Does being hispanic help?

Dr. Who MD · Oct 17, 2005

I was just wondering how far your ethnicity/linguistic skills helps you.

My father is a spaniard and my mother was born in venezuela. As a result I speak fluent spanish.

If anyone cares for my other stats:
11 PS 11V 8BS 30Q
I got a 30 on my MCATS (It was an almost ridiculously bad admin of it, and I have a refund and letter to prove it to adcomms ... my premed health advisor told me it was the worst one she's heard of in her career). Have good EC like research assistant, fraternity, premed fraternity. Did a summer at Yale's SMEP program. Work as a phlebotomist on breaks. Leadership positions like president of submission wrestling club, risk management and historian for my frat, etc. I attend an Ivy Leage school (there is some debate over whether this really helps or not). Honestly, I feel the only major flaw in my app is my GPA. I had 3 bad semesters (I had to wise up on class selection I guess) and my gpa went down. I worked my ass off and my gpa has gone up steadily since, to the point I got on Dean's last semester. Im at a 3.2 GPA right now, but hope to get it to at least a 3.3 or 3.4 by the time I graduate *fingers crossed*.

So do you think being bilingual and hispanic may compensate somewhat for the gpa? many thanks in advance for your advice.

dsh · Oct 17, 2005

I think it may help you a little bit, but I wouldn´t count on it unless you have an exception story on how being a minority affected you adversely. People always complain about minorities getting an edge, but in my experience (very limited), my URM friends haven´t had too significant of a difference in applying. I´m an upper middle-class asian myself so I always read threads like these and complain to my buddies, but in reality I don´t think it affects you too much one way or another.

MercyKillerDoc · Oct 17, 2005

I think only if you are from mexico will you get an advantage like this, but I could be wrong. People from mexico generally do poorly academically(due to culture and economic status) and therefore are favored somewhat if their stats arent ridiculously horrible because they are so rare. Spaniards I am guessing are not really in this situation. Maybe you will though;

Orth2006 · Oct 17, 2005

MercyKillerDoc said:
People from mexico generally do poorly academically(due to culture and economic status) and therefore are favored somewhat if their stats arent ridiculously horrible because they are so rare.

Too early in the morning to start dissecting the inflammatory comment but it sure woke me up.

sunnyjohn · Oct 17, 2005

***dons flame suit***

Dr. Who MD · Oct 17, 2005

MercyKillerDoc said:
I think only if you are from mexico will you get an advantage like this, but I could be wrong. People from mexico generally do poorly academically(due to culture and economic status) and therefore are favored somewhat if their stats arent ridiculously horrible because they are so rare. Spaniards I am guessing are not really in this situation. Maybe you will though;

wow.... just wow....

riceman04 · Oct 17, 2005

MercyKillerDoc said:
I think only if you are from mexico will you get an advantage like this, but I could be wrong. People from mexico generally do poorly academically(due to culture and economic status) and therefore are favored somewhat if their stats arent ridiculously horrible because they are so rare. Spaniards I am guessing are not really in this situation. Maybe you will though;

You are stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

veenut · Oct 17, 2005

It will definitely help you, but not to the extent that it will compensate for a bad gpa. It looks like you're on the right track, though...get that gpa up to a 3.4 and with your mcat you should get enough interviews. if you want to emphasize that you're bilingual, maybe try to incorporate that into your personal statement or secondary essays. personally, i think being bilingual (particularly spanish) is a great asset for a doctor in the US.

**uses superhuman strength to keep thread from derailing into flames**

Dr. Who MD said:
I was just wondering how far your ethnicity/linguistic skills helps you.

My father is a spaniard and my mother was born in venezuela. As a result I speak fluent spanish.

