What should I put?

Applying to College Hispanic Students
1

<p>I am creating an account for my Texas application on <a href=“ApplyTexas”>ApplyTexas, but I am confused with this question:

Both my parents were born in China, but I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I’ve been living in Puerto Rico over 15 years and moved to Texas in my sophmore year. What should I put?</p>

2

<p>If you were a Chinese born in Puerto Rico, you would still be classified as Asian.</p>

3

<p>^^Yes, the OP is racially Asian, but race and ethnicity (Hispanic) are two different qualities, that’s why colleges ask about race and ethnicity separately. Hispanics can be of ANY race(s).</p>

<p>OP, read this thread:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/945724-no-hispanic-blood-still-considered-hispanic.html?highlight=Alberto[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/945724-no-hispanic-blood-still-considered-hispanic.html?highlight=Alberto&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Well I am still very confused. Before I moved to Texas, I would tell everyone that I was half Puerto Rican and half Chinese just because I was born in Puerto Rico and my parents were Chinese. At that time, I didn’t have many forms that asked me about this. After I moved to Texas, I tooked the PSAT and it asked me about race/ethnicity and it took me some time to select, but I ended up choosing Asian because I felt that it would be best to choose that one since I looked more Asian. Now everytime they asked me, I would select Asian because my friend told me that I was 100% Chinese because both my parents were born in China. Today, I asked my counselor and she was also confused, but she told me not to choose Hispanic/Puerto Rican because in my transcript it says Asian.</p>

5

<p>If you weren’t confused I’d be surprised ;)!</p>

<p>First, the definition of Hispanic and it’s separation from race is something that many people don’t grasp, thus all of the unhelpful information you’ve been receiving. And in the past, there usually wasn’t even the option of being Hispanic AND Asian, you were forced to chose one.</p>

<p>Second, your situation is ambiguous because of it is a combination of ethnicity and race that people don’t consider the norm. But just because you’re not a dark skinned MA (sorry, not trying to be racist here, but that is the most common, if not the only stereotype that most Americans consider Hispanic), doesn’t mean you’re any less Hispanic.</p>

<p>As far as your school records, they can be changed. Have your parents go in to you school, explain the situation and have the school change it to Asian and Hispanic. Ethnicity and race are strictly by self-identification, so the school doesn’t say what you are, you do. </p>

<p>Please note, I only advise this if you consider yourself culturally Hispanic from your years in PR. From your earlier description of yourself as half PR and half Chinese, I assume that you do. </p>

<p>I am not Hispanic, but my husband was, he died when our kids were 5 & 8. Since his family is in South America, contact is not that frequent and I’m not fluent in Spanish, so my kids learned to speak Spanish in school. So, are you any less Hispanic than my kids? I’d say no, and you are likely more so since you were immersed in a Hispanic culture for many years.</p>

<p>Your situation really sounds like a perfect essay topic to me as it gives you a very unique POV on what it means to be Hispanic.</p>

6

<p>Adding to the many good points already made…there is a long history of populations of Asian descent in Latin America. For example, Chinese indentured laborers arrived in Cuba in the nineteenth century. And there are large Japanese communities in Brazil. One example that is widely used is Alberto Fujimori, the former president of Peru (of Japanese descent). You might think of this historically to dispel some of the confusion – if a descendant of Chinese immigrants in the United States is asked whether s/he is American, the answer would probably be yes – Chinese American. Well, if you consider yourself part Puerto Rican, then that brings together two backgrounds. </p>

<p>As others have noted, here it is important to consider the difference between ethnicity and race. Hispanic/Latino is used in the United States an ethnicity with people of many races. You have white Latinos and black Latinos and yes, Asian Latinos. Even though I don’t believe in “race,” it is a category that is widely used and some people consider themselves racially one thing and ethnically something else.</p>

7

<p>Now I understand the difference between race and ethnicity after reading this article ([Difference</a> Between Ethnicity and Race | Difference Between | Ethnicity vs Race](<a href=“http://www.differencebetween.net/science/nature/difference-between-ethnicity-and-race/]Difference”>Difference Between Ethnicity and Race | Difference Between)). My race is Asian because of the way I look like, but ethnicity can be anything. The thing is that it says Asian under ethnicity, but Puerto Rico under place of birth.</p>

<p>On every application I started, they keep asking me the same question and on the Texas application it says regardless of race so I guess I can say I am Hispanic and for race I would put Asian. Do you guys think that it will hurt me if I did check yes for Hispanic on all my college applications even though my counselor told me not to? For me if I put no for hispanic or latino, I feel that it means that I never grew up in a Hispanic culture or being born in Puerto Rico didn’t mean anything. I guess I could tell the admissions why I chose yes.</p>

8

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<p>I’m not seeing that in the CA, the TX application may be different. </p>

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<p>From my post #5:</p>

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<p>You were previously given bad information and poor choices for what to mark. Now you have the ability to change that, it’s up to you whether you do it or not, there’s no reason for you to be a victim of past misinformation.</p>

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<p>Yes, you can do this by doing one or more of the following: addressing in your essay, putting in the Additional Information section, having your HS GC discuss it in their evaluation.</p>

9

<p>I just want to second entomom’s earlier point that your experiences – and your grappling with questions of ethnicity and race – would make for a good admissions essay.</p>

<p>Ethnic identification is influenced by a combination of your family background, personal experiences, the cultures in which you grow up, how others see you, and how you see yourself. Some people would be more comfortable if everyone were in a well-defined box – and some people want to revert to race and blood in order to define people. But actual lives can be complicated.</p>

10

<p>

I am talking about my transcript, not the application.
Ethnicity: Asian
Place of Birth: Puerto Rico</p>

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I don’t live with my parents, but next week I am going to take to my counselor about this since now I understand the difference between race and ethnicity and hopefully she does too. There is no where on my transcript that says race. I am going to tell her that it is true that my ethnicity is Asian since my family is Chinese and it has influenced me, but also Puerto Rican culture did too. For example, I have celebrated the same holidays they did and I have been taking Spanish classes since I started school. Most of my family also speak Spanish fluently. I am also gonna show her this:

which appears on every application.</p>

<p>I guess I can use this for one of my essay topics that ask like what is one thing I would like to change from the past. I never actually thought that this was a good topic since many people experience this.</p>