When Veronica S. Jung '97, a Korean-American, wanted to apply for a Mellon minority fellowship, she was surprised to see she didn't qualify.

"I had just taken for granted that the Mellon Program would consider Asian-Americans a minority, and I was schocked to learn that we weren't included," she says.

The idea that Asian-Americans are not a minority didn't jibe with her. "Any group that doesn't yet receive full benefits from society, that faces an ongoing history of being excluded from equal social and political membership, is a minority," she says. "It's a complex issue for Asian-Americans themselves."

When applying to scholarship programs, graduate schools or jobs, Asian-American students face a variety of interpretations of their minority status.

While some organizations actively recruit Asian-Americans, others--even ones that recruit other minorities--do not. Even within the University, different schools have different policies about Asian-American representation.

At Harvard College, admissions officers recruit Asian-American students like other minorities.

"Asian-Americans are a minority. That has been our policy," says Roger Banks, senior admissions officer and director of the Undergraduate Minority Recruiting Program. For example, Banks says, Asian-American students are included in Admissions Office minority outreach and hosting programs.

While Asian-Americans make up close to 19 percent of Harvard's undergraduate body-compared to 3.7 percent of the U.S. Banks stresses that Asian-Americans are not "overrepresented."

"We prefer diversity, but not for it's own sake," he says, "No particular group has a corner on the class.... We go where the talent goes," he says.

Wilson L. Hunt Jr. '65, assistant director of the Office of Career Services, says finding scholarships can be harder for Asian-Americans than for other minorities.

"It might be more difficult for disadvantaged Asians to find aid than for disadvantaged Latinos," he says.

Harvard University, like most institutions, recognizes Asian-Americans as a minority. But within the University, different schools follow slightly different standards.

Medicine

For example, Harvard Medical School (HMS) follows guidelines set by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).

These guidelines identify Black Americans, Native Americans, Mexican-Americans, Chicanos and Puerto Ricans as "underrepresented minorities" because they are historically underrepresented in the field of medicine.