If anyone cares for my other stats:
11 PS 11V 8BS 30Q
I got a 30 on my MCATS (It was an almost ridiculously bad admin of it, and I have a refund and letter to prove it to adcomms ... my premed health advisor told me it was the worst one she's heard of in her career). Have good EC like research assistant, fraternity, premed fraternity. Did a summer at Yale's SMEP program. Work as a phlebotomist on breaks. Leadership positions like president of submission wrestling club, risk management and historian for my frat, etc. I attend an Ivy Leage school (there is some debate over whether this really helps or not). Honestly, I feel the only major flaw in my app is my GPA. I had 3 bad semesters (I had to wise up on class selection I guess) and my gpa went down. I worked my ass off and my gpa has gone up steadily since, to the point I got on Dean's last semester. Im at a 3.2 GPA right now, but hope to get it to at least a 3.3 or 3.4 by the time I graduate *fingers crossed*.

So do you think being bilingual and hispanic may compensate somewhat for the gpa? many thanks in advance for your advice.

dmtang2 · Oct 17, 2005

sorry buddy, but your thread is going to cause a lot of controversy and attract flamers to come here, especially when less qualified URMs are taking up spots for other better-qualified candidated.

my response to your thread is this: i wish i was hispanic.

MercyKillerDoc · Oct 17, 2005

riceman04 said:
You are stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I am stupid then you must be profoundly ******ed. I guess it depends how high your standards are.

riceman04 · Oct 17, 2005

MercyKillerDoc said:
If I am stupid then you must be profoundly ******ed. I guess it depends how high your standards are.

No actually you like so many others like to make sweeping generalizations that are in no way warranted or supported by facts. How do you not see the arrogance and ignorance in your statement???????

That goes to show you that even people who are pursing a career in medicine are not always the most intelligent. You are a prime example of a *******. This has little to do with your appearance to me as a privileged orm (or an uncle tom for that matter), but more with your ignorance that you display so readily.

I suggest that you leave your rural town of one and meet people who are not like you.

Right now all I can say about your mental status is that it is for the most part void of any intelligence or rationality.

veenut · Oct 17, 2005

clearly my heroic efforts have failed here. no time to rest though, i'm off to save another thread!

riceman04 · Oct 17, 2005

dmtang2 said:
sorry buddy, but your thread is going to cause a lot of controversy and attract flamers to come here, especially when less qualified URMs are taking up spots for other better-qualified candidated.

my response to your thread is this: i wish i was hispanic.

Ok so some stats may speak for themselves...(and by the way I do not mean to be a flamer)...but do you understand why med schools are making an extra effor to accept minorities?

Since I assume you have definitely reviewed stats of URM applicants you should now do more research on the shortage of docs. in underserved communities. I do agree that certain things need to be changed in the application process, but I do not agree that URM's who get into medical school are less qualified (for the simple reason alluded to in the prev. sentence).

thegenius · Oct 17, 2005

Two words...

Affirmative Action.

riceman04 · Oct 17, 2005

thegenius said:
Two words...

Affirmative Action.

That tells me nothing about your true understanding of it. A 8 year old can throw around that word but still does not know the meaning of it. You have not demonstrated that you truly understand its significance.

Two words.....Start over

Rendar5 · Oct 17, 2005

two words: You're wrong (to poster above, not to the OP)

You are NOT a URM. You have an advantage in terms of spanish fluency. that is a bonus that will help. Your ethnicity however, will not help. You are not under-represented. Only 2 hispanic groups are under-represented: Mexican-Americans and native Puertoriquenos.

riceman04 · Oct 17, 2005

Rendar5 said:
two words: You're wrong (to poster above, not to the OP)

You are NOT a URM. You have an advantage in terms of spanish fluency. that is a bonus that will help. Your ethnicity however, will not help. You are not under-represented. Only 2 hispanic groups are under-represented: Mexican-Americans and native Puertoriquenos.

Ok so what makes me wrong.....didnt you get kicked off before?

