Putting ethnicity down on the commonapp is optional
I am Asian, and obviously the demographic is extremely competitive… So if I don’t put my ethnicity down, does this help me? or do adcoms doubt me?
name: Joe Chen/Alan Kim/Rohan Patel
ethnicity: prefer not to say
chances: definitely raised
Nonsense. It neither hurts nor helps. What “lowers” chances is the level of competition within your local region, regardless of the personal origins of those students. Therefore, your chances are lowered if you reside and go to school within a highly competitive, super-achieving population with many, many qualified applicants like yourself. College admissions is comparative, and where there is a large supply of capable students, one’s own chances are lowered. Many ethnic groups concentrate in specific regions, for logical reasons.
Unless it is an advantage (eg, you are a URM), I see no reason to indicate your ethnicity if it is not required. Now… Asian IS something of a URM at LACs.
If your name is recognizably asian then just write asian. If not, select prefer not to say I guess.
@boxofdonuts please explain… btw my last name is not recognizably asian
@epiphany asians in my region are very competitive, what do you suggest i do
If you last name is not recognizable as Asian, then don’t put it on your apps, especially for Ivies and top research universities.
@intparent What are the benefits of this vs. the cons? Does it matter that much? I’m just wondering, sorry for plying
bump @intparent @kdiddy34 @boxofdonuts @epiphany
Boxofdonuts was being sarcastic. It is a widely held belief that asians are overrepresented in colleges, while blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented. It is believed that colleges want to keep their demographics at stasis (or make it more diverse). Because more asians are believed to apply to top schools, people often believe that Asians require somewhat higher stats to get admitted (because a school doesn’t want a 50% asian school). The idea is that if they don’t know your race, you won’t be subjected to being compared amongst other asians, but if your name is obviously asian there’s no point.
Sorry to hijack this thread but do admission officers see our names when they review our applications?
@outlooker 100% yes
@metsfan9 honestly by putting prefer not to answer you’re implying being asian. So I kinda feel like any possible difference it would make is minor, but I would just put prefer not to answer
No pros or cons. The only thing is that not putting down your ethnicity probably shows insecurity and lack of pride in your identity. Also it’s really not hard to guess one’s ethnicity, from activities put down (ex language school)
Which LACs? Of the 24 “most difficult” to get into colleges under 2,500 students on http://www.collegedata.com (which finds many of the well known LACs that are favorites on these forums), only one has <5% Asian enrollment (Washington and Lee) that would make Asian students underrepresented compared to the US population.
Yes, they see your name.
Compared to Ivies and top research universities, Asian applicants at LACs are a much smaller portion of the applicant pool. Presumably this is due to the name recognition of the Ivy & research universities in home countries, and parental pressure as well to go to a college that will be "recognized’ by the folks back home.
@ucbalumnus, Asian enrollment is not the same as the applicant pool, of course. They may be underrepresented in the applicant pool, but accepted at a higher rate than non-Asian students (partly due to high stats). In general an Asian student applying to Swat is going to have a better chance than at most of the Ivies. The top colleges do limit their offers of acceptance to over-represented groups.
So OP, my advice is don’t check the box with your ethnicity at Ivies and top research universities. Go ahead and check it for LACs. Probably doesn’t matter for universities that aren’t in the top tier.
Why not just be straightforward and state your agenda? Why the subterfuge under the guise of a question?
“asians in my region are very competitive, what do you suggest i do”
There’s nothing that you CAN do, if you’re already in the college app season and your family is settled in. And it’s obviously not realistic for most families to just up-and-leave for another State, but such a move has been done successfully before. There are so many wonderful colleges that will still provide enormous opportunity, intellectually and career-wise, beyond the so-called “top 10” in the nation… Many Elite U’s also admit transfer students (although in those cases the admit rate is usually about the same as for freshman admits). Also, in many cases there is an advantage to performing on a spectacular level in undergrad and then applying to grad school for an even higher-ranked grad school. Happens all the time. Depends partly on what the major is. Also, students have been known to go to an outstanding Canadian U, then apply to grad or professional school to a U.S. Institution.
Mostly, students who have assumed it would herald their personal Apocalypses if they were not admitted to the Ivy League, have not discovered such a result, but have taken advantage of wonderful opportunities elsewhere, which in turn have qualified them for even more schools later.
It has more to do with the fact that universities report the ethnicities of the student body. By not checking a box, they will not put the applicant in the asian count–even if they know the applicant is asian.
@SamRam I’m not being deceitful or surreptitious in asking this question. It’s a well-known fact that asians need to outshine their counterparts with higher stats, and asking this question is simply allowing me to see if I can increase my chance of admission
@ucbalumnus: However, Asian-Americans make up a far greater percentage of the most promising HS applicants (far more than 5%). Until recently (back when the Asian-American population at Dartmouth was around 10% or so), Asian-Americans were still considered URM at Dartmouth.
Though, @intparent, Swat might not be a great example because Asian-Americans are 15% of the student body there now (compare with the 17% at Harvard).
To the OP: Unless you have cultural/ethnic EC’s or plan to write essays/supplements on race (which, BTW, could be a plus at some places) feel free to leave your race out. Probably not a big difference either way.