Forum:

A lot of colleges and universities have changed their application for that section of 'race and ethnicity' to optional. Students may choose to answer that question or not answer that question. The schools are required to ask that question in order to turn in those statistics to the government for the purpose of census and other reports, etc.

I think it's a required field for you to answer on the application. Yes, you may be concerned about if the university will use that to 'screen' applicants, but it's best to answer the question honestly because the last thing you want is to get accepted, go through the 4 year degree and have your degree revoked because the school finds out later that you've lied on your application about your ethnicity.

I've heard being a minority is definitely an advantage in some states, especially if that ethnicity is not well represented at the school. I have heard that a minority who got accepted to UCLA with lower scores than another one of her friends, who is Asian (definitely not considered a minority ethnicity in CA). It is different for all schools though. You should check each school's ethnicity percentage breakdown.