<p>It’s not clear to me that you missed out on any advantage at all, as admission officers still have discretion–which they use–to pass over applicants of any declared race. They may be especially eager to decline to admit applicants who lie on their applications. </p>
<p>The race categories asked about on college admission forms are specified by federal law, as is made exhaustively clear in the FAQ thread on the subject here on College Confidential. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1235538-race-college-admission-faq-discussion-9-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1235538-race-college-admission-faq-discussion-9-a.html</a> </p>
<p>Harvard College (the main topic of all threads in this subforum) every year admits a substantial number of students who did not declare ANYTHING about their race or ethnicity on their application forms. Even though Harvard interviews just about all the undergraduate applicants, a large percentage of Harvard students are reported to the federal government (subject to penalties for false reporting) as “race/ethnicity unknown.” </p>
<p>[U-CAN:</a> Harvard University](<a href=“http://members.ucan-network.org/harvard]U-CAN:”>http://members.ucan-network.org/harvard) </p>
<p>So this need not be an issue for someone who wants to make an honest, thoughtful application to Harvard but who chooses not to self-identify.</p>