Choosing not to disclose race

[Knickerbocker]

Do you guys think it would help or harm to not disclose information on race/ethnicity? I am Caucasian and Asian Indian, but I'd like the fact that both groups are well represented to not affect me.

Thinking more about it, admissions committees might assume that I am resentful of affirmative action and URMs and that I am trying to shield my race with the "no answer" option.

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[R.P. McMurphy]

Do you guys think it would help or harm to not disclose information on race/ethnicity? I am Caucasian and Asian Indian, but I'd like the fact that both groups are well represented to not affect me.

Thinking more about it, admissions committees might assume that I am resentful of affirmative action and URMs and that I am trying to shield my race with the "no answer" option.

I think choosing not to can only harm......that's just my opinion though

It just looks shady i think

 

[Rafa]

you can try, but adcoms aren't stupid. if it doesn't come through in your name, your ecs, or your ps, it'll come through in your interview - but it isn't something that'll be held against you. although if i were a wry adcom, i'd pretty much assume any "blank" applicants whose ethnicities weren't apparent from names, ecs, or pss were white "middle-class" males. so if i were you, i'd just put it down. you are what you are, and the way you come off in your ecs and ps will have a lot more to do with you getting a second look than will your ethnicity.

 

[Compass]

Just write it. It can't hurt you more than if you don't write it at all.

 

[notdeadyet]

Unless you are selecting a URM race, I don't think what you check has any impact at all.

I find that not being able to select multiple races makes the whole thing a bit of a farce in this day and age. The days that students of multiple ethnicities being a rareity are long gone.

 

[LizzyM]

No one on the adcom cares. Do what you want.

 

[lord_jeebus]

No one on the adcom cares. Do what you want.

Exactly.

My philosophy has been that if people can't tell what race I am without asking, why should I tell them? I'm not affected by my actual race but by what other people perceive my race to be. (When people ask me what race I am, I have them guess. Overall success rate has been about 5%.)

 

[riceman04]

Do you guys think it would help or harm to not disclose information on race/ethnicity? I am Caucasian and Asian Indian, but I'd like the fact that both groups are well represented to not affect me.

Thinking more about it, admissions committees might assume that I am resentful of affirmative action and URMs and that I am trying to shield my race with the "no answer" option.

Are you forgetting that you will have to eventually interview IN PERSON (at most schools)

 

[Knickerbocker]

Are you forgetting that you will have to eventually interview IN PERSON (at most schools)

Depending on the person looking at me and the amount of time I've spent in the summer sun, I've passed for being Caucasian (various kinds, sometimes Italian or Greek) as well as Mexican. People usually see what they want... A certain professor at my school thinks that I am Italian because I made tiramisu for a potluck.

 

[shantster]

Depending on the person looking at me and the amount of time I've spent in the summer sun, I've passed for being Caucasian (various kinds, sometimes Italian or Greek) as well as Mexican. People usually see what they want... A certain professor at my school thinks that I am Italian because I made tiramisu for a potluck.

I'm half Asian Indian, half Irish, and I get that same problem. I've had people start speaking Spanish to me since they thought I was Hispanic. I've also been told that I could pass for Italian or a number of other ethnicities if they ask.