<p>operated by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which is a talent identification and recruitment program that helps colleges find students they would like to have apply to their colleges. </p>
<p>I appreciate your comments on the use of such programs at the margins. It’s hard to know what extreme cases might come up. On my part, I have my general opinion that it is important for all of us to acknowledge our common humanity. But I do strongly support college programs, which would be labeled “affirmative action,” that encourage applications to colleges from students who might not otherwise apply. Some students have family connections to various colleges, but many do not. So anything that gets the word out to more students to encourage those students to apply to more colleges is generally a good thing, in my opinion. </p>
<p>Ok…So I am just a bit curious. How does being an asian female affect my chances of being accepted under an engineering program? This is in general, disregarding the school and personal stats…</p>
<p>Thanks! And please answer if you have the time! Or just to humor me ;)</p>
<p>And if this question is too vague…please let me know</p>
<p>If I had to take a general guess, being female in engineering (and probably a lot of sciences and math in general) are a plus to some degree. Statistically, there will probably be less applying which is always a plus when a school is shooting for diversity</p>
<p>There is an obvious death of females in engineering. Male/female brain-societal roles-schemas-blahblahblah… Whatever. Females just aren’t into engineering like males tend to be, so I personally do think that being interested (and excelling) in engineering courses as a female is a big plus.</p>
<p>Asian? Um…not so much. At least, not in the west coast. I hear the east coast needs more diversity, though. I know Duke has this whole essay where you can give your spiel on why diversity is important to you and what you’ll bring. I take it that they strive very hard to achieve diversity, whereas UCs (for example) do not struggle as hard with that aspect. Midwest/South definitely are looking for more diversity.</p>
<p>Many colleges work very hard to attract females to engineering programs. I know Bucknell does, and a lot of other LAC’s with an engineering program. You could check out Lafayette as well.</p>
<p>If I’m understanding this correctly, you are asking if you should self-identify with an ethnic group to have an advantage in the admission process. I’m not sure, because most colleges don’t make that issue clear to applicants. You are always welcome not to indicate any ethnicity at all, and that is perfectly fine for colleges all over the country, as [post</a> #4](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061012037-post4.html]post”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061012037-post4.html) makes clear.</p>
<p>Here’s the deal…
My mom is a white American - born and raised - and my father is from north Africa where he lived until he was 22. My entire father’s side of the family is from Africa and has been there for thousands of years, but in north africa, people are white. Although I appear to be as white as michael jackson (a bit tanner actually), technically, I’m african american.</p>
<p>What should I put on my applications??? So far I have just left the “Ethnicity” option blank; it’s ridiculous that such a thing should even matter to admissions officers, but alas, it does. So let me know what you all think.</p>
<p>You are always allowed to leave it blank. However, your skin color is not always indicative of your ethnicity, and it would be perfectly acceptable for you to put African American I would think.</p>
<p>OK thanks. I figured I was just considered white, but a lot of applications say “African American or Black.” It’s the OR that threw me off cause it implies that black and african american aren’t the same.</p>