I consider myself Hispanic, but is that enough?

[entomom]

<p>It’s too bad that you didn’t find the Hispanic Students forum and particularly the Definition and Resources sticky threads before posting on the more general Admissions forum. Any members interested in gaining accurate, current information are welcome to read them.</p>

<p>Some misinformation in need of clarification:</p>

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The text of the rules is fairly murky about what race can be claimed.

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<p>Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race. Hispanics can be, and are, of any race(s).</p>

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This begs the larger question: if you look entirely white

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<p>See my first comment; many Americans are under the misguided idea that all ‘true’ Hispanics ‘look’ mestizo due to the prevalence of MAs in the US. PRs are predominantly white, the vast majority of immigrants to Argentina were white from Spain or Italy, Alberto Fujimori was the President of Peru, etc. In addition, no specific quality like color of skin, appearance, surname, even speaking Spanish, are absolute indicators of whether a person is or isn’t Hispanic.</p>

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you cannot be 1/4 Hispanic. You are either Hispanic or you are not.

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<p>While this is true for the US Census definition of Hispanic, that you are Hispanic if you identify as HIspanic, there are organizations, like NHRP, that consider percentage of parental lineage. Making the definition even more confusing, NHRP includes students with Brazilian backgrounds as Hispanic (see the earlier link), while the US Census definition used by the CA and college admissions, does not:</p>

<p><a href=“http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_RHI825212.htm”>http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_RHI825212.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.broh.com/images/C3_Download_6_Recommended_Format.pdf”>http://www.broh.com/images/C3_Download_6_Recommended_Format.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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Hispanic is, for the time being, an ethnic category. By the time of the next US census, it’s likely to be a racial one.

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<p>We’ll have to wait for that time to come. It’s only been within the last half dozen years that the CA and CB have finally separated ethnicity and race into separate questions so that students can more accurately designate their background(s).</p>

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You are 1/6th Mexican, then you qualify as Hispanic on the that checklist for college apps.

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<p>Again, per the US Census definition, which is the one used for college admissions, percentage of parental lineage is not considered, it is whether or not you identify as Hispanic.</p>

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what do colleges do when they get an application from Bridget O’Malley that says she’s Hispanic, without anything else explaining it? Do they just accept it without question?

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<p>Again, surname is not a defining character, Bridget O’Malley could as easily be half Hispanic and have strong ties to her culture and the Hispanic community as she could feel strictly Irish with a faint whisper of Hispanic blood in some distant past. The former can designate Hispanic according the US Census definition, the latter shouldn’t; but this is based on identity, not surname.</p>

<p>However, this is the $64,000 question, and the reason why IMO people should cease being so concerned and upset about Hispanic designation for college admissions. Adcoms deal with evaluating these types of situations all the time, it’s like all of the other undocumented parts of a candidate’s application such as ECs and essays. All Hispanics are not created equal, while a student is placed in the Hispanic pool of applicants, Adcoms will look at many other factors, including: country of origin, SES, overcoming adversity, parent’s educational level, association with the Hispanic community, etc. This is one more place on an application where Adcoms use their professional judgement.</p>