WWYD-nationality on app? mixed DD, Black African dad/White European Mom,Passport -Mom’s Ctry
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Anonymous
PP. You're attempting to game the system, when people are telling you that the attractiveness of a black European vs. black African applicant is about the same. Actually, black European applicants are probably even more rare than black African applicants. You trying to add/change her country of citizenship seems like a pointless exercise. |
Anonymous
| Seriously lots of highly qualified black Africans apply to American colleges. This would, if anything, hurt your kid. |
Anonymous
| Second vote for letting the daughter decide. It is a bad sign that you are crowdsourcing this question instead of asking her. |
Anonymous
Okay... on the one hand you're right with respect to the little box on the passport application not being sufficient in terms of identifying ancestry - it's not. And that's because race is not biological. It is a social construct. So anybody with dark skin and a lineage that leans towards the "Dark Continent" is considered black whether they're Caribbean or Cambodian or Californian. Now...on the other hand the PP who pointed out that "there are absolutely black Europeans" is correct also, because nationality is not sufficient in terms of identifying ancestry either. (What you don't think white babies can be born in Africa? You don't think Hispanic babies can be born in Asia? You don't think black babies can be born in Europe?) So considering neither race nor nationality are particularly foolproof when it comes to emphasizing African ancestry perhaps you should consider an alternative. There are less complicated and more self-empowering ways to attest ones genealogical heritage. Ask yourself, what makes someone Ethiopian as opposed to Nigerian and how are they different from a Botswanan? The answer is simple - culture. If you want to emphasize your African ancestry you can embrace the values, belief systems, rules, norms, morals, language, customs, fashions, and folklore of your forefathers. But...if simply want some documentation that states who you are and wanna go thru all that trouble just for some paperwork stating your African ancestry knock yourself out. Sounds a bit much but to each his own. |
Anonymous
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You need to use her actual nationality -- that is important for things like financial aid eligibility and other stuff.
Her heritage and racial category should be what she identifies with. What will be important is how well she can express what her identify means to her etc if she chooses to as part of the application. |
Anonymous
| My kid claimed Hispanic heritage based on his Grandmother being an immigrant from Cuba. Not sure what you mean by identifying...he is multi cultural, so Hispanic is one of the cultures we embrace...but we also embrace my husband's Irish/Italian side. Does that mean we gamed the system? |
Anonymous
What is the point, though? How do you see this as helping her application? |
Anonymous
| I would put Black, if the mix is black white as she'll have a better chance and most people consider it black/African vs. white. |
Anonymous
OP here. My thoughts exactly. Gaming suggests twisting the truth for a particular end which is not the case here. However I do appreciate the responses stating that black European is at least as “beneficial”, for want of a better word, as black African for those purposes. For what it’s worth I’m newish to the country, this is our first college application and I’m the White mom. I’ve only just, in the past few months, begun to hear about all the criteria universities look at to assess a candidate. It’s very confusing and I am getting a great deal of advice from other parents about what my daughter should put on her application when it comes to her nationality/color, etc. In the beginning I was googling all the terms like crazy-URM, hook, etc. As you know in Europe it’s grades only more or less. None of these other things would matter. Not saying they should not matter but it’s just different. So thanks for all the response. I was actually told to mention the ‘flaming’ thing  . I was told I would get straight answers though I might get some acid too. I must say all have been very measured in their responses.
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Anonymous
| OP here. Also to be honest we rarely talk about race at home so I am only guessing she identifies as mixed. All of her friends are white. I wonder what, if anything, this means about how she identifies. I have never thought to ask. The responses also got me thinking about the further implications of racial identity in America which, while not exactly what I was asking for, was very important to hear. I am learning fast in this often very complicated, at least to me, process. |
Anonymous
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If she is not a US citizen or green card holder, then she is an international applicant, which is a disadvantage no matter her race.
US colleges report data to the federal government separately for race only for domestic applicants (US citizens or permanent residents). |
Anonymous
OP here. She has a green card but I did not know that. Thanks |
Anonymous
| Let your child choose how she identifies and what she would like to put on her application. She will be more than ready for this when she’s 17 years old. Don’t teach her to cheapen her identity and use her heritage or skin color as merely a tool to gain access to things. |
Anonymous
You kid should find a way to say black, Somali and mom is crazy. |
Anonymous
It might help to understand what the question looks like on the Common App.
She should be accurate insofar as how she identifies. And then leave it at that. If she is a green card holder, and she identifies as black, then she'd have the URM black hook, which is what you're after. |