Is Native American/Alaskan considered an underrepresented minority?

collegegrrl
Sun, 28 Apr 2019 17:19:37 +0000

@NorthLeftCoast uh oh. I’m not registered with the tribe. My dad had a falling out with his family when he was my age. He ran away to join the military, and we’ve never met our paternal grandparents or done anything with our cultural heritage or anything like that. Can I register if I’m only half? And how do I get the paperwork? I should still have 6–8 months until regular decision applications are due (I’m applying RD to all the schools I mentioned, I’m pretty confident), is this enough time to get certification?
Thanks for telling me this, because I wouldn’t have known! The CommonApp asked if I was registered with a tribe, and I just said “no” and then told them what the deal was when prompted. I figured that was the end of it!
I don’t exactly feel dishonest or bad about putting Native as my race, because I checked white as well and I do think that my dad growing up on a reservation put me at a disadvantage (we were poor, he didn’t go to college, etc), but I do kind of feel like I don’t “deserve” it, since I’m not in touch with my roots at all and basically just live like any other working class white American. It would be kind of cool to explore that side of me a little more in addition to URM status
PS: Thank you! I’m very proud of my stats and of my nonprofit business. (we have given free therapy and psychiatric care to six local low-income teenagers/college students. a humble start, but a good start!) I’ve had a lot of late nights and early mornings and tears over the past couple of years, and it’s nice to see it paying off.