Race and Ethinicity on Applications

[adam.adam]

Hi,

I'm applying to some quant programs for Fall 2016. I just wanted some opinions on whether or not to answer the optional race/ethnicity questions?

For example, if a student is Asian (non Chinese) but born and raised in North America, and they choose Asian on their application, will they be compared against all the Chinese applicants with perfect scores and such? If so, then such a student would be the weakest compared to others in this group, yet one of the strongest in the group of North Americans applying.

Any opinions?

 

[TehRaio]

Race is but one of the variables in admissions.
By stating your race you're not specifically competing against other asians, the cohort is too small, admission is too selective for that to matter. You should worry more about the other stuff in your application file to make sure you are a good fit for the university.

 

[Gavin L]

I never answered those... race and names, specifically have been shown to tap into a lot of unconscious racism that hiring managers fall victim to, even if they are actively trying to pick the best candidates. Ideally you'd have no name, race, age, gender on a CV...

 

[qdogg]

Hi,

if a student is Asian (non Chinese) but born and raised in North America, and they choose Asian on their application, will they be compared against all the Chinese applicants with perfect scores and such?

Any opinions?

If you're born and raised in North America, it generally means solid English skills and no requirement for a work visa, which will mean a tremendous advantage over the immigrants when looking for a job-- and all these people care about are their placement statistics. Regardless of whether you explicitly tell them you're Asian (which I imagine they might be able to guess from your name anyway) you shouldn't be at all shy about making sure they know about your language skills and citizenship status... that's what's important.