<p>What happens if a student declined to answer what race he belongs to but one or more letters of recommendation make a passing remark on his (minority) race? Will he still stand to benefit in the admission process because it is as good as if he disclosed the race himself.</p>
<p>they can probably tell by your last name anyways</p>
<p>If you decline to answer race, they automatically assume you are Asian (smile).</p>
<p>Why did you choose to decline when you knew your race was a minority? You can send your college an email saying you omitted but it’ll be just be weird " Hello adcoms, I just wanted to let you know I’m this ____ , thank you". That’s weird! Hopefully they will use your LORs to infer your race 
.</p>
<p>“they can probably tell by your last name anyways”</p>
<p>Excuse me?</p>
<p>OP, if you declined than indicate it on your application, then your application will not be treated the same as if you had. Now, it may influence the decision of whoever reads your recommendations if it gets to that point, but otherwise you cannot expect an adcom to assume information that you had the opportunity to indicate yourself.</p>
<p>^Big10Champ is RIGHT ON…</p>
<p>you can always decline to put your race.</p>
<p>but if your name is martinez, theyre gonna know youre hispanic
if your name is wong, theyre gonna know youre asian
(kinda hard to tell between white and black)</p>
<p>but like BIG10Champ said…theyre NOT going to assume. they will simply look past your undeclared race like a happy camper in a perfect world</p>
<p>Regardless of any response you’ve gotten, why wouldn’t you want to put your race in the application? Affirmative action is a very real thing, friend.</p>
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</p>
<p>That is why! :)</p>
<p>They will tell by your name or where you live. There wont be very many disadvantaged minorities in Laguna Beach, for example. I personally dont think it matters either way.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who posted replies. The situation is a little complicated. The student in question has an African American mother and Asian father. He declined to put his race as AA in his app but one of the professors who knew his family made a passing remark his mother was AA. Will it help his chances of admission?</p>
<p>
Yes, decidedly.</p>
<p>If they are AA they should be putting it, it can only help them at most schools</p>
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</p>
<p>Again, it will only help so long as his application reaches the point where those letters of recommendations will be read. If his application does not reach that point (aka, is thrown out), or those letters are never read (which doesn’t decidedly mean one thing or another) then his racial background is not going to “matter” as far as admissions go one way or another.</p>
<p>Students have the opportunity to disclose their racial background on the application itself for a reason.</p>
<p>Students have the option of noting their race on their application. Otherwise it will generally be ignored. Surnames are NOT always indicative or race, so no they will not make such assumptions, which is why it is best to indicate your own race if you wish it to be taken into considerations. Children are commonly adopted by couples of different races, yet the child does not become the same race as the parents, so there are children named Martinez who are not Hispanic, and Wongs who are not asian, as well as Asian kids with Germanic names. You are what you say you are on your application, unless they have credible evidence that says otherwise.</p>
<p>It should be fine, if he is meant to get in, he will get in</p>
<p>
Not quite. My dad is Hispanic, but took on his step-father’s Anglo last name (a very common last name) once my grandmother remarried while he was in high school. I also have distant Caribbean relatives who have seemingly Asian last names, such as Liang, Leung, and Chang, yet have no Asian ancestry.
You aren’t obligated to state your race on apps, as other posters have noted.</p>
<p>I may be wrong (and someone please correct me if I am), but my guess is that minority status will only help an applicant if he reports it on his application. That’s where colleges get their statistics; from the self-reported race on the students’ applications. Once admitted, they don’t ask for that info again, nor to they ‘assign’ a race if they learn or suspect that a student is a minority. They use the info that the students originally provided. Students who decline to report a race on their application just aren’t figured in to the school’s racial demographics.</p>
<p>Colleges want diversity for many reasons, but a big reason is so they can say, “Look, our campus is X% Hispanic, and if you don’t believe it, here are the records that prove it.” While a minority student may contribute to the school’s actual diversity, if he didn’t report himself as such, he doesn’t ‘count’ toward the statistics and therefore is not ‘helping’ the school in that respect. If an adcom is specifically looking for URMs to increase diversity, I suspect they’d choose one who reported himself as such over one who did not.</p>