Question: if I’m a quarter African, can I check myself off as African-American on applications?

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ParasolPine

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Basically the title
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The wording of this question makes it sound a little like you are looking for a technicality to get URM status and don’t personally identify as black. If anything, maybe just checking multiracial or multiple race boxes would be best.
 
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Africa is a continent not a country. Africa consists of multiple races. The red flag for me went up when you said "African" 😵

i-want-to-go-to-afri-lupitanyongo-name-the-country-7975328.png


The safest thing for you would be to check multi-racial.
 
Ms Procrastinator said:
Africa is a continent not a country. Africa consists of multiple races. The red flag for me went up when you said "African" 😵

View attachment 275580

The safest thing for you would be to check multi-racial.
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Um, you realize that is super common right? People from those African countries refer to themselves as African just like people from European countries also refer to themselves as European despite it being a continent.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Um, you realize that is super common right? People from those African countries refer to themselves as African just like people from European countries also refer to themselves as European despite it being a continent.
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Eh, in instances like this it gets annoying. Even if you're not naming countries, South African, West African, North African... what are we talking about here?
 
Ms Procrastinator said:
Eh, in instances like this it gets annoying. Even if you're not naming countries, South African, West African, North African... what are we talking about here?
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Eh I’ve heard people just say African and I’ve heard people be specific. Just depends on personal preference and the context. Isn’t it possible OP just used African because the specific country doesn’t really change the answer and they might want to be as anonymous as possible?
 
Moko said:
If someone asked if you were African American, would you answer "yes"?

If not, then don't. You can always select multiple races. Also keep in mind that we will eventually see you in person.
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I think this is one of the best replies to a question I have seen on here recently

Kudos to @Moko
 
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ciestar said:
Going out on a limb here and saying descendants of slaves likely do not know their origins other than “Africa”.
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Then why would OP not just say black. That's what was weird. OP could have just said they were part black. OP said they're a quarter African and not a quarter black. This insinuates that at least one grandparent is actually from Africa and is not African American.
 
Ms Procrastinator said:
Then why would OP not just say black. That's what was weird. OP could have just said they were part black. OP said they're a quarter African and not a quarter black. This insinuates that at least one grandparent is actually from Africa and is not African American.
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Maybe they are? Dont ask me.
 
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Ms Procrastinator said:
Then why would OP not just say black. That's what was weird. OP could have just said they were part black. OP said they're a quarter African and not a quarter black. This insinuates that at least one grandparent is actually from Africa and is not African American.
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Because OP could actually either be 100% white (all Africans are not black), or appear white due to the 75% that is not African. I think that is where @Moko and @Goro were going with their replies.
 
I really think that if you had to ask this question, there is something already wrong with your application that maybe you should address rather than trying to leverage your chances, whether or not you're an URM.
 
ciestar said:
Going out on a limb here and saying descendants of slaves likely do not know their origins other than “Africa”.
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African does not equal African American. African Americans ( Americans who are descendants of slaves) may not know what part of Africa they're from. Africans know exactly what part of the continent they're from. I assumed OPs grandparent was from the continent itself as the title says African and not African American.
 
Look at the outcomes. You have an enormous advantage by being URM, I’d take the advantage and not look back — you have a legitimate claim to identifying as black if you so choose. Nobody is going to ask for documentation or accuse you of lying if you go that route.
 
Check the box. Schools are not interested in investigating their applicant's claims, if your skin is dark enough to pass and you check the box, nobody is even going to ask if you're full vs half vs quarter. Take the free boost
 
efle said:
Check the box. Schools are not interested in investigating their applicant's claims, if your skin is dark enough to pass and you check the box, nobody is even going to ask if you're full vs half vs quarter. Take the free boost
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I mean people who tend to ask these questions also tend to be culturally incompetent, so the interview is a nice equalizer.
 
