Yeah the funny thing is I'm in my second year and for some reason I was a racist bitter white dude who blamed my not matching on affirmative action. Ridiculous.
I know URM has nothing to do with residency apps so why would I bring it up? I was simply pointing out it's false logic to assume DOs automatically have lower stats than MDs, meant NO disrespect to URMs. Furthermore I was trying to make the point that peeps should be evaluated on their recent activity> what they did in undergrad.
But.... be as it may this all went to ****.
Undergrad grades aren't even part of the ERAS application.
I'm sorry, even though you referenced a thread that you can't remember, I call bull**** on that statistic. Paycheck doesn't mean anything compared to GPA, sure. But it means a lot compared to specialty, and all the highly paid specialties have high standardized test scores. Something that URMs statistically do worse on, for whatever reasons (the way the test is written, etc). So, unless all minorities go into radiology (they don't), I'm going to say that you need to prove that point.
This is interesting. Med schools will admit questionable applicants if they see potential. I have seen URMs with 7s and 8s get in, but also caucasians from physician families. There will always some kind of subjective measures that help some get and others not. It's not fair, but them's the breaks. If your app is tight, you'll eventually get in somewhere.
With regards to URMs entering more competitive fields. This may be where things get sticky, in that MCAT performance is somewhat predictive of USMLE performance. So, while some URMs may "catch up" in terms of standardized test taking skills in med school (i feel that med school is a bit of an equalizer or sorts*), it may not always be enough to match derm or plastics. Also, many URMs come from lower SES communities, and more often pursue primary care like FM, IM, OB, and PEDs. I'm not sure if this is to do with less competitive stats or a desire to "give back".
I find myself going back and forth about affirmative action.It can be a good or bad, and I'm not sure how much this even matters for admission. I have sat in on these meetings, and more often than race are the economic hardships, or family dynamics that give a committee pause when taking into account an applicants potential.
Soledad O'Brien: "It's better to get into Harvard 'cause you're black than not get into Harvard 'cause you're black"
-Neither is ideal, but I'll choose the former for now.
*My reason is that med school is generally hard for everyone. However, many do not have to work to support themselves which removes some of the barriers people might have had to deal with as undergrads. Also, schools give their students pretty equal access to resources for success on USMLE, since it's in the school's best interest to have all do well. Also, few students (at least at my school) pay for full-fledged Kaplan courses to prep for boards, mostly it's just you, your study plan, and a question bank which levels the playing field a bit.
you've discovered my super secret plan!!!
I believe the original comment was somewhat focused at the intersection of URM and top 20 institution. (which still leaves plenty of people for multiple posters from there to be feasible imho)
