Am i considered a minority?

[student192341]

ADA asks, "Do you wish to be considered a minority applicant for recruitment purposes?"

I am Asian and first generation college student from middle class. Am i considered a minority?

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[artist2022]

Unfortunately, Asians are not considered minorities. Since you are a first generation college student, however, you could be considered disadvantaged.

 

[macsak]

It depends, and the answer is not as clear cut as the above mod suggests, considering Asians make a plurality of the total undergrad/grad student body at UCLA!

West/East coast school generally do not consider Asians to be minorities (which is misguided IMO as there are many Asian ethnicities that are socioeconomically disadvanted). However, most Midwestern/Great Plains dental schools lack Asians and tend to give interviews more to market the idea of “diversity,” so if you’re willing to pay OOS tuition to go to a school with lots of cornfields, you’ll have a greater chance.

My $0.02

we had a presentation last weekend from Iowa Dental School
the info card they handed out had minority/non-minority numbers
and then the minority was broken down into African-American, Hispanic, and Native American...

 

[TanMan]

ADA asks, "Do you wish to be considered a minority applicant for recruitment purposes?"

I am Asian and first generation college student from middle class. Am i considered a minority?

Trying to get in... being Asian/White is not a minority and a disadvantage overall. Hispanics, Native Americans, African(Americans) are considered minorities. If you check that box, I'd be afraid to be lumped in with what schools consider "real minorities" and if your application was placed in the minority pile, that they would say, Wtf? This isn't a minority that we're looking for and get rejected unless they put you back in the non-minority pile.

When you're in, being a minority in my dental school meant easy ride for 4 years. Lowered standards, not allowed to fail, special accomodations, more money/scholarships, etc... Just had to keep your head down, mouth shut, and focus on your own success. Anyway, don't check that box. You might get dinged for not being a real minority.

 

[PhansterZ]

While you are a minority, depending on what country in Asia you are from, you could be considered a over-represented minorities or under-represented minorities in Health care. People from countries such as Japan, China, South Korea are considered over-represented minorities, while others such as Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia, Pacific Islanders etc are considered under-represented minorities in health care. There's no broad stroke that paints all Asians as coming from the same background. Some have been here for generations, some came over due to their parent's work, and some escaped as refugees.

But dental schools generally just lump Asians together, and are considered over-represented. The under-represented minorities in the US demographics are generally African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans.

So yea, I didn't check that box when I applied, because I wouldn't fit their mold of under-represented minority.

 

[2TH MVR]

Hispanics, Native Americans, African

When you're in, being a minority in my dental school meant easy ride for 4 years. Lowered standards, not allowed to fail, special accomodations, more money/scholarships, etc... Just had to keep your head down, mouth shut, and focus on your own success.

We had one student at my DS in the midwest that fit the above description. The DS worked extra hard to make sure this student passed and as far as I know .... she is a dentist today (I think). The rest of us understood the positive intent of the situation, but one of my classmates (and friend) was dismissed early D3 who had better grades and performance than this individual. It was his own fault, but he felt that the DS was indifferent to his plight.

But back to OP. I'm Asian-American (mother: South Korean, father: Irish/English) and I did not consider myself in the minority category.

 

[redhotchiligochu]

We had one student at my DS in the midwest that fit the above description. The DS worked extra hard to make sure this student passed and as far as I know .... she is a dentist today (I think). The rest of us understood the positive intent of the situation, but one of my classmates (and friend) was dismissed early D3 who had better grades and performance than this individual. It was his own fault, but he felt that the DS was indifferent to his plight.

But back to OP. I'm Asian-American (mother: South Korean, father: Irish/English) and I did not consider myself in the minority category.

Do you mind elaborating in this? Like, did the dental school kick him out for failing one class, while letting the “real minority” continue?

