Biracial urms?

[23premes]

What did you guys put down when you applied? I'm half African American and half white. I really identify as biracial or use to but then I was thinking about it lately and thought to myself, people either see me as black (maybe 10 percent of people) or people think I'm Hispanic or something mixed. No one ever looks at me and says, he must be white. It's either black, mixed, or something else. I've done a bunch of service in the AA community but have never felt really 100 percent accepted at times. So I'm at a loss for what I should put on my application. I feel like I've experienced direct racism all my life due to my race but haven't always been 100 percent accepted by either side. Do any other biracial applicants feel this way? Would checking just African American be dishonest?

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[DCBFan]

I'm pretty sure you can check both boxes, that's what I'd do.

 

[deleted480308]

don't let anyone tell you they wouldn't take the urm "bonus" if they could. Even those of us that don't think it should exist, would take it. check the box and increase your odds, don't regret it for a second

 

[Frostbite22]

I would put both down. I'm mostly Native American but have always checked white along with it because of my dad's side of the family. I've never had any problems, meaning at my undergraduate they primarily treated me as a Native American with scholarships, group invites and such. When I plan on applying I'm putting both, but that's just me.

 

[DR MOM]

I'm mixed and I checked both.

 

[23premes]

So is it safe to assume I'll be considered URM still by checking both? I'm not trying to just exploit URM status but I don't wanna lose out on any potential benefit either. My gpa and mcat will both be within acceptable ranges I believe. I appreciate the help guys. One last thing, but did any race questions ever come up? I feel like that would be taboo but since I get asked that so often in real life I can't help but think that would happen. For example I started shadowing a white doctor several months ago, and like 4 weeks ago, I was asked," I have no idea what you are lol? and I'm very curious." I've never taken offense to those questions but makes me think what people in the interview process will think.

 

[Frostbite22]

Well since you said you've been involved in the AA community I don't think it'll be a problem. You clearly identify with both, but I could understand some concerns. I don't know how a question like that would be properly phrased? Once again though only been in undergrad and not applied yet.

 

[familyaerospace]

I believe I checked "other" and gave a racial breakdown. (Apparently people don't like putting part Surinamese Creole as AA). I would honestly have to double check what I did this year.

 

[DCBFan]

I really don't think that checking "white" as well as a urm race would give you less of a boost than just checking the urm alone. For one thing, schools like to have high urm numbers so they'll happily claim you as whatever is most underrepresented. For another, I can imagine the occasional interviewer being a little taken aback by (say) a very Caucasian-appearing Native American who listed only Native American as his/her race. It might smack of gaming the system. Obviously a lot of calculus goes into such a subjective impression and it depends on a lot of different things, but my advice is check em both and don't think about it again. It probably won't swing things one way or the other.

 

[23premes]

I really don't think that checking "white" as well as a urm race would give you less of a boost than just checking the urm alone. For one thing, schools like to have high urm numbers so they'll happily claim you as whatever is most underrepresented. For another, I can imagine the occasional interviewer being a little taken aback by (say) a very Caucasian-appearing Native American who listed only Native American as his/her race. It might smack of gaming the system. Obviously a lot of calculus goes into such a subjective impression and it depends on a lot of different things, but my advice is check em both and don't think about it again. It probably won't swing things one way or the other.

Ya, I actually think that's what I did for college so I'll probably do the same. Thanks for the advice guys


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