First let me apologize to anyone I might offend by asking this question. I truly don’t mean to seem crass or racist just being pragmatic. I have the grades, course difficulty and test scores to be competitive for my top choices (UVA, Michigan, William&Mary) but it’s not a slam dunk. I’ve always identified myself as Caucasian on school records, ect. But basically wondering if my very sweet Chinese grandmother can give me an edge… Or would I look shady for not identifying as 1/4 Asian until applying to college… Oh and I don’t look it at all… Blue eyes, light brown hair…
Be honest.
Being Asian is not usually considered URM. In fact its ORM at many schools.
Exactly what my parents thought… But a friend who is half Filipino just got into Notre Dame with grades and scores in the lower 25%ile and pretty standard community service and activities… Not even ED
Notre Dame likely saw something in your friend that do not see.
If you have always identified yourself as being Asian, and not white, then do it. If, as you say, you identify as white, don’t do it. But I don’t even think it would give you that much of an edge for those schools (not sure about Michigan, but UVA and WM aren’t totally lacking in the Asian community).
As with most things, it depends on the circumstances. For many schools (e.g., LAC and some schools in the midwest like ND), being identified as “Asian” is not a liability as it would be at the more competitive tippy top schools. Also, some schools make a distinction between East Asian (e.g., Korea and China) and Southeast Asian. For the schools you’ve identified, I’m not sure it would help to check the Asian box for UVA and Michigan.
Re: an acceptance to Notre Dame. The ONLY acceptances they have sent out so far are for REA…restrictive early action. So your friend had to have applied REA if she has a decision already. REA means she applied early to NO other schools.
You also do not know everything that was on her application…and what may have given her an admissions edge.
ND regular admission decisions won’t be released until April.
I would strongly urge you to NOT compare your potential admissions to those of your friends or classmates.
You are mixed race.
Even my son’s closest friends didn’t actually know what sort of CS experience he had. So it’s possible that it’s something you don’t know know about that caught their eye. I figure it never hurts to be honest. I know my brother’s kids are only 1/4 Japanese, which is unlikely to account for much. But on the other hand their grandmother survived Hiroshima and they have heard directly from her what that day was like.
It was last year - he’s there now. And by 25%ile I meant 25th percentile of UND’s accepted applicants and not the general applicant population. Really good guy and I feel a little dirty for using him as an example in this way… Just trying to figure it all out.
Don’t bother trying to figure it out. Just do,your own application…and don’t even think about anyone else.
Asians are discriminated against in admissions… you’re better off being white, black, hispanic, American Indian etc.
that’s the reality.
It won’t matter or will be a slight plus at schools that are looking to attract more diversity, but probably won’t make a difference at most schools. My daughter thought about it for a while and in the end did check the box, but I don’t think it made any difference There is NOtHING on her application that would indicate she’s Asian – not a name, not an activity, not a picture, not a zip code – and the admissions officer would really have to look for race to take it into consideration.
Colleges also seek diversity within diversity. Flipinos & other southeast Asians tend to be underrepresented within the Asian category, and also tend to be 1st gen/ lower socioeconomic class.
Applicants need to compare themselves against others to figure out their odds, that’s why there is Naviance. Of course Naviance only gives stats and not other soft skills, but it is helpful to see where you stand relative to others.
as the other poster mentioned pacific islanders are often times an affirmative action group… not sure how all this is done these days… but comparing yourself racially to a pacific isander (not sure what all the racial groups are) as someone who is Chinese is not the same thing.
Chinese are discriminated against in college admissions along with koreans, japanese etc. you’re better off being white, black, Hispanic etc.
check off the white box (or whatever the PC designation is these days) and be done with it. take a game theory approach to it.
Agree with @oldfort . Get your comparative data from Naviance…not from personal conversations with friends.
However, Filipino people are more likely to be Catholic than other Asian people, so it is not a given that Filipino applicants are necessarily underrepresented for Notre Dame specifically.
I’m confused why people say Asian ppl r discriminated against in admissions. If they make up only a small percentage of the national demographic but a much bigger part of tpp college percentages, wouldn’t that mean Asian ppl r accepted at higher rates? Just thinking about it, most of the Asian ppl I see that apply to top colleges get in, so I’m confused.
No.
You are seeing a very small subset, and as noted above, you are not seeing the entire application, so you do not have a complete picture.