipinos considered Asian as well? Or are they in a different ethnicity category, which may help them get into the top schools more easily

ParentOfIvyHope

I think you are better off marking yourself as Filipinos; Marking as Asian will be like setting your foot on fire.

You may get leverage as a Filipinos.

iamtooperfect

I believe on the common app when you click asian, there is the subcaterogy filipino, among chinese, koreans..etc. I'm not sure if the admissions officers look as each different asian ethnicities as unitedly part of the asian race, or want a variety of different asians. does anyone know?

somedumbnoob

Filipinos are pretty generally pretty well off in the US. They have higher average earnings than the Japanese, Chinese, or Koreans here. Don't count on it to help you.

smugg707

Well, they are Asian because they are from Asia. But it would be easy to make them think that you were not because they don't have Asian sounding last names(at least the ones I've met).

ParentOfIvyHope

Data for CA:
Student Subgroups # Pupils 2007 API Growth 2006 API Base
African American (not of Hispanic Origin) 371,724 643 635
American Indian/Alaska Native 40,056 696 691
Asian 397,086 852 847
Filipino 131,037 813 808
Hispanic or Latino 2,279,399 665 656
Pacific Islander 31,265 719 714
White (not of Hispanic Origin) 1,428,569 805 801

Not much difference between Asian (852/847) with that of Filipino (813/808).
I thought Filipino might be part of Pacific Islander (719/714) which might have given you some leverage.

Skramata

ParentOfIvyHope: What do those three-digit numbers mean? (I feel like such an idiot.)

ParentOfIvyHope

It is just a API index I added at top and is out of 1000 scale.

rollingonddubs

i'm filipino as well and have been struggling with this for a while now. even though the other asians in my school refuse to admit it (i AM asian even though i look hispanic!!! ASIAN!ASIAN!!!), filipinos are definitely asian.

iamtooperfect

same problem with me. people are thinking that i got into stanford simply because i'm filipino, or because of my hispanic last name. but filipinos are regarded as asian as well. people are just jealous i think

summerinthecity

How much does it help? I'm Hispanic and am trying to gage how far of a reach I should be making. Of course it depends on the school--for example, I know the UC system already has a high percentage of Hispanics, so it wouldn't really help me there--but in general, at schools with the typical 3-10% Hispanic population, how much would it help me out?

tokenadult

It is important to note that most colleges do not even BEGIN to publish enough information about their admission processes to be sure what impact, if any, ethnic self-identification has on those processes. Litigation in a few cases over the past three decades has turned up some information, as have some scholarly studies based on confidential access to admission files. There is still much to learn about this issue.

tangies08

depends on where you are trying to go. Think about it this way, if you are at or above the mean GPA/SAT's for a school, being a URM will almost certainly push you over the edge. If you are below the 25% mark for GPA/SAT, it could make you competitive, depending on you other activities. And of course, the less diverse the school, the bigger advantage you get.

tangies08

My results this year as a URM
3.87uw
2050 SAT
Accepted- Penn, Bowdoin, Cornell, Minnesota
Waitlisted- Wash U, Brown

summerinthecity

33 ACT
3.4-3.5 UW (I think...it's 4.15 weighted)
All honors and AP (5 APs total)
Great ECs

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