Lying about your race on college apps

[HajiShirazu]

I was wondering if anyone has tried this, or heard any stories from people who have. I know a friend who had horrible grades (like 2.1 GPA) and lied so he could transfer to another college. He got in to a fairly decent state school (well, good for getting in with a 2.1). When he got there, he had to take a bunch of orientation sessions and had an advisor that was for black students only, but otherwise had no problems. It really made me wonder why everybody doesn't do it - yeah, I know many of them ask for pictures now in the app, although you could always just borrow one from a friend.
I would be applying to grad school and would be thinking about doing this only for schools that would be a reach for me to get into. It's not as much of an advantage in grad school, I know, but these places are govt. funded and they still do look to include minorities. They do not ask for a picture, and my name kind of sounds blackish (ok, racist, whatever) so there's no way they would know until I got there. Could they kick me out for being white? I could always just say that my grandparent/parent/whoever was black and hence I considered myself so, or even make the legitimate claim that my ancestors were all from africa and therefore I am as well.

[onlinebeginner]

seems to me like if you really wanna go to a school but don't think you'll get in give it a shot. Nothing to lose.

[Keyser.]

fwiw, I think this is kinda horrible, but whatever.

I know of one guy who claimed he was black on his law school apps. He had a step-grandfather or something who was black I think, so he said he identifies more with black culture. It worked for him.

also technically there's a difference between ethnicity and race, so since most applications ask for your ethnicity I don't think there's really anything they can do because ethnicity isn't something one can observe by looking at you (as far as I know, that is. It's been a while since I read about this.)

I still think it's kinda f'ed up to do this when your lie might prevent some other honest kid from getting in... but ya know.

[MexKrax]

I don't think this is gonna work out too well for you. I don't know what program you're applying to, but most decent doctoral progams will want to do some sort of in person interview before accepting you.

[ClevelandWasp]

We discussed this at law school a while back. Read about a girl who took a DNA test through the mail ($150) and found out she had 2% Asian DNA, so she went with it on her app. Most schools rely only on self-reporting; what are they going to do, test you? Plenty of light-skinned people around with African heritage if you're going that route.

I highly doubt this come back to harm you academically, if you're okay with it ethically (fraud/stealing?). You should probably try to figure out how much of an edge it would give you at the school you want.

[NickMPK]

If you don't like having to respond to the race question, you can just leave it blank. But don't lie.

You could probably get away with it applying for undergrad or law school. But at grad school, each department accepts only a small number of people, and the "admissions committee" is basically made up of professors you will be working closely with during your grad school career. You don't want to ruin your reputation or get them pissed at you before you even start.

[Epple]

Lie and you lose all integrity. Is that how you want to live your life?

[Keyser.]

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We discussed this at law school a while back. Read about a girl who took a DNA test through the mail ($150) and found out she had 2% Asian DNA, so she went with it on her app. Most schools rely only on self-reporting; what are they going to do, test you? Plenty of light-skinned people around with African heritage if you're going that route.

I highly doubt this come back to harm you academically, if you're okay with it ethically (fraud/stealing?). You should probably try to figure out how much of an edge it would give you at the school you want.

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lol, why would anyone lie and say they were Asian on a college app?

[dtan05]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
We discussed this at law school a while back. Read about a girl who took a DNA test through the mail ($150) and found out she had 2% Asian DNA, so she went with it on her app. Most schools rely only on self-reporting; what are they going to do, test you? Plenty of light-skinned people around with African heritage if you're going that route.

I highly doubt this come back to harm you academically, if you're okay with it ethically (fraud/stealing?). You should probably try to figure out how much of an edge it would give you at the school you want.

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lol, why would anyone lie and say they were Asian on a college app?

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srsly

[Thremp]

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You should probably try to figure out how much of an edge it would give you at the school you want.

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Considering a 1300 on the SAT and being black will get you into any Ivy League with almost no question... It would be a decent edge.