Am I a URM?

[g3pro]

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"I'm 20 years old and an african-american. I was born in South Africa."


"I'm 19 years old and a Polish immigrant. There are very few polish doctors in the US."


"I'm 23 years old and mexican-american. I was born to two extremely wealthy parents."



Are these under-represented minorities? I'm one of these and am thinking I should apply for URM... HELP!!!

 

[skypilot]

There is no such thing as applying for URM. You just fill in your information. There is a section with questions on your ethnic background. There is another section on disadvantaged status regardless of ethnicity.

 

[Neuronix]

"I'm 20 years old and an african-american. I was born in South Africa."

Are you still white skinned? You probably won't be considered URM, but if you have a good story or were disadvantaged it will help you anyways.

"I'm 19 years old and a Polish immigrant. There are very few polish doctors in the US."

Not a URM. In fact, I hope you have your permanent residency status or residency or things will get very difficult for you.

"I'm 23 years old and mexican-american. I was born to two extremely wealthy parents."

URM. Bonus if you speak fluent Spanish. Is it right? I leave it to you to decide.

 

[wire]

Shouldn't a white male be considered a URM, I think they have the real disadvantage getting into med school..

 

[Neuronix]

Shouldn't a white male be considered a URM, I think they have the real disadvantage getting into med school..

The reason the URM designation exists is to identify those ethnicities in the population that have a significantly lower percentage of doctors of that ethnicity, for whatever reason. It is studied and generally accepted that doctors of an ethnicity are more likely to serve communities of their ethnicity (which are typically underserved for URMs) and relate better to these patients. Whether it's right or not is not really a topic for pre-allo.

As for male and female, med school is about 50/50 around the country now. I don't believe that females have it any easier than males...

 

[exmike]

usually if you have to ask, you're not URM.

Personally if I was a "URM" born to a wealthy family and afforded all the educational opportunities that a "Non URM" has, I would avoid using the URM label get into med school. I've been told by certain URMs that they despise the fact that other people often discount their accomplishment of getting into med school b/c they figured it was because they were a URM. If you are capable of getting in medical school without using your URM status, it would go a long way to dispelling any preconceived notions about how you got in.

 

[thewebthsp]

If you're from Africa, you're an African immigrant. That's not the same as African-American it seems to me.

Also, if your parents are from Spain you're not a latino. But if you are 5th generation etc. removed from Spain and parents lived in S. America you are. Adding to the confusion, I know a girl whose parents were Germans post WWII who didn't want to stay in Europe who fled to S. America, then later to Puerto Rico. She's a URM.

It seems like affirmative action wants to say whatever group you _identify_ with you should be included as. So if you identified as African American, you should be. But if you haven't had parents from Africa for more than 20,000 years (we all have some ancestors from Africa a long time ago) it's likely you will be prosecuted for saying you are black! Race is a bit of an invention but its simulation and combination with culutral differences has profound effects on society.

 

[skypilot]

usually if you have to ask, you're not URM.

Personally if I was a "URM" born to a wealthy family and afforded all the educational opportunities that a "Non URM" has, I would avoid using the URM label get into med school. I've been told by certain URMs that they despise the fact that other people often discount their accomplishment of getting into med school b/c they figured it was because they were a URM. If you are capable of getting in medical school without using your URM status, it would go a long way to dispelling any preconceived notions about how you got in.

As I said earlier, you just fill out the questions truthfully. There is no room for debate or "using the label" to get into school. If you are not disadvantaged you would not fill in the disadvantaged section.

 

[wire]

.

 

[Eraserhead]

To make a long story short. My bestfriend and I interviewed at a school the same day. He is considered a "URM" and I have better stats than he does. We both grew up in the same neighborhood, and there was no disadvantage. Anyway, he got in and I didn't. I thought maybe it was my interview, so I called the admissions a week ago to see what was up and they said I had the best interview of the day..makes no sense to me. I know this topic doesn't belong in pre-allo and I'm unsubscribing to the thread right now, but we live in capatalistic society, shouldn't the best man (or woman) win?

Life is unfair. Kill yourself or get over it now.

 

[10minutes]

Life is unfair. Kill yourself or get over it now.

Ditto.

 

[wire]

i'm over it, just tellin a story 😱

 

[Eraserhead]

i'm over it, just tellin a story 😱

haha, sorry I have a dark sense of humor.

 

[curlycity]

As I said earlier, you just fill out the questions truthfully. There is no room for debate or "using the label" to get into school. If you are not disadvantaged you would not fill in the disadvantaged section.

Thank you.

This stuff is out of our control, guys, and endless debates over it among ourselves (right or wrong? etc.) won't change the definition of the term or how they (mis)use it.

The only thing you can choose to do, after filling out your app accurately, is check or not check the box about joining the pool of URM applicants (at least it was on there last year when I completed it) that have their applications considered separately. I chose not to check it, and they did what they wanted with the rest of my information.

Do they still have this check box? Now I'm curious.

 

[gaf]

The reason the URM designation exists is to identify those ethnicities in the population that have a significantly lower percentage of doctors of that ethnicity, for whatever reason. It is studied and generally accepted that doctors of an ethnicity are more likely to serve communities of their ethnicity (which are typically underserved for URMs) and relate better to these patients....

Exactly! It's Under Represented Minority, not "disadvantaged" minority, not "compensably challenged" minority, not even "historically screwed" minority. The idea behind the desgination is acheive a cadre of physicians who look like the country and hopefully better serve populations not to make up for past wrongs.

As for the blonde-lefthanded-Pacific Islander-Jewish minority - sorry, but the schools just don't get that specific.