If you are one-quarter African, are we talking about one grandparent? Where was that grandparent born? Where were the grandparent's parents born? How does that grandparent identify?

Not all people born in Africa are Black, not all people born in Africa have ancestry in sub- Sahara Africa. North Africans do not meet the definition of African-American or Black. Neither do the people of European ancestry who populated the areas of southern Africa for generations. There are also people born in Africa of South Asian ancestry whose families immigrated to Africa in the twentieth century.

Look at the definition of Black or African American given by the US census. Also strongly consider checking more than one box to indicate that you are of mixed race and not only African-American.

Also OP, YMMV if the application is for a Canadian dental school.
 
Bobbbyyyy said:
If I was mixed race, I would... (you're not gonna believe it)... check the mixed box... 😱😱😱
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At least at the time I applied, AMCAS did not have a "mixed" option. You can, however, check multiple boxes, which is probably the best option here.

I won't speak for OP at all, since they very well may just be looking to get magical bonus URM points, but SDN has a lot of weird hangups when it comes to mixed race folks that make me pretty uncomfortable. Especially when it comes to "looking the part." As someone who is also 1/4 nonwhite, it bothers me to see people on SDN frequently tell others not to select the nonwhite option if they're not "dark enough." As a lot of us mixed race folks can attest, you often can't tell by looking at us what races may be mixed in there, even if they play a big part in our cultural background/self identity. I have literally never had anyone correctly guess my race/ethnicity by appearance without additional information (I'm generally assumed to be nonwhite/"other", but usually the wrong "other".)

IMO, the best choice is to check all boxes that apply, and let the school decide how they care to weight multiple races in their decision making.
 
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olayalas said:
If you have to ask, then probably not. AMCAS asks for self-identification, not blood ancestry. You should absolutely already know the answer to this question
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Self-identification for a mixed race person can be a surprisingly complicated thing. I know a lot of mixed race people who struggled a lot (especially during college) with how to define their own racial experience. Again, that may not at all be the case here, but as I said above it frustrates me how "absolute" people think racial identity should be.
 
TelemarketingEnigma said:
Self-identification for a mixed race person can be a surprisingly complicated thing. I know a lot of mixed race people who struggled a lot (especially during college) with how to define their own racial experience. Again, that may not at all be the case here, but as I said above it frustrates me how "absolute" people think racial identity should be.
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I mean I understand someone struggling with how they feel themselves deep down about being half X, half Y and whatnot.

This isn't that, this is a simple checkbox where they want to know whether they're allowed to count you towards D I V E R S I T Y or not.

I'm probably being an insensitive jerk when I say this, but if I randomly discovered I was 1/4th URM I'd have smashed that button in an instant whether I felt any different inside or not.
 
efle said:
I mean I understand someone struggling with how they feel themselves deep down about being half X, half Y and whatnot.

This isn't that, this is a simple checkbox where they want to know whether they're allowed to count you towards D I V E R S I T Y or not.

I'm probably being an insensitive jerk when I say this, but if I randomly discovered I was 1/4th URM I'd have smashed that button in an instant whether I felt any different inside or not.
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I don't think we're actually in disagreement here - I personally think that it's appropriate to check whatever boxes are accurate (whether by blood or self identity), and let the school do the deciding as far as how they want to weight it. Often though, I see people giving the advice to skip checking any non-white box altogether if they don't "look it"

(for what it's worth, my asian/european mix isn't doing me any favors on the magical URM points front, but i check both boxes anyway because that's what I am)
 
Isn't the point of the URM status not add to "diversity" stats, but to cater to the physician shortage in underrepresented communities. The people who are more likely to work with URMs are URMs. I doubt the URM status is going to do anything in terms of improving the perception on minority groups in the U.S. Unpopular opinion, but we are always going to be treated as less capable if we have programs like these set in place that make it easier for us to get into medical school, but whatever. If you're checking the urm box, being 1/4 black/hispanic/native and you plan on working in east side manhattan...just lol
 
