Hello,
I am getting prepared to apply for the upcoming round 2 deadlines. An admissions consultant, who doubled as my GMAT tutor, mentioned that schools really like Hispanic / Latino applicants with 700+ GMAT scores. (Obviously all schools like qualified minority applicants.) I am 50% Hispanic / Latino. I was born in Venezuela, my mother is Venezuelan and my father is American. I have a 700 GMAT score. I was not planning on identifying myself as a minority, because while I technically am a minority, culturally I am very white. I studied abroad in Spain while in college and I used to visit Venezuela every year before Hugo Chavez started running things down there. As far as my Spanish, I would say my proficiency level could be described as conversational. I am not fluent and while I have a pretty good accent, native speakers can certainly tell that I am an American. Bottom line, when I tell people that I was born in Venezuela and have a Venezuelan mother, they are shocked.
Why is this relevant? If I were to identify myself as part Hispanic / Latino, how would an admissions committee view this? Is it a situation where they are simply looking to meet numbers? Or are they actually looking for legit qualified minority applicants. The admissions consultant thinks that I should go ahead and check Hispanic / Latino on the application. However, I would be concerned that during the interview process, when the interviewer is staring across the desk at a clearly white guy, who is not a fluent Spanish speaker, it may come across negatively. (Even though I hold dual US-Venezuelan citizenship.)
What is this process like? Anyone have any thoughts?
I am getting prepared to apply for the upcoming round 2 deadlines. An admissions consultant, who doubled as my GMAT tutor, mentioned that schools really like Hispanic / Latino applicants with 700+ GMAT scores. (Obviously all schools like qualified minority applicants.) I am 50% Hispanic / Latino. I was born in Venezuela, my mother is Venezuelan and my father is American. I have a 700 GMAT score. I was not planning on identifying myself as a minority, because while I technically am a minority, culturally I am very white. I studied abroad in Spain while in college and I used to visit Venezuela every year before Hugo Chavez started running things down there. As far as my Spanish, I would say my proficiency level could be described as conversational. I am not fluent and while I have a pretty good accent, native speakers can certainly tell that I am an American. Bottom line, when I tell people that I was born in Venezuela and have a Venezuelan mother, they are shocked.
Why is this relevant? If I were to identify myself as part Hispanic / Latino, how would an admissions committee view this? Is it a situation where they are simply looking to meet numbers? Or are they actually looking for legit qualified minority applicants. The admissions consultant thinks that I should go ahead and check Hispanic / Latino on the application. However, I would be concerned that during the interview process, when the interviewer is staring across the desk at a clearly white guy, who is not a fluent Spanish speaker, it may come across negatively. (Even though I hold dual US-Venezuelan citizenship.)
What is this process like? Anyone have any thoughts?
