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Hey, well my friend and I starting our application process when we realized that what she put down for race would change her possibility acceptance because her father is Indian and her mother is African American so her last name is Patel which is very Indian. She asked me what she should do I told her to mark African American or other and explain. If she marked African American do you think that they would think she was lying because her last name is so Indian?

By Drusba (Drusba) on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 02:56 pm: Edit

Obviously, as you preceive, being African-American may create some admission advantages that "Asian" would not. She can designate African American on any form. Regardless of last name, colleges will not assume she is lying. If they have any reason to question, they would call to verify rather than just assume she is fibbing.

By Ificantnoonecan (Ificantnoonecan) on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 04:34 pm: Edit

Thank you for your input, she really appreciated it. She one of those people who can't stop worrying so now she is worrying about how they would be able to confirm her race if they needed to. We attend a big school and the counselor has never spent much time around her let alone met her parents. Would The College call her counselor? Or would they call home?

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 05:40 pm: Edit

Does it really matter, since they WILL confirm, and when they do, your friend wouldn't be lying at all. Through logic, i don't think they'll call home, because your family could lie, they'll probably find some files that would include your ethnic background, maybe dig up some files on your parents before they contact the councellors.