According to collegeboard, 17% of MIT is considered Hispanic/Latino compared to 25% Asian. I'm pretty surprised by how high this number is in relation to others, so my question is does being Hispanic/Asian worsen your chances? Hispanics are usually URMs but are they ORMs like Asians at MIT? It seems like it would be better to just register as "other" when designating your race. What the heck would the adcom think if you picked 2 or more races?
There is no such category as "other." (The College Board and some other publishers of Common Data Set information publish statistics about students who were reported by colleges to the federal government as "race/ethnicity unknown" in the category "other," rather than using the official federal name for that category.) See the newly revised FAQ on race in college admission
for many more details about what colleges must ask, and what students are allowed to decline or choose to say about their race.
Good luck in your applications.
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Tokenadult is busy and slowly resuming participation here. For your questions about College Confidential, use the "Contact Us" link on the bottom of each page. Good luck on your applications.
This wasnt really a question about improving chances but just deciding what to check as in other or unknown or multi-racial while learning hat attracts Hispanics to MIT. I realize there are events more important than trying to get into college. *GASP* I'll just explain my complicated situation and hope the adcom understands.
tokenadult, Thanks for the great info. you have provided. However, I am still not clear, can an applicant mark Hispanic for ethnicity and undeclared for race? Take my son´s example, he is a colored, American born, half Hispanic of mixed racial ancestry who basically attended poor Hispanic (Mexican) elementary and middle schools in Texas. In racial appearance he looks like the Carribean people of similar racial heritage:
on his father´s side (me), he has mixed Islamic Afghan and Islamic Indian heritage: Paternal grandmother was 100% Muslim Afghan. Paternal grandfather was 100% Muslim Indian. This would make son, perhaps, 1/4 Asian (Indian), 1/4? (Afghan). However, he does not speak Afghan or Hindi/ Urdu.
on his mother´s side, he has 100% Catholic Hispanic European heritage. However, he does not look European.
To answer the question, yes, a person can mark yes on the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity question, and leave the race question blank, and still be in compliance with all federal regulations on the subject. (Either question or both questions are optional for a college applicant.) I have no idea how various colleges would treat such a response. This is the MIT forum, and you see that an MIT admission officer has linked to an MIT statement by another MIT admission officer from last year.
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Tokenadult is busy and slowly resuming participation here. For your questions about College Confidential, use the "Contact Us" link on the bottom of each page. Good luck on your applications.
This is the MIT forum, and you see that an MIT admission officer has linked to an MIT statement by another MIT admission officer from last year.
Regarding the link,
When I was a kid, I recall having to identify my race on all kinds of forms, including standardized tests, long before I contemplated completing an application for college admission. From my perspective, checking the box, or boxes to indicate one’s race should be as automatic as providing one’s name.
I believe this is generally true for Americans with ancestors who were born in the USA, but not necessarily true for recent American immigrants who did not need to identify their race as a kid. So, it is not as automatic for us. It is also not as automatic for my son who was born in an America where racial discrimination is illegal and Admission Officers at top universities are trying to undo it´s effects.
Tokenadult, sorry to abruptly end my last post, I lost my internet connection. We are visiting my son`s grandmother in Spain for the summer, where the internet is not always accessible to us. By the way, on moday we visit the Mezquita (Mosque?) in Cordoba- could be an interesting topic of discussion for a kid from a mixed Muslim- Spanish Christian family. We will see.
Quote:
While one's race can certainly come into play in a college admissions decision, the actual impact bears no resemblance to the common perception that checking a single box somehow guarantees a pathway to admission.
I accept the above statement at face value. So, I think, my question can be seen in it´s proper context. Some of us (especially immigrants and their children), just want to check boxes that most accurately describe us, according to the latest definitions on the subject in the host country. As you know, these definitions are constantly changing. For example, East Indians have legally been described as both Whites and Asians in the American legal system in different times. Also, I am still not clear, are Afghans seen as white or asian according to the latest definitions? thanks. In a practical sense, my son simply sees himself as a non white, Hispanic, well adjusted in a mostly Hispanic/ MA school in TX.
Last edited by perazziman; 07-19-2012 at 04:47 AM.
My son self identifies as PR because that's how he sees himself in the mirror each day, though he is 1/2 Caucasian (Ukranian Jew, to be exact).
One day he wore a t-shirt with the words, "Puerto Rico's Got Rhythm" (a band that came to our church). He was stopped by a security guard for having an expired trolley pass. The guard begin to speak to my son in Spanish. My son told him he didn't speak Spanish. The guard, also PR, got angry with my son and told him, "Don't wear that shirt if you can't speak Spanish."