MrSosa · Oct 17, 2005

Rendar5 said:
two words: You're wrong (to poster above, not to the OP)

You are NOT a URM. You have an advantage in terms of spanish fluency. that is a bonus that will help. Your ethnicity however, will not help. You are not under-represented. Only 2 hispanic groups are under-represented: Mexican-Americans and native Puertoriquenos.

this is utterly ridiculous. how about dominicans, nicaraguans, hondurans, or salvadorians or even equadorians? how about all those "other hispanics?" just because it's not listed explicitly on some publication doesn't mean a particular group is not urm. anyone with a correct view of culture can understand this. are you going to argue that dominicans are represented in science and medicine? or that because they're not explicitly listed, they should not be considered as urm? i think venezuelans are underrepresented. i just hope he actually represents venezuelan culture and is not only using it to gain some advantage. and no, it should not compensate for a low gpa, but it may anyway. that's just the way it is. he's good enough to get in somewhere anyway.

PineappleGirl · Oct 17, 2005

OP,

I would recommend applying to schools in PR, especially to Ponce. You might also consider UPR and Universidad Central del Caribe. Here your Spanish fluency will definitely be an asset (especially at UPR where basic sciences are often taught in Spanish) and they tend to have slightly lower GPA/MCAT combos than most mainland schools.

Also, if you'd like to go hang out in PR for a year or two, the resident tuition at UPR cannot be beat.

PineappleGirl · Oct 17, 2005

Rendar5 said:
two words: You're wrong (to poster above, not to the OP)

You are NOT a URM. You have an advantage in terms of spanish fluency. that is a bonus that will help. Your ethnicity however, will not help. You are not under-represented. Only 2 hispanic groups are under-represented: Mexican-Americans and native Puertoriquenos.

I just want to clarify that is only mainland Puerto Ricans who are treated as URM. If you were born, grew up in PR and went to school in PR (even if you went away for college) you are not considered a mainland Puerto Rican. URM status is meant to go to people like those second generation Puerto Rican immigrants living in NYC.

Rendar5 · Oct 17, 2005

MrSosa said:
this is utterly ridiculous. how about dominicans, nicaraguans, hondurans, or salvadorians or even equadorians? how about all those "other hispanics?" just because it's not listed explicitly on some publication doesn't mean a particular group is not urm. anyone with a correct view of culture can understand this. are you going to argue that dominicans are represented in science and medicine? or that because they're not explicitly listed, they should not be considered as urm? i think venezuelans are underrepresented. i just hope he actually represents venezuelan culture and is not only using it to gain some advantage. and no, it should not compensate for a low gpa, but it may anyway. that's just the way it is. he's good enough to get in somewhere anyway.

Don't complain to me. That's the way it is. Dominicans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Salvadorians, and Ecuadorians don't have URM status on applying to medical school. If you want to complain, go complain to AAMC and ask for those groups to get URM status. (and there are actually 2 Ecuadorians at my school anyway. they have around the mean stats of people at my school anyway.)

Rendar5 · Oct 17, 2005

riceman04 said:
Ok so what makes me wrong.....didnt you get kicked off before?

Sorry riceman, you posted while I was typing my response to the previous poster. So when I said above poster, i meant the one above you. And I've never gotten kicked off before, actually. Not even close. So u must be confusing me w/ someone else

little_late_MD · Oct 17, 2005

Don't you guys get tired of having the same argument over and over again?

riceman04 · Oct 17, 2005

Rendar5 said:
Sorry riceman, you posted while I was typing my response to the previous poster. So when I said above poster, i meant the one above you. And I've never gotten kicked off before, actually. Not even close. So u must be confusing me w/ someone else

Oh no prob!!!!!

As you can see I can be very defensive....that is something I recognize and am trying to work on.

I hope all is working out well 4 ya!

cya!

MercyKillerDoc · Oct 17, 2005

riceman04 said:
No actually you like so many others like to make sweeping generalizations that are in no way warranted or supported by facts. How do you not see the arrogance and ignorance in your statement???????

That goes to show you that even people who are pursing a career in medicine are not always the most intelligent. You are a prime example of a *******. This has little to do with your appearance to me as a privileged orm (or an uncle tom for that matter), but more with your ignorance that you display so readily.
I suggest that you leave your rural town of one and meet people who are not like you.