TelemarketingEnigma said:
Self-identification for a mixed race person can be a surprisingly complicated thing. I know a lot of mixed race people who struggled a lot (especially during college) with how to define their own racial experience. Again, that may not at all be the case here, but as I said above it frustrates me how "absolute" people think racial identity should be.
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I understand what you're saying, but I'm not talking about "looking the part." I mean that we construct our identity through socialization with family, peers, and society at large. Of course arriving at a mixed identity is valid. Like your friends did, it involves a lot of introspection and thought. It's not really something that SDN can answer for a person.
 
lull said:
If you're checking the urm box
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To be clear, there is no "URM" box on AMCAS. The question is literally about "racial/ethnic self identification", and it's up to the schools to decide if that fits their definition of URM.

olayalas said:
I understand what you're saying, but I'm not talking about "looking the part." I mean that we construct our identity through socialization with family, peers, and society at large. Of course arriving at a mixed identity is valid. Like your friends did, it involves a lot of introspection and thought. It's not really something that SDN can answer for a person.
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I agree with this! just chafing against the word "absolutely" because apparently this is the thread where I finally vent my irritation about this topic haha. I think threads like this are unlikely to be helpful to anyone in the first place, but people are always gonna keep asking them. The "looking it" part was mostly from other people in this thread/in the many previous similar threads on SDN
 
TelemarketingEnigma said:
To be clear, there is no "URM" box on AMCAS. The question is literally about "racial/ethnic self identification", and it's up to the schools to decide if that fits their definition of URM
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I'm aware. My point is that if you're a portion of whatever race that is considered URM (e.g., black, hispanic, native american, etc) and you are categorizing yourself as being just that race, but you have no intentions of serving that community, you are feeding into the problem that is affirmative action.
 
I’m half-Latina, but I’m white and my Latina side is actually ORM when looking at my specific ethnicity. I still put down that specific ethnicity for two reasons: I identify as Latina, and my last name is unmistakably Hispanic, so I figured it was better to disclose my exact ethnicity rather than potentially allow people to draw incorrect conclusions. I doubt this hurt my application in any way.

If you’re as specific as you can be and identify with that side of your family, I don’t think you can be faulted for it.
 
Everyone wants to be black when they apply to colleges, medical school etc but mostly don’t want the full ‘perks’ of what it means to be black in the US.
A loose analogy is like midlevels Wanting to be on same plain field as physician but not the full responsibilities that come with it.
But seriously, check the box without expectation.
 
Dorowat said:
Everyone wants to be black when they apply to colleges, medical school etc but mostly don’t want the full ‘perks’ of what it means to be black in the US.
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Idk man the wealthy international black families seem pretty OK with sending their kids over to be black Ivy League or medical school students in the US. The full perk package seems to be a good deal as long as it's just the melanin perks and not the poverty perks.
 
efle said:
Idk man the wealthy international black families seem pretty OK with sending their kids over to be black Ivy League or medical school students in the US. The full perk package seems to be a good deal as long as it's just the melanin perks and not the poverty perks.
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I think he was talking more about DWB (Driving While Black) and similar perks than strictly about SES. Lots of stories of people of color dealing with indignities related to race in daily life that have absolutely nothing to do with money.
 
efle said:
Idk man the wealthy international black families seem pretty OK with sending their kids over to be black Ivy League or medical school students in the US. The full perk package seems to be a good deal as long as it's just the melanin perks and not the poverty perks.
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You do make a legitimate point but I was not talking about SES, and those ppl you described still face struggles that have nothing to do with the size of your pocket, I can assure you.
 
Paris1000 said:
The wording of this question makes it sound a little like you are looking for a technicality to get URM status and don’t personally identify as black. If anything, maybe just checking multiracial or multiple race boxes would be best.
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but can you blame him/her? When academia has become so intrigued with identity politics we are all looking for an edge.
 
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