Latinos putting "Native American" on college admission forms? MIT?

aunt_bea
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 20:56:18 +0000

All of us, with a latino heritage, were at one point mixed with Native American blood from either South and North America. The problem is in the identification of your tribal affiliation. You need to be registered with your tribe. The colleges are interested in the diversity that you bring of your North American tribe and those reservation activities that you have done to immerse yourself in the culture. 23Nme doesn’t count do that. You really can’t pretend that you have “lived” as a Native American. It is VERY different from the Latin American culture.

People, who aren’t affiliated with a tribe, shouldn’t try to “game” the system just to be admitted to a school. Don’t you think your high school records would indicate anything about race/ethnicity? I’ve traveled to Navajo country and have seen how those students strive just to live and to learn how to survive. Anyone, coming out of that culture with those harsh conditions, who is getting the grades to be admitted to universities, deserves that hook.

I am Mexican and Native American, but our tribe wasn’t one of the “original” five tribes and our names weren’t recorded in reservation paperwork, so we have no “paper” proof of tribal affiliation. The last pow-wow I recall was when I was about 9 years old. My children have no experience from their NA heritage so we didn’t use it.

Turns out they did fine in their admitted schools without it.