ny mom

My daughter is a good solid student. She is not "tippy top," but has done very well. She is 1/4 hispanic. My husband had very tough upbringing (his father from PR spoke little to no english). Obviously, a lot of culture growing up- food, etc. Family VERY poor, moving constantly. When he was 16, they rented an apartment for the fam and there wasn't a bed or room for him so he started hanging out with some kids he met through school. "good kids." A wealthy family basically took him in. He joined track team, and as the story goes, he has done very well. He never had good grades, and never went to college. His Dad has since passed.

My husband is very quiet/secretive about his upbringing. I think he is ashamed about how he grew up. I grew up in Irish/Polish household where Mom drank and swore, Dad was genius who liked Keilbasi every Sunday. My daughter started taking Irish Dance lessons at age 6 and has since become Championship dancer. When she realized she was Puerto Rican, she became obsessed with finding out more. She did class reports on it, etc. At her urging, we have visited PR twice in the last two years, trying to find anyone from my husband's family. We are planning another trip in APril.

So now fast forward to college application time. My daughter is proud of her heritage, both IRish and Puerto Rican- she wears her PR shirts to dance class all the time!!! We want to be honest and ethical when it comes time to select her ethnicity. My sister says to go for the "Hispanic hook" as she calls it. She is a college professor. I don't want to be percieved as "milking the system", yet I feel my husband has really paid his dues. My kids are the first on his side to go to college.

ANyway, what would you do? It very well may help her get into a few schools that she may be on the fence with.

Thank you so much for reading our story- and for offering any advice.

itsv

The definition of hispanic by collegeboard is 1/4th so you are not taking advantage. If you search in this cc category you will see a lot of responses to a similar question. Your daughter has learned about her background, is proud of it and should not be ashamed to list that she is Puerto Rican. Some scholarships might have a different definition but it will be spelled out in the application. The fact that she is going to be first generation college on your husband's side is also significant. Many schools give additional credit so to speak for that also.

Youdon'tsay

As long as she meets the criteria of the college, there's no reason not to put that down as her ethnicity. It's the truth.

Poseidenj

Go for it. It's not like so many native american cases where they are sitting around the dinner table in their $800,000 home and it comes up that the kid is 1/16 cherokee or whatnot. Your daughter has wanted to learn about the culture (whether it was for the college case or not I can't see), and she has tried to make an effort at least.

entomom

I also see no problem with your D (or anyone else who qualifies) putting down that they are Hispanic on college applications. I can't claim any insider knowledge, but IMO, while all Hispanics may be put into the same URM pile of applicants, I don't believe that they are all evaluated the same by adcoms. I believe that other factors such as SES, HS attended, overcoming obstacles, as well as all of the academic and other factors on the application come into play in the assessment of URMs.

For instance, I doubt that a upper middle class Hispanic kid that attended a suburban HS will get much, if any, bump in their SAT scores; while a lower income Hispanic from an underserved HS may get get a break when it comes to standardized tests or ECs (which can be expensive).

That's not to say that Latinos that are of a higher SES and had academic advantages won't also have some advantages in the college admissions process. Independent of other factors, URMs with high GPAs and test scores are relatively rare and are valued as they both add diversity to a school are likely to succeed at competitive colleges.

We're always talking about how Latinos can display a range of physical appearances, but they have just a wide a range in their ethnic experiences.

jessiehl

I think it's absolutely reasonable for her to put down her Puerto Rican heritage. She clearly identifies with it, based on what you've said. If the application allows it, and she feels more comfortable doing so, she can always put down both Hispanic and her other heritage(s).

I also more or less agree with entomom's take.

kiterunner18

Sorry to interject into this thread... but what exactly is SES?

sptink232

SES is socioeconomic status.

VeryHappy

How her dad feels about his heritage isn't the point.

kiterunner18

Thank you, sptink.