Thoughts on putting down Hispanic when from Spain?

[Anonymous]

The schools' AOs will not be able to see those answers on the Common App any longer. The schools still need to collect that info for compliance reasons.

I'm Latino and frankly, I like the new rule even though I'm what most people would call a SJW. Now, in order for your kid to get any boost from their ethnicity or race, they have to explain how it impacts on who they are and what they have to offer to the school in terms of diversity.

[Anonymous]

Why would you not? Serious question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:….(continued from above) What seemed particularly unfair about the whole thing was that an hour west of my wife’s hometown in Spain is the Portuguese border. I’ve lived in Portugal, & it’s considerably less prosperous than Spain, & their language is very similar to Spanish. But they apparently aren’t supposed to qualify as Hispanic.

Yeah, and Sicily was run by the Spaniards for hundreds of years, and again has generally been less prosperous than Spain. It's not at all. It would be more rational to ask if your ancestry was indigenous, as that would track better with the Latinos who are actually disadvantaged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the history of Hispanic goes back to the Nixon administration- it was an effort to introduce a catch all that included Mexican Americans but didn’t excluded Cubans and Puerto Ricans. Someone figured out Spanish language ancestry could tie them all together and voila. European Spaniards lucked into this category which has evolved to confer victim status on all it subsumes.

Oh my fellow Americans, when will we be done with this identity politics stupidity? We will never get anywhere until we do.

I dunno. Most white people didn’t seem to think it was “stupidity” when all the “identity politics “ was tilted firmly in their favor. Perhaps when we’ve created a country with equal opportunities for everyone? Maybe that will be a good time to be done with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, its fine.

Hispanic refers to someone whose ancestry is Spanish speaking.

Spanish is a language or citizenship

Latino is an ethnicity that refers to a person whose origins are in Latin America.

You're the fist one - Hispanic.

So Brazilians aren't hispanic then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, its fine.

Hispanic refers to someone whose ancestry is Spanish speaking.

Spanish is a language or citizenship

Latino is an ethnicity that refers to a person whose origins are in Latin America.

You're the fist one - Hispanic.

So Brazilians aren't hispanic then?

No, they aren’t. But they are Latino.

[Anonymous]

Spain?!?!! Seriously??? Wtf? They are white/European.

How are they more of an ethnic group than Italians for godsakes???

I cannot believe UVS told a European Spanish person that they are Hispanic. Unreal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spain?!?!! Seriously??? Wtf? They are white/European.

How are they more of an ethnic group than Italians for godsakes???

I cannot believe UVS told a European Spanish person that they are Hispanic. Unreal

I think you are a little out of touch here. Duke University School of Medicine wrote a fairly thoughtful article about this:

https://medschool.duke.edu/blog/ask-oedi-hispanic-latino-latina-latinx-which-best

Note that OPs child will have to specify in the common app where her Hispanic heritage comes from, and will have to identify Spain. That is (and was) done in the common app to differentiate between applicants with Hispanic identity from Spain versus other heritages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought Scotus ended this tomfoolery?

Most universities have adopted a policy of massive resistance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Common app hasn’t changed yet ?

Just because it is on the Common App does not mean:

1. Colleges ingest that data point.
2. Admission officers get to see that data point when reviewing the application (think job applications with that question. It stays hidden in the background from Recruiters and only upon hire goes into your personal record for statistic and EEO purposes).

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you can get away with putting down Hispanics just because you are from Spain. It’s not a good idea to make fun of any ethnic group in a college essay.

[Anonymous]

They really need to stop collecting "Hispanic" data. It has zero application today.

Hispanic is not a race, nor is it an ethnicity. It's just "language" which is a dumb thing to be looking at for college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that complicated. Why do you care?

What an odd post. Holy moly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you can get away with putting down Hispanics just because you are from Spain. It’s not a good idea to make fun of any ethnic group in a college essay.

You think wrong!

No one is making fun of anyone.

[Anonymous]

How much value does being Hispanic (without evidence of the attendant hardships of being a recent immigrant) still have? Do admissions officers still just want to check the box, so a rich kid who claims to have some Spanish speaking background is fine, or are they looking for authentically disadvantaged Spanish speaking types?