<p>asians generally are an over-represented minority now. but there are schools with low asian populations that would still consider asians as urm.</p>
<p><a href=“%5Burl=http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061526420-post631.html]#631[/url]”>quote</a> I feel like i am qualified, but again, that is the admissions office decision.</p>
<p>I just wanted to know what the view of this from all of you[.]
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<p>You should considering availing yourself of the opportunity to be evaluated for admissions without consideration of a social (mis)characterization, race, [that</a> has no basis in biology](<a href=“http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm]that”>404 Page Not Found - The American Anthropological Association).</p>
<p>Yes, but not an underrepresented one at most of the colleges discussed on CC.</p>
<p>^^ That’s why I didn’t select a race on my applications. I’m one of the 'unknown’s, simply because I didn’t want to be evaluated with race taken into consideration. Then I realized it says I’m a white catholic on my SAT scores lol… whoops. Oh well, it wouldn’t have helped me to put it on my apps anyways.</p>
<p>I think the SAT questionnaire (and PSAT questionnaire) are mainly used to identify GROUPS of students for targeted recruiting mailings. It probably is a reasonable assumption that Catholic students would be more interested in certain colleges than students who aren’t Catholic. But I’m pretty sure that the file the admission committee sees for a student doesn’t include information like that about each applicant, unless of course the applicant volunteers such information in an essay answer. The Common Application and most every college application I have seen has no question about student religious preference, for example.</p>
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<p>I agree with this suggestion. I feel somewhat duty bound, as OP of this thread, to answer student questions according to the presuppositions they are asked from, but I should make clear that my well warranted personal view is that we are all better off thinking of ourselves as fellow human beings first, last, and always.</p>
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<p>It’s unclear what colleges do with categories such as “other” (which is a category my son uses on some forms) or “multiracial,” because colleges aren’t forthcoming about statistics on such matters, and neither of those categories is official for federal reporting. The posts on the first page of lengthy FAQ thread make clear that reporting any ethnicity at all is purely optional, and that colleges admit a lot of students about whom the colleges report to the federal government that they don’t know the students’ ethnicities.</p>
<p>why would a minority decide to NOT put his/her race on the app. that is the dumbest thing i have ever heard in my life.</p>
<p>embrace your opportunities. feel proud that you are in a select group of kids that will have an easier time getting admitted. </p>
<p>what, you feel like its not fair that youre gonna have an easier time? well its already not fair that youre living prosperously in the USA while there are kids out there starving, you hypocrite.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s forward-looking (and perhaps even part of enlightened self-interest) to help build America’s postracial future, which may become the world’s postracial future.</p>
<p>zzzboy: Here are a few reasons: (1) Some people (like myself) who can qualify as an URM actually feel guilty because they know their “status” is superficial and had nothing to do with their grades, test scores, etc.; (2) Some people (probably not me) would actually prefer to make it on their own and get accepted to their school of choice without the benefit of the URM boost; and (3) some people (like myself) think AA is wrong, unfair, and actually counter-productive, and these people (probably not me) are determined to abide by their beliefs and not take advantage of the system.</p>
<p>For the record, my cousin attended Stanford undergrad/Harvard medical and became a doctor. She’s an URM and looks like one. She has told me numerous times that many, many people believe that she’s unqualified and attended top schools only because she was a URM. The sad thing is that she’s very, very bright. It sucks for her.</p>
<p>So…I haven’t seen my mother in 9 years, nor have I remained in contact with her. I’ve always identified as “Caucasian” because I’m mostly of German heritage…but my father has informed me that my mother was 1/4 some sort of American Indian, the tribe he is unsure of…so that would make me 1/8 American Indian. On the common app, for instance, it allows you to check all of the boxes of ethnicities that you identify with…do you think I should check both the box for Caucasian and the box for American Indian? Would there be any benefits for doing so? say in admissions…</p>
<p>Do you “maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment”? That is part of the definition of being an American Indian under the federal regulations.</p>
<p><a href=“%5Burl=http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061531044-post643.html]#643[/url]”>quote</a> why would a minority decide to NOT put his/her race on the app. that is the dumbest thing i have ever heard in my life.</p>
<p>embrace your opportunities. feel proud that you are in a select group of kids that will have an easier time getting admitted. </p>
<p>what, you feel like its not fair that youre gonna have an easier time? well its already not fair that youre living prosperously in the USA while there are kids out there starving, you hypocrite.
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<p>History ([even</a> very recent history](<a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2027338.stm]even”>BBC NEWS | Europe | France's invisible minority)) informs us that social policies that reinforce <a href=“mis”>url=http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/05/science/05RACE.html?ex=1230526800&en=327f7e69306cf96f&ei=5070</a>perceived differences may result in [unintended</a> consequences](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5004897]unintended”>Economic Despair, Racism Drive French Riots : NPR).</p>
<p>Sometimes, it takes courageous individual actions to change social policy for the better; like the actions of [Mildred</a> and Richard Loving](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia]Mildred”>Loving v. Virginia - Wikipedia) in their fight against anti-miscegenation laws.</p>
<p>Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”. When an applicant requests that he/she be evaluated solely on the merits (by not self-identifying with regard to ‘race’) the applicant is contributing to a meritocracy.</p>
<p>The other comment I have about ethnic self-identification in college applications is that the college application process would be a lot simpler for applicants and for admission officers if the ethnicity question were not raised in the first place. It is deplorable that many colleges once actively practiced active racial segregation, but the way to go forward is not to limit people’s opportunities by ethnicity, but rather to encourage all people to do the best they can to achieve their high personal goals.</p>
<p>I was debating this with someone, and am wondering which URM has the most pull when it comes to college applications (besides native american). African American, Puerto Rican, or Mexican?</p>
<p>Since when is a nationality a race?? Also, since the African American is an American citizen (hence the American in African American) he/she will have a better chance than an international student. If you’re talking about a black person from another country, then I have no clue.</p>
<p>I forgot where I saw this, but African-American and Latino/as are about equal on URM pull.</p>
<p>I think people on CC seriously overestimate the importance of being an URM. It is a factor but all colleges have a minimum cutoff in terms of credentials that they expect of their students. Sure, there probably is a little more leeway towards the low end of those expectations for URMs and athletes but there are still standards. Furthermore, in terms of Africans, I can guarantee you that it is significantly harder to get in as an African international student than as a European or Asian American. International students face the steepest hurdles to get to college in the U.S., particularly African students as very little, if any, college recruiting is taking place in African countries (excluding the likes of South Africa and perhaps Nigeria)</p>
<p>^^^ um no we are not.</p>
<p>one of my black friends got into carnegie mellon with probably no more than a 2000 SAT score, a mixture of A’s and B’s, and probably basketball as his main EC. plus he’s way richer than i am.</p>
<p>i mean you are right in that they give a lot of leeway, but we are in no way “overestimating” it. </p>
<p>hes an awesome dude, though. power to him.</p>
<p>It would depend on which group was most underrepresented at a specific school. In general, the URMs most difficult to find are native Americans.</p>