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As you may already know, the Common Application asks questions designed to learn more about an applicant’s background as part of its “Profile” tab. These questions range from inquiring about an applicant’s religious preferences to their military affiliation to their race/ethnicity.
Many applicants wonder about how they should go about addressing that last topic. There are various misconceptions regarding the race section of the Common App, which can lead to uncertainty or even anxiety for students filling out the Common App. In this blog post, we’ll answer some of the most common questions about the race section of the Common App. First, however, we’ll break down how to approach the race/ethnicity questions in particular.
It’s impossible to talk about this section of the Common App without mentioning the Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action in college admissions, which will have a significant impact on the diversity of college campuses. Affirmative action was a policy that aimed to increase opportunities for historically disadvantaged groups. It had been used in college admissions for decades, but the Supreme Court ruled in June 2023 that colleges and universities could no longer consider race as a factor in admissions decisions.
Without affirmative action, minority students are less likely to be admitted to selective colleges, as they often have less access to the kinds of experiences that lead to successful applications to these schools. So, colleges will need to find new ways to ensure that their student bodies are diverse.
Later in this post, we’ll discuss how students who are concerned about how the end of affirmative action will impact their college admissions chances can ensure they’re submitting a competitive application.
One of the most common misconceptions is that you are required to disclose your race when applying via the Common App. In fact, this section is optional, which means you can submit a completed Common Application without answering these questions.
The Common App states the following about the demographics section as a whole: “The questions in this section, while helpful to colleges, are entirely optional, and you’re welcome to move on without answering them. Before you do, please confirm for us that you’ve completed this section to your satisfaction.”
It’s worth noting that even with the end of affirmative action, discussing your race or ethnicity in your application could still provide an admissions boost if it helps to represent a unique part of your story or background. Colleges are still allowed to factor diversity into their decisions in a more general sense, so if your race or ethnicity helps illustrate your potential as a college student, filling out this section could be a good idea.
That being said, again, choosing to list your race or any other demographic information is entirely up to your discretion. If for whatever reason you feel uncomfortable doing so, you can choose to skip this section and move on to other parts of the Common App.
You may have heard the term “underrepresented minority,” or URM, being used during the application season. Because URM students are generally considered to be one type of applicant that colleges look to “hook,” you may be wondering to whom the term applies.
Generally, URM races are those that have been traditionally underrepresented at American universities. This includes students of Hispanic/Latino, African American, Pacific Islander, and Native American origin or background, though what is considered an underrepresented minority may change depending on the school in question.
It should be noted that, with the end of affirmative action, your URM status is no longer directly considered in the admissions process.
With the end of affirmative action, colleges are no longer allowed to give admissions boosts to URM applicants based on their racial background.
Historically, one of the main reasons some students felt uncomfortable about the race section of the Common App was they worried that responding in certain ways could adversely impact their application.
However, due to the end of affirmative action, all races must be held to the same standards for admission. Thus, Asian and White students should not expect to see lower acceptance rates compared to other races, as may have been the case in the past.
As we mentioned earlier, the entire demographics section of the Common App is completely optional. If for whatever reason you do not wish to specify your race, you are completely entitled to do so. You may simply skip this section and move on with the rest of your application.
That being said, your race is often “given away” by other aspects of your application, such as your last name or your parents’ names (or where they went to school). And since affirmative action has ended, not stating your race explicitly will probably change little when it comes to your chances.
The Common App first asks students whether or not they are Hispanic/Latino. After that, students are asked to select one or more of the following racial options, regardless of their answers to the last question: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or White.
If you are Hispanic/Latino and unsure of what to list as your race, you have several options. Most Hispanic/Latino individuals are a mixture of African, European, and Native American races. If you identify with one of these races, select that option. If not, you may put all three, or none at all. Keep in mind that you do not have to answer this question, so if you feel that listing your ethnicity as Hispanic/Latino and not including a race best reflects your racial identity, then you should do so.
You can choose to leave the question about race blank, and if you choose to do so, discuss your race/racial identity in other parts of your application. For instance, you could mention or elaborate on your racial identity in one of your essays and flesh out your identity and its importance to you in detail. The “Diversity” supplemental essay , which has become an increasingly popular one this year in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, is particularly conducive to this kind of topic.
Another option is to include your racial identity in the “Additional Information” section of the Common App , which gives you more freedom to expand on your identity than just checking one box or another.
The end of affirmative action will likely affect acceptance rates for Black, Hispanic, Native American, and multi-racial students at selective colleges. In light of these changes, it’s imperative for students from these backgrounds to be especially proactive and meticulous when preparing their college applications.
By integrating all these elements, you’ll be better equipped to navigate the complexities of the college application process during this transitional period.
Navigating college admissions involves balancing various elements like academic performance, standardized test scores, leadership activities, and compelling essays. Universities aim to admit multifaceted individuals who can enrich their communities. Evaluating your acceptance odds might seem daunting, but CollegeVine’s updated chancing engine simplifies the process.
By analyzing a wide array of factors, from your GPA to your extracurricular involvements, the tool estimates your personalized likelihood of gaining admission to your chosen schools. Importantly, the algorithm has been adjusted to reflect the recent discontinuation of affirmative action, in order to give you the most up-to-date assessment of your chances.