Race Question for Online Application!

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<p>The question is optional. Virginia asks about this because the federal government requires reporting from all colleges in the United States, but you don’t have to answer the question at all. </p>

<p>From the U VA downloadable application: </p>

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Race or Ethnicity (optional): check one or more </p>

<p>. . . . </p>

<p>The University of Virginia does not discriminate unlawfully in any of its programs, procedures, or practices against any person on the basis of age, color, disability, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or veteran or marital status.The information requested above is for reports the University provides to federal authorities and to other agencies collecting data on equal opportunity for education and employment.

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<p>Virginia’s Common Data Set info shows that many students are reported to the feds as “race unknown.” </p>

<p>[UVa</a> CDS: B. Enrollment](<a href=“http://www.web.virginia.edu/IAAS/data_catalog/institutional/cds/current/enrollment.htm]UVa”>http://www.web.virginia.edu/IAAS/data_catalog/institutional/cds/current/enrollment.htm) </p>

<p>Here’s my FAQ on the issue, with reference to the practices and figures at other colleges. An ethnicity question is ALWAYS optional on a college application. </p>

<p>Self-reporting ethnicity is OPTIONAL on the Common Application, which is what many colleges (for example Harvard) use as their main or sole application form. Self-reporting ethnicity is also optional on the Universal Application, which various colleges, including Harvard, also accept. Every college in the United States is required by federal law to track voluntarily self-reported ethnic data on students. The colleges ask for this information, and have to report it to the federal government, but students don’t have to report it. Harvard’s U-CAN page</p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Harvard University :: Page 1](<a href=“ucan-network.org”>ucan-network.org) </p>

<p>shows, based on that federally mandated data tracking, that 15 percent of its students are “race unknown,” so evidently quite a few applicants to Harvard decline to self-report their ethnicity and yet are still admitted. MIT still has its own application form, and asks its own brand of the ethnicity question. Ethnicity questions are optional on the MIT application also, but the application notes that MIT has an “Affirmative Action Plan” plan, with the comment that MIT “guarantees equal opportunity in education to students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.” About 10 percent of MIT’s enrolled class is counted as “race unknown.” </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Massachusetts Institute of Technology :: Page 1](<a href=“ucan-network.org”>ucan-network.org) </p>

<p>Columbia University has its own application form, which also makes clear that ethnic self-identification information is optional. Approximately 13 percent of enrolled students at Columbia are reported as “race unknown.” </p>

<p>[U-CAN:&lt;/a&gt; Columbia University :: Page 1](<a href=“ucan-network.org”>ucan-network.org) </p>

<p>Don’t worry about it. Self-report or not as you wish. Recognize that students from a variety of ethnic groups–including whatever one you would claim for yourself–are admitted to each of your favorite colleges each year. On the other hand, admission to some colleges (e.g., Harvard) is just plain competitive, so lots of outstanding students of each ethnic group you can imagine are not admitted each year. Do your best on your application, apply to a safety, and relax.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/357223-what-your-favorite-safety-college.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/357223-what-your-favorite-safety-college.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>College admissions offices refer to the U.S. Census bureau definitions for ethnic categories, because they required to report by federal regulations, and you can look the definitions up on the Web.</p>

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@Census Bureau

White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as “White” or report entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish.</p>

<p>Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as “Black, African Am., or Negro,” or provide written entries such as African American, Afro American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian.

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<p>[Black</a> or African American persons, percent, 2000](<a href=“http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_68176.htm]Black”>http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_68176.htm) </p>

<p>It would be dishonest, and possibly grounds for revoking an offer of admission, to self-report according to a category that doesn’t fit you at all. </p>

<p>Is that clear?</p>