Does being Hispanic have any impact at all?

entomom
Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:38:48 +0000

Hello and welcome to the Hispanic Students forum!

Yes, Hispanic designation generally has a positive impact in college admissions. However, the amount varies widely depending on other factors including:


The context of the applicant’s Hispanic background. For instance: SES, first gen, country of origin, overcoming adversity, and association with the Hispanic community. See this thread for some discussion:


http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/931488-ivy-league-admissions-nhrps.html?highlight=ivy


The college. As you stated, by law, some public colleges cannot consider ethnicity and race as admissions factors. Private colleges, however, can determine what factors they want to include and what weight to give them. And within privates, the quality and quantity of the URM applicant pool varies. Many of the highly selective colleges get many, highly qualified URM candidates. Some colleges, while very highly respected institutions, have a more difficult time recruiting and retaining URM students. These are often in rural locations and/or less desirable regions of the country.
The rest of the application. Ethnicity/race is just one factor in college admissions and is taken into consideration with the rest of the academic and EC qualities of the applicant.