# If a White student claims to be part African-American on his college applications.. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125 "2014-04-01T23:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/21 "2014-04-02T14:22:40Z")
Dumb question but how and where do college applications ask students to identify their race? Can anyone link to a PDF application form that shows this question? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/22 "2014-04-02T14:36:10Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > That’s nice. Now for the rest of your life, particularly in seeking employment, pretend to be white, or else you \*will \*be discriminated against. That’s the whole issue with white privilege: I can’t help how others perceive me. All I can do is call people on racism when I see it, not discriminate against anyone myself, and when I have a platform to talk about people (history, culture, whatever), not omit the non-white folks. If enough of us do this for long enough, I hope we’ll end the stupidity. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/23 "2014-04-02T14:38:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Dumb question but how and where do college applications ask students to identify their race? Can anyone link to a PDF application form that shows this question? To answer my own question, I found some university sites provided the [PDF version of the Common Application](http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/pdf/common-application.pdf). Racial information is requested under “demographics” and it’s optional. I very much doubt that _any_ college is going to challenge anyone’s self-identification of their race. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/24 "2014-04-02T14:40:39Z")
It’s on the application, it’s OPTIONAL. (This is for U.S. colleges) Here’s a link to a page that shows how it appears on the Common App. > **["Race" in College Admission FAQ & Discussion 10](https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/race-in-college-admission-faq-discussion-10/1318629)** > > Ethnic Self-Identification Is Optional for College Admission Students are often puzzled about how to respond to questions on college applications about race or ethnicity. The questions are required by a federal regulation. The regulation was... Before my school went to the Common App, our in-house application question presented more nuanced options, but then it was always a challenge in reporting, because our categories didn’t match up with what the Department of Education was asking for. It ended up being a mess every year, and then we gave up and went with the broader categories for a few years, and then we switched to the Common App so it wasn’t our problem anymore. I’m trying to remember how long the question about being Hispanic/Latino has been broken out as a separate question, maybe six years or so? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/25 "2014-04-02T14:45:05Z")
> [@kstarnes](#): > > The point of all this is to demonstrate how obnoxious it is for a school to ask about race in the first place. As **delphica** ’s cite points out, the colleges ask because they are required to do so by federal law. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/26 "2014-04-02T14:45:19Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > It’s on the application, it’s OPTIONAL. (This is for U.S. colleges) That was the whole point of my stupid story. It was optional to apply to UCLA, but it was mandatory to register for classes. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/27 "2014-04-02T14:49:15Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > That was the whole point of my stupid story. It was optional to apply to UCLA, but it was mandatory to register for classes. Just out of professional curiosity, ballpark when was this? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/28 "2014-04-02T14:49:30Z")
Is it still mandatory there for class registration? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/29 "2014-04-02T14:51:58Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > Just out of professional curiosity, ballpark when was this? mid-1990s. It was telephone registration in those days, and I had to press a key to indicate my race before I could move on in the menu. (Frustration was my main motivation for choosing “black,” and I didn’t realize at the time how much of an effect it would have, or how hard it would be to change.) ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/30 "2014-04-02T15:10:13Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > mid-1990s. It was telephone registration in those days, and I had to press a key to indicate my race before I could move on in the menu. (Frustration was my main motivation for choosing “black,” and I didn’t realize at the time how much of an effect it would have, or how hard it would be to change.) I remember those days! Registration of the future! OMG, telephone registration was the worst. It was worse than punch cards, which is what we registered with when I was a student. I am _guessing_ it was a data issue, not a policy issue (as in, they either didn’t think it through, or didn’t have the technology option, to make it an active opt-out), but obviously I don’t know for sure. I remember the phone registration package we used at work at about that time – there were a limited number of options available for each branching point. It’s also possible they were trying to capture that data for a specific reason unrelated to registration, but piggy-backed on registration to collect it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/31 "2014-04-02T15:13:48Z")
I have no doubt that that’s correct. Just not thoroughly thought out. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/32 "2021-10-30T17:52:32Z")
Bumping this thread rather than starting a new one… One recent survey has shown that up to one-third of white college applicants lie about their race and claim to be of minority-racial heritage, mostly done for the sake of boosting their chance of admission. > **[More than a third of white students lie about their race on college...](https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/education/577722-more-than-a-third-of-white-students-lie-about-their/)** > >  A survey from Intelligent found that 34 percent of white students who applied to colleges and universities falsely claimed they were a racial minority on their application. The publicati… ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/33 "2021-10-30T19:26:10Z")
I would like to know a LOT more about the methodology of this survey, especially how they recruited participants. I’d be very, very surprised if it reflected a representative sample of white college students. (The majority of students, nationwide, do not attend colleges that have competitive admissions.) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/34 "2021-10-30T21:02:31Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > One recent survey has shown that up to one-third of white college applicants lie about their race and claim to be of minority-racial heritage, mostly done for the sake of boosting their chance of admission. Good on them. If the system is race-neutral (as it should be) then it’ll make no difference. If it weights the application in favour of certain ethnicities then it is a racist system and should be resisted and undermined as much as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/35 "2021-10-30T21:55:34Z")
Never Mind. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/36 "2021-10-31T00:02:18Z")
The premise of the OP represents one of the major problems in trying to classify race in the way that it is commonly done in the US. A Caucasian person who was born in South Africa (lots of Dutch and English influence there!), but later moves to the US, can legitimately call himself “African-American.” . An example of this is Teresa Heinz Kerry, who was born in Mozambique. > **[Teresa Heinz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Heinz)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Teresa Heinz (born Maria Teresa Thierstein Simões-Ferreira; October 5, 1938), also known as Teresa Heinz Kerry, is a Portuguese-American businesswoman and philanthropist. Heinz is the widow of former U.S. Senator John Heinz and the wife of former U.S. Secretary of State, longtime U.S. Senator, and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Heinz is Chair of the Heinz Endowments and the Heinz Family Philanthropies. > Maria Teresa Thierstein ... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/37 "2021-10-31T03:20:00Z")
I did not know she was foreign-born, let alone in a place that, for want of a better word, exotic. I actually came here to tell the story, which was not an urban legend, about a high school that decided to have an “African American Student of the Year” and a recent enrollee who was blond, blue-eyed, and recently emigrated from an African country due to political turmoil tossed his hat into the ring. The school decided to cancel the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/38 "2021-10-31T03:32:11Z")
Someone not from the U.S., and never had it explained to him, would not be expected to comprehend that “African-American” has nothing to do with Africa or being African. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/39 "2021-10-31T03:34:10Z")
Actually, he knew EXACTLY what he was doing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125/40 "2021-10-31T03:43:37Z")
Actually, other than native Americans, you self identify. Anyone can claim any race they want unless they claim to be a member of a tribe. There are no tests. Race is a social construct, no DNA is exclusive. You want to claim you are black, their are no legal issues,but you are open to ridicule if not at least part in birth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-white-student-claims-to-be-part-african-american-on-his-college-applications/685125.md?page=3)