On college admission and scholarship forms when it asks race how do people of a mixed racial answer? What if you have a Native American in your family tree? Can you answer Native American even if you are only 1/32 Native American?
If you are trying to qualify for any tribal or Federal program for Native Americans, you better be ready to provide proof of your ancestry.
They just don’t take your word for it.
I would think people of mixed race can check more than one box or “Other” and write in the explanation.
The boxes at my school ran down the whole page.
I’m one race, but some of my relatives would have had several choices.
I’m not sure claiming a specific race will help, if for example they already have one Indian and that would meet their need for diversity.
What if the race is not not Native American, but Hispanic. None of forms ask for any sort of verification that you actually are whatever race you decide you identify with (with the possible exception, as mentioned, for Native Americans). If you’re 1/16 Mexican and 15/16 white (or any other combination you can possibly imagine), and you check “Hispanic” for your race, is any one going to go back and research your family tree? Or is it just accepted?.
Generally speaking, colleges take you at your word. If you check off black, then they assume you self-identify as black.
A student who makes up something runs the risk of being discovered and having an admission offer rescinded for fraud. But they’re not going to trace the students’ family tree.
Some schools offer a “multiracial” option, others may ask students to signify the race with which they primarily identify.
Generally there is the “Other” option on the forms.
I am of mixed race. After I marked ‘Hispanic’ on my PSAT and won a hispanic recognition award from the college board, my high school asked (astoundingly politely) that I show proof of my origins since I was (for some reason) considered White in their records. My father’s birth cert served as proof enough.
I don’t see how colleges would have any reason to question your race, considering most don’t require any photograph or visual contact with the admissions office, only your high school transcript and other records. If it matches up, fine. If it doesn’t, be prepared to show proof. There is a certain fraction that probably varies between schools that would decide whether you are considered a certain race or not.
A friend of my sister’s was a seemingly head-to-toe white girl, but she got some extra money because her grandmother was Argentinian.