Right now all I can say about your mental status is that it is for the most part void of any intelligence or rationality.

Nothing I said was unsupported by facts. Try looking at the aamc data, taking some psychology and sociology classes at school, and also try reading this thread more slowly so that you can understand it better. Im sure you will see that you are clearly in the wrong here as well as dumb/ignorant for thinking the way you do. I also would invite you to refrain from the red herring and straw man arguments. They are not relevant to this discussion.

Ps. You are inferior to me.

Rendar5 · Oct 17, 2005

MercyKillerDoc said:
Nothing I said was unsupported by facts. Try looking at the aamc data, taking some psychology and sociology classes at school, and also try reading this thread more slowly so that you can understand it better. Im sure you will see that you are clearly in the wrong here as well as dumb/ignorant for thinking the way you do. I also would invite you to refrain from the red herring and straw man arguments. They are not relevant to this discussion.

Ps. You are inferior to me.

That last comment changed ur post from a well-thought out argument in favor of Mexican-Americans being included as an URM to being an ass.

MrSosa · Oct 17, 2005

Rendar5 said:
Don't complain to me. That's the way it is. Dominicans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Salvadorians, and Ecuadorians don't have URM status on applying to medical school. If you want to complain, go complain to AAMC and ask for those groups to get URM status. (and there are actually 2 Ecuadorians at my school anyway. they have around the mean stats of people at my school anyway.)

i'm not complaining to you. i'm telling you that you're wrong. i'm just saying that just because aamc doesn't explicitly say "dominicans are an urm" that doesn't mean that they aren't considered one by medical schools. and any school that doesn't recognize these kind of groups is freaking backwards, in my opinion. obviously, people do not fall nicely into these broad and often arbitrary categories. it's up to each school to determine who truly represents the ethnicity and culture that they reported in their apps. this is part of the problem we have today with underrepresentation. we have people who claim to be mexican, that don't even know spanish or even represent mexican culture at all. yet they are considered hispanic matriculants. these people contribute nothing to solving the issue. and no, i'm not saying that they shouldn't have gotten in. i'm just saying that YOU don't understand underrepresentation. schools don't only look for mexicans and puertoricans.

Rendar5 · Oct 17, 2005

MrSosa said:
i'm not complaining to you. i'm telling you that you're wrong. i'm just saying that just because aamc doesn't explicitly say "dominicans are an urm" that doesn't mean that they aren't considered one by medical schools. and any school that doesn't recognize these kind of groups is freaking backwards, in my opinion. obviously, people do not fall nicely into these broad and often arbitrary categories. it's up to each school to determine who truly represents the ethnicity and culture that they reported in their apps. this is part of the problem we have today with underrepresentation. we have people who claim to be mexican, that don't even know spanish or even represent mexican culture at all. yet they are considered hispanic matriculants. these people contribute nothing to solving the issue. and no, i'm not saying that they shouldn't have gotten in. i'm just saying that YOU don't understand underrepresentation. schools don't only look for mexicans and puertoricans.

You're reading into what I've been saying way too much. All I've said is that there are two classes of hispanics that are considered to have URM status. That is not wrong as far as has been said, and if u have some evidence that other hispanics have URM checked off on their adcom files, then u may as well give it. If you want to argue who deserves to have URM status, then go argue someplace else. I'm not even touching that subject.

EDIT: and just to make sure, I just went and asked my friend (he's Ecuadorian) if he had an URM status on his file when he was applying here and he went "what? hell no"

MrSosa · Oct 17, 2005

Rendar5 said:
You're reading into what I've been saying way too much. All I've said is that there are two classes of hispanics that are considered to have URM status. That is not wrong as far as has been said, and if u have some evidence that other hispanics have URM checked off on their adcom files, then u may as well give it. If you want to argue who deserves to have URM status, then go argue someplace else. I'm not even touching that subject.

