PTCAS Application Question: Should I check Hispanic or Caucasian?

[AlexFLA]

I'm 50% Cuban 50% Caucasian. I normally identify as white just because I was mostly raised by my mother who is the white one. I also don't speak Spanish or even look Hispanic (Fair skin Blonde hair and Blue eyes). Nevertheless, I am half and half.

Would it be advantageous for me to select Hispanic and be considered a minority? If so Why?

How would I prove this since the obvious signs aren't there? Would I even need to prove it?

Thanks

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[IndianaDPT]

@AlexFLA:

Hispanic is considered an ethnicity. Technically Hispanic is (also) white, for most record-keeping purposes. However, many Hispanic students do not identify as white/Caucasian.

This is not something that the Indiana University program checks; we don't require ethnicity checks or even individuals to list their ethnicity. However, it can be an advantage in an admission process for those programs that take ethnicity or race into account.

Best,

Josh Morrison
Director, Student Enrollment Services
IU School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences
www.shrs.iupui.edu
[email protected]

 

[rammerjammer]

Thank you Mr. Morrison for your insight! It's great to hear from an admissions director.

I am in a similar situation as you, Alex. I am also half cuban and half caucasian. Many people don't realize that quite a few cubans have fair skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, etc. This is in large part because when the Spaniards settled in Cuba, they killed all of the Native Cuban Indians, resulting in a completely Euro population. After slavery was abolished in Cuba in the late 1800s, the Euro population started to mix with the African population. So the majority of Cubans are either of Euro or African descent, and don't look like what most would profile as "hispanic".

Anyway, back to the point (lol), you should check out this thread where I was asking pretty much the same question as you: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=1017711 It seems that marking hispanic won't do any harm but could possibly help in some cases. So why not?

 

[NewTestament]

If you don't consider yourself Hispanic, and don't even speak Spanish, then be honest and check 'white.' You can be honest and still get accepted. I'm 1/4 Mexican, 1/4 Spanish, and I applied as 'white.' I think you should too.

Kevin

 

[rammerjammer]

It's also important to note that the application asks if you are of hispanic origin and then asks your race in the next question. So it is possible to mark both hispanic and white.