<p>The majority of colleges are using the CA these days, they ask the questions like this:</p>
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<p>If you check ‘yes’ for Hispanic, you get a drop down box with these options (at least this is what it said last year, you only get the drop down box when logged in and I can’t see the current year application online):</p>
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<p>So going on what you have said, for the first question, your S would check ‘Yes’ and Puerto Rico. For the second question, he would check ‘White’ (Spain), AA and AI/NA (and state ‘not enrolled’). This last designation can be argued, but going strictly by the CA definition which states “Original Peoples of the Americas”, with an ‘s’, people with ancestors who were indigenous inhabitants of Latin American countries are included, even though the category is intended mostly for members of N. American tribes. My usual advice is that unless a person knows for sure that they have OP ancestry, it’s probably best not to mark the AI/NA designation.</p>
<p>If you can cite how some of the other schools ask this question, that would make for great discussion (in a new thread or on the Definition sticky thread, as that would help for others searching for this kind of information). </p>
<p>I hope this helps clarify the categories, I agree that it’s confusing, and the schools and CA haven’t helped; in the past they have lumped Hispanics in with racial categories and have only given people an option for a single designation. That really doesn’t work in a world where people have increasingly varied backgrounds.</p>