I know there is lot of controversy surrounding this but I have to ask, Who should claim minority status. I know it is
none of my business what anybody else does.
But, I know a few people who are trying to claim to be race they aren’t or very little of so they can better there chances of getting accepted into colleges. One person said that they can legal claim the race of there father, and he can claim the race of his, and so on. Is that fair, or even allowed in the colleges eyes, or in general? I mean, I don’t really care what they do, there just doing what they need to when acceptance rates are tenths of what it was when there parent were applying to the same colleges.
What does everyone else think?
It is not my intention to offend anyone. This is simply my view on this topic. I know there are flaws in my post, but, oh well. If this is a pointless thread, oh well, I didn’t intent to ask that kind of question.
People should check the box(es) they would check if they didn’t think their answer would affect anything. Especially since, for the most part, it won’t.
For some schools there’s a 1/4+ rule on classifying yourself as a certain identity for the purposes of admissions. So for example if your father was half or completely hispanic then the student could claim hispanic without violating the university policies. Under such a policy students who are only 1/8 or less would not be able to classify themselves as hispanic when applying.
Ethically and technically aren’t always the same and many argue that you should only claim a potentially advantageous minority status if you genuinely feel that you have been disadvantaged due to your minority position or if you strongly identify with that group.
The National Hispanic Recognition Program requires that you have at least 1 grandparent from one of the countries they consider Hispanic. I’ve never seen a college list their requirement.
Mostly an honor system. But there may be some requirements for some colleges or programs. NHRP, as noted above, is an example. Native American status may be based on tribal enrollment for some.
@austinmshauri When I had hispanic friends applying they mentioned that many of the Ivys used that definition and some were directly advised by adcoms to only put hispanic if they were at least a quarter. For hispanics that’s probably the most common “cutoff” point although it’s on your honor. I’m not sure if it’s officially stated anywhere or if it’s more of a widely accepted percentage to consider yourself a certain race. Native Americans sometimes need to have tribal affiliation in addition to a certain percentage (although I’ve heard their percentage can be lower than 1/4 as long as they have the affiliation).
But really, OP, what anyone else does isn’t your concern. They’re the ones that will have to live with their decisions.
Historically, in the US there was a ‘one drop rule’. If you had one drop of black blood or one black ancestor, you were black with all the negative consequences that came with that. There were even terms such as quadroon and octoroon. So, if the point of affirmative action is to help those who have suffered from discrimination then people with very little black blood deserve the advantage because they have historically been discriminated against.
Sorry to bump this post, but I’m a little confused. My mother was born in Chile to one Chilean parent and one Italian parent. Does that make my mom 100% Chilean and myself 50%? Or is she 50% and I’m 25%?
If you aren’t sure discuss it with your guidance counselor. My kids have answered various ways on different things but mostly have used the race which is the slight majority of their ancestors. We have a pretty large percentage of a second race but at various times in their lives my kids have felt it more or less I guess. The counselor said they could ethically put either, both, or one based on a listing of relatives and backgrounds. What I find interesting though is that friends of ours are on the Indian registry and they have a teeny tiny percentage of that ancestry but since it is specifically legally documented they never think twice about including it. We aren’t applying for any scholarships based on either ethnicity though as I think most of those you need 50% and we aren’t that high. Honestly though nowadays it seems like almost everyone has some type of mixture (at least where we live) and I wonder how much longer they will even care about these questions.
I am half Mexican, so my kids are 1/4. When a form asks if we are Caucasian (not of Hispanic origin) or (Hispanic origin) I answer truthfully, they are Caucasian but of Hispanic origin. Their grandmother is from Mexico. I think if you are truthful you’re good. When I was in college I received a couple of scholarships from the national Hispanic scholarship fund and those specified 2 grandparents of Hispanic origin.
It depends on who’s asking and what they’re asking. The Common App does not qualify the prompts so just be honest and check any/all that apply. Each school decides how to use that information.
Some programs and scholarships do qualify what they consider a minority. In those cases, follow their directions.
There are more opinions here than a universal answer, so it’s best to just answer things honestly regardless of what others think. The common app doesn’t use the narrow definition some people use, which is why this seems to be a confusing topic. Many schools don’t either. Overall, you are what you say are. Honor system for the most part. But adcoms aren’t stupid and some may comb the application for further support depending on how they qualify that information.
It’s truly sad how big of a factor race plays in college admissions. Out with diversity of thought, in with diversity of color. For a country that is supposed to be “beyond” or “overcoming” racial differences, you’d think that admissions offices would not choose race as such a large factor. Congrats to Stanford for instituting their race blind admissions, kicking reverse discrimination in the teeth.
All UC’s are race blind as well, this is why UC Berkeley is like 45% asian. Once the effect of race blind admissions started to be felt on California campuses people complained that that wasn’t fair, white kids didn’t have a fair chance at going to upper UC’s. I don’t know, I figure let the best applicant win regardless.