EDIT: and just to make sure, I just went and asked my friend (he's Ecuadorian) if he had an URM status on his file when he was applying here and he went "what? hell no"

http://www.aamc.org/meded/urm/start.htm

"The AAMC defines underrepresented minorities to include the following racial/ethnic groups: African-Americans, Mainland Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Americans, and Native Americans. Other racial/ethnic groupscomposed primarily of recent immigrants, such as Central Americans and Southeast Asians, may also be underrepresented in medicine but data about these groups are not available."

....and that's what they said back in 1999. now it's.....

"Underrepresented in medicine means those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population."

i'm not mexican or puertorican, but i am hispanic and i guarantee you i'm urm. and that's regardless of whether i applied disadvantaged. i don't know what your friend's deal is, but equadorians are urm under this definition also.

Rendar5 · Oct 17, 2005

well, that explains it then. I'm just too old of a fogey here and so's my friend since we applied in 2003.

"Before June 26, 2003, the AAMC used the term "underrepresented minority (URM)," which consisted of Blacks, Mexican-Americans, Native Americans (that is, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians), and mainland Puerto Ricans."

I guess they changed the definitions and never told us about it (well him, not me, since he deals with a couple of hispanic med student associations here)
EDIT: he says taht ecuadorians still aren't URM by that definition because there aren't enough ecuadorians in this country (very low denominator). I don't know if he's right, though. just quoting him.

Dr Who · Oct 17, 2005

PineappleGirl said:
I just want to clarify that is only mainland Puerto Ricans who are treated as URM. If you were born, grew up in PR and went to school in PR (even if you went away for college) you are not considered a mainland Puerto Rican. URM status is meant to go to people like those second generation Puerto Rican immigrants living in NYC.

umm... that is not exactly true in this day and age. Most med schools treat all puertorricans, regardless of where they were born or where they grew up as URM's.
There is a reason for that. Bilingual docs are in great demand, especially in urban hospitals. Withnthat in mind med schools, especially in the east coast and midwest, also consider island residents as URM's because just like traditional URM's, they are more likely to stay and serve in underpriveledged (mostly minority) areas, where they are greatly needed.

Mutt · Oct 17, 2005

Rendar5 said:
Only 2 hispanic groups are under-represented: Mexican-Americans and native Puertoriquenos.

Wrong, you do not have to be a native Puerto Rican to be considered a URM.

Only one parent needs to be a native Puerto Rican for the child to be considered a URM.

Flopotomist · Oct 17, 2005

to the OP: I don't know about any advantage that your ethnicity or race may or may not qualify you for, but it would seem that regardless of race or ethnicity, you have one big advantage, and that is fluency in a langauge that will allow you to work with underserved populations. If this is a future goal, I would emphasize this, and that would be an advantage. I know I certainly wish my Spanish was a lot better! Good luck!

Orth2006 · Oct 17, 2005

My goodness!!

Flame wars are amazing how they erupt. Befoe you know it BOOOM!!! - EXPLOSION!!

I know its really hard to ignore stupid comments like those made by MercyKillerDoc & dmtang.

On the other hand I put some blame on you OP(Dr.WHoMD). Don't you realise you are just setting yourself up for all this BS by starting a thread like this? If you are seriously in need of info about your status as a med applicant(race, ethnicity etc) SDN is certainly NOT the place to find those answers. A good start would be the MSAR.

I mean comeon - this is not the first time this war has been fought on SDN but yet every now and again you see someone come up with "Oh my dad is from Mars and my mom is from Venus and I was born on Earth - does that make me an earthling?"

People come on here and show off about 40 MCAT this and 4.0 GPA that yet simple stuff to figure out they whine like babies.

Then there are those like the 2 knockle heads I mentioned that just have this narrow minded way of thinking and make comments that lack substance.

Grow up and take responsibility for finding correct information and stop the NONSENSE.

SanDiegoSOD · Oct 17, 2005

I would hope that your Spanish skills would be considered an asset and would "help" your application. I would also hope that the fact that you are "hispanic" would not give you any special consideration.

EvoDevo · Oct 17, 2005

Can't you guys like, I dunno, grow up????

Closing for everyone's sanity.

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