 

[princeafrica]

@2TH MVR @TanMan

Skip to paragraph 23

CU dental school slow to improve culture for minorities, critics say

CU dental school slow to improve culture for minorities, critics say

www.denverpost.com

 

[2TH MVR]

@2TH MVR @TanMan

Skip to paragraph 23

CU dental school slow to improve culture for minorities, critics say

CU dental school slow to improve culture for minorities, critics say

www.denverpost.com

I completely agree with the article. Hopefully you didn't misinterpret my post. As an aside.... The Corp I work for has an African-American orthodontist. 🙂. Along with many dentists and staff from all over the world. Quite amazing to learn about other cultures.

 

[2TH MVR]

Do you mind elaborating in this? Like, did the dental school kick him out for failing one class, while letting the “real minority” continue?

He wasn't a minority student. His grades were always near the bottom of our class. Back then .... We had to cast, polish and fit a 2 surface gold inlay. It had to fit PERFECTLY. He just couldn't accomplish this. Again .... He was already near the bottom of our class didactically. The minority student was helped in every area. We all knew she was struggling with everything, but the unwritten reality was that she was going to graduate....and she did. My friend did not mostly due to his own performance.

 

[TanMan]

@2TH MVR @TanMan

Skip to paragraph 23

CU dental school slow to improve culture for minorities, critics say

CU dental school slow to improve culture for minorities, critics say

www.denverpost.com

This experience is definitely true for lab/clinical instructors (due to the subjective nature of dentistry and personal biases), but ultimately, these instructors are overruled by the administration and department chairs. There are certainly "untouchables" and people who are not allowed to fail - those are the ones with connections and certain minority groups. Some people in our class used that to their advantage (ask for private examination and testing time, get more patients, pass competencies/mock boards even if they totally screwed up, etc...). Not everyone took advantage of that, but the ill-effect of this multitier system based on race is that it creates a negative stigma among peers. Essentially, minority students had to try harder to prove themselves, not because of inadequacies, but because of the perception that they weren't good enough to meet the standard (due to the lower bar set by the admins). They face discrimination on the clinical floor but then protected by the administration. It's a lose-lose situation with a harsher clinical experience, but frowned down upon by their peers for taking advantage of the protections afforded by admins.

 

[AppalachianDentalBoy]

@2TH MVR @TanMan

Skip to paragraph 23

CU dental school slow to improve culture for minorities, critics say

CU dental school slow to improve culture for minorities, critics say

www.denverpost.com

This is honestly appalling. 2014 too not 1965. You sure you wanna go there?

 

[princeafrica]

This is honestly appalling. 2014 too not 1965. You sure you wanna go there?

Based on my experience interacting with professors and students there for past 3 years the culture has improved tremendously. Especially with the hiring of Dr. Durgans.

But things like this can happen at any school in this country soo

 

[Faefly]

This is honestly appalling. 2014 too not 1965. You sure you wanna go there?

Yeah because it's cheapest, duh!!

 

[Faefly]

Based on my experience interacting with professors and students there for past 3 years the culture has improved tremendously. Especially with the hiring of Dr. Durgans.

But things like this can happen at any school in this country soo

Racism never ends!
They are now just hiding it better!

 

[ab117]

Racism never ends!
They are now just hiding it better!

Racism certainly still exists, but were it possible to objectively quantify all existing racism, even what’s “hidden”, I would be shocked to find that it‘s anywhere near as bad or as much as it was even ~20 years ago, and especially compared to pretty much any time in human history before that. We should recognize and try to improve the problems we still have, but shouldn’t we equally recognize the significant improvements we’ve already made? To claim that it’s still rampant but less overt seems pretty cynical to me.

 

[Dentalproblems]

Asians are not a minority in the heath-care field. But you can considered yourself as educationally disadvantaged since you’re the first generation college graduate. I’m the same as you and I got rejected from all the post bacc programs targeting students with disadvantaged backgrounds (economically, racially, educationally disadvantaged) and I think it’s because I’m Asian.