BU, diversity, possibly BU's secondary?

[Karina 07]

Hi all,

Been thinking about this but holding off for fear of getting flamed....

I've been wondering for a while why when BU contacted my boyfriend to give him an interview, the office of minority affairs (or whatever it's called) and the student minority association (ditto) both e-mailed him, too. Clearly, they think he's a minority. Well, he's part native american, though not a large part (1/8th), considers himself white, has no card and has never done anything with native american groups, and definitely did NOT check the urm box. Definitely did not.

I *think* I vaguely recall that on BU's secondary they ask something much more vaguely about diversity, and if that hazy memory is correct, then it's totally possible that he checked just that one box, just on that application, because if they ask more widely about diversity (or even "are you interested in treating diverse patients" or whatever), then sure.

What I'm wondering is... how exactly this presumed question was phrased, if anyone happens to know, or if anyone has any better idea why they'd think him a minority given that he did NOT check the urm box and no other school has thought him one. Knowing him, it must have been really loosely phrased, that question.

I'm also wondering how this will affect him in the interview. Because clearly, looking at him, he looks white. Maybe if you're looking for the native american-ness, you can see a hint of it, but you'd have to look for it. And if they ask him, he's the kind of person who would say "bah, it's only 1/8th, it's nothing, no, I'm white." I'm just wondering, thinking to myself of all sorts of possible ways it might come up in the interview, especially if they were expecting someone who was clearly not white, although I'd imagine they'd also know that some people (who've more of a non-white background) don't look like it.

Thanks. Please no flaming, read the post carefully . He wouldn't be one to claim anything special.

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[gotmeds?]

Hey Karina, doesn't your boyfriend ever do his own research? Isn't this about the 10th thread you've started about him? If the office of minority affairs is contacting him, it's because he put that he was a minority on his application, either AMCAS or secondary. If he wanted to be thought of as white, he shouldn't have checked "Native American" under race/ethnicity. That's pretty much all there is to it.

 

[PeripateticMD]

Hi all,

Been thinking about this but holding off for fear of getting flamed....

I've been wondering for a while why when BU contacted my boyfriend to give him an interview, the office of minority affairs (or whatever it's called) and the student minority association (ditto) both e-mailed him, too. Clearly, they think he's a minority. Well, he's part native american, though not a large part (1/8th), considers himself white, has no card and has never done anything with native american groups, and definitely did NOT check the urm box. Definitely did not.

I *think* I vaguely recall that on BU's secondary they ask something much more vaguely about diversity, and if that hazy memory is correct, then it's totally possible that he checked just that one box, just on that application, because if they ask more widely about diversity (or even "are you interested in treating diverse patients" or whatever), then sure.

What I'm wondering is... how exactly this presumed question was phrased, if anyone happens to know, or if anyone has any better idea why they'd think him a minority given that he did NOT check the urm box and no other school has thought him one. Knowing him, it must have been really loosely phrased, that question.

I'm also wondering how this will affect him in the interview. Because clearly, looking at him, he looks white. Maybe if you're looking for the native american-ness, you can see a hint of it, but you'd have to look for it. And if they ask him, he's the kind of person who would say "bah, it's only 1/8th, it's nothing, no, I'm white." I'm just wondering, thinking to myself of all sorts of possible ways it might come up in the interview, especially if they were expecting someone who was clearly not white, although I'd imagine they'd also know that some people (who've more of a non-white background) don't look like it.

Thanks. Please no flaming, read the post carefully . He wouldn't be one to claim anything special.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. UCSF treated me as URM even though I didn't check anything and no other school did. They took it from my essay that I was an URM. I asked them about it there. It was really odd. So I think some schools definitely will try to make anything about you URM to up their 'diversity'. And 1/8th N.A. is HUGE. I think you can claim up to 1/10th N.A... so they would consider him URM at most schools.