Hello!
I’m a Romanian-American girl whose grandfather was a gypsy. In Romania, the gypsies there are the Roma/Romani, who came from India. As such, they would technically be Asian…
When it comes to how I identify ethnically, if I had to say only one, I would say romanian, (then american, then romani), however, that isn’t to say that my identity isn’t impacted by my grandfather identity. Although he died when I was young and I never got to be close with him, I did have some friends in Romania who were gypsies and picked up a some of the language (I speak romanian fluently, but not romani by any means), as well as a few of the cultural tricks (as stereotypical as is it, I did learn how to “read palms” from them).
So…what do I say?
For most of my life, I’ve pretty much just checked off the white box, since that’s what 75% of me is…
100% pick white over Asian because that would help you more in college admissions. Whatever you do, don’t check Asian, especially if you are 75% not Asian.
@RMNiMiTz
Well, a lot of colleges ask you to specify ethnicity…What do I say then? Romanian or Romani? Or would I say both?
I have a similar issue because I’m white but half (Asian as in from the continent of Asia not ethnically “Asian” whatever that means) Russian. I say white, other (Russia). Since Romania is in Europe though, you could say white, European or white, other (Romanian). I think the common app allows you to elaborate on ethnicity and that might be a good place to specify. They also allow you to list languages you speak.
I’d put white if you have identified with that your whole life. You don’t have to put any ethnicity if you don’t want to. People do tend to put Hispanic but I don’t think a lot of people bother with their European ancestry besides that. I don’t think this will help your chances in anyway but if you are passionate, you could for ethnicity put Romanian or even Romani. Neither would likely help in admissions. And especially marking Asian does not help. What you could do is highlight your Romanian heritage in an essay.
@gearmom Okay, thanks! I’ll mention my ethnicity for some of the schools that I’m applying to as some of them require an essay on the topic.