Diversity disappointment

liverotcod · Oct 15, 2004

This week, I had three interviews in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Of my 37 fellow interviewees, there was only one African-American. I realize this is about as anecdotal as it could possibly be, and I sure hope I just picked the wrong days to interview. But wow, 1/38? That's a miserable indictment of diversity and equality in America's educational system.

The Remix · Oct 15, 2004

liverotcod said:
This week, I had three interviews in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Of my 37 fellow interviewees, there was only one African-American. I realize this is about as anecdotal as it could possibly be, and I sure hope I just picked the wrong days to interview. But wow, 1/38? That's a miserable indictment of diversity and equality in America's educational system.

Careful, we just got the NY Times thread moved. (On the side) I feel your pain.

gobblety_gook · Oct 15, 2004

liverotcod said:
This week, I had three interviews in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Of my 37 fellow interviewees, there was only one African-American. I realize this is about as anecdotal as it could possibly be, and I sure hope I just picked the wrong days to interview. But wow, 1/38? That's a miserable indictment of diversity and equality in America's educational system.

Similar experience...maybe we're just picking exactly the wrong days to interview...

busupshot83 · Oct 16, 2004

liverotcod said:
This week, I had three interviews in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Of my 37 fellow interviewees, there was only one African-American. I realize this is about as anecdotal as it could possibly be, and I sure hope I just picked the wrong days to interview. But wow, 1/38? That's a miserable indictment of diversity and equality in America's educational system.

Affirmative action time!

bigbassinbob · Oct 16, 2004

That's strange. Of my four total interviews last year and my four so far this year, I'd say about 1 in 6 of the other applicants has been African-American.

bigdan · Oct 16, 2004

Remember that only 2900 Blacks applied (out of 32-34,000 total applicants) in 2003. I don't think that its a question of whether Blacks are getting interviews, in as much as if they are even applying to medical school...

dc

tinkerbelle · Oct 16, 2004

On one of my Pa interviews, I was surprised that almost everyone was white. I'm used to seeing tons of Asians/Indians everywhere 🙂

CreativeWriter · Oct 16, 2004

tinkerbelle said:
On one of my Pa interviews, I was surprised that almost everyone was white. I'm used to seeing tons of Asians/Indians everywhere 🙂

Every place I have interviewed, there has not been any Blacks, Natives, Latinos! That's sad, particularly at the Ivy-Leagues and Top-10 Med schools!

BlueMagpie · Oct 16, 2004

At my interview yesterday there were only two minorities in a group of about twenty people. It was rather disconcerting.

Cerberus · Oct 16, 2004

I have seen nothing but middle and upper class kids. True diversity comes from representation by all socioeconomic levels not just skin pigmentation

liverotcod · Oct 16, 2004

Cerberus said:
I have seen nothing but middle and upper class kids. True diversity comes from representation by all socioeconomic levels not just skin pigmentation

I agree, wholeheartedly. It's just that I have trouble detecting good quality in a conservative suit, so it's harder for me to detect differences in socioeconomic class than it is ethnicity. I also saw less age diversity than I would like, but at least I represent a little of that myself.

DrMom · Oct 16, 2004

CreativeWriter said:
Every place I have interviewed, there has not been any Blacks, Natives, Latinos! That's sad, particularly at the Ivy-Leagues and Top-10 Med schools!

A lot of the Native Americans in my class you wouldn't pick up on by physical characteristics.

I imagine the lack of minorities the OP is seeing is a combination of low applicant rates and the small sample sizes on any given interview day.

NubianPrincess · Oct 16, 2004

At my last interview, three out of five females were black. There were no black males though.

45408 · Oct 16, 2004

liverotcod said:
I agree, wholeheartedly. It's just that I have trouble detecting good quality in a conservative suit, so it's harder for me to detect differences in socioeconomic class than it is ethnicity. I also saw less age diversity than I would like, but at least I represent a little of that myself.

Why is age diversity an issue? We'll all age - we won't all change colors.

liverotcod · Oct 16, 2004

TheProwler said:
Why is age diversity an issue? We'll all age - we won't all change colors.

The whole point of diversity, IMHO, is to bring different perspectives, talents and capabilities to the table. As a 36 year old father of two, I have a very different perspective than does a 22 year graduating college senior.

As an aside, age diversity has been specifically mentioned as an institutional goal by each of my faculty interviewers.

I just wish I could age backwards for a few years. 😉

Jeffy · Oct 16, 2004

liverotcod said:
As a 36 year old

Sorry to hear that . . . 🙁 🙁 🙁

liverotcod · Oct 16, 2004

Jeffy said:
Sorry to hear that . . . 🙁 🙁 🙁

That's "Sorry to hear that, Mr. Liverotcod, sir," if you please 🙄
After all, you should respect your elders.

Jeffy · Oct 16, 2004

liverotcod said:
That's "Sorry to hear that, Mr. Liverotcod, sir," if you please 🙄
After all, you should respect your elders.

You're right. But then again I wouldn't go so far to give myself the title of someone's "elder." Now that's just making it worse.

superdevil · Oct 16, 2004

bigdan said:
Remember that only 2900 Blacks applied (out of 32-34,000 total applicants) in 2003. I don't think that its a question of whether Blacks are getting interviews, in as much as if they are even applying to medical school...

dc

a good, often-overlooked, point. sometimes people get their panties in a bunch and think, "hey i'm not seeing enough blacks, something must be wrong! there's foul play afoot!" when reasonable explanations exist. i'm not talking about liverotcod, by the way, just noting an observation.

oh, and this:

Originally Posted by tinkerbelle
On one of my Pa interviews, I was surprised that almost everyone was white. I'm used to seeing tons of Asians/Indians everywhere

where the hell did you interview?!?! :laugh:

jeez, the crowd has typically been AT LEAST 1/3 Indian/Asian at all of my interviews, sometimes substantially more...

tinkerbelle · Oct 16, 2004

where the hell did you interview?!?! jeez, the crowd has typically been AT LEAST 1/3 Indian/Asian at all of my interviews, sometimes substantially more...

I KNOW. That's why I was so surprised. I love white boys, but seriously, this was like white-people-overload :laugh:

But the first year class seemed pretty diverse... so I guess I just had an atypical interview group. Oh, I was at Penn State by the way.

liverotcod · Oct 16, 2004

tinkerbelle said:
I KNOW. That's why I was so surprised. I love white boys, but seriously, this was like white-people-overload But the first year class seemed pretty diverse... so I guess I just had an atypical interview group. Oh, I was at Penn State by the way.

For me, Penn State was 9 white men, 1 asian woman. But I agree, the first years seemed like a nice mix.

tinkerbelle · Oct 16, 2004

liverotcod said:
For me, Penn State was 9 white men, 1 asian woman. But I agree, the first years seemed like a nice mix.

Hey liverotcod,

isn't it amazing how many guys are at the interviews? Usually I see a majority of girls, but the Penn State interview was mostly guys. Penn State is so wierd 🙂 The sex/ethnicites of the interviewees is completely different from all the other schools 🙂 I wonder why.

Diversity disappointment

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