Changing name for URM advantage?

[Lucca]

Def. streampaw.

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[stlrams22]

Jimmies russled.

I hope your "friend" fails miserably. No, actually I hope he gets all the way through 4 years then they kick him out, with no MD and hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

Most LGBTQ applicants don't even out themselves in the admissions process for fear of retribution (myself included).

Normally touchpause13 and i disagree. Actually we disagree on just about everything, this may be the first time we have ever agreed.

Listen, your friend has no character, no class, and obviously no integrity. He is a fraud. I'm not sure how he gets any satisfaction out of life. He should sell magical potions that " cure" cancer. He seems to have the dishonest traits necessary.

 

[stlrams22]

Do I really have to elaborate? There are plenty of examples/reasons posted here on sdn.

I want to know why you think it is unfair. Is it really fair that non-minorities need better stats to get accepted?

 

[Ashley1989]

I want to know why you think it is unfair. Is it really fair that non-minorities need better stats to get accepted?

Oh boy here we go...

 

[MDforMee]

Guys guys guys, don't encourage the OP to try and cheat the system.

It's obvious that his "friend" is really him and that he's lying to all of you, that he's accused people he's never met of being racist, and now that I've helped him see where his problem is, instead of saying "ahh, I think that I'll try and work harder" he's creating a lie that's in some ways worse than the first to help himself get into medical school.

What you may or may not realize, like the person lying in the open letter to adcoms thread, is that OP's behavior will displace someone else from being admitted to medical school. It could be you, me, or someone you know. This isn't fair.

Facts are facts. CSU Stanislaus is a bottom of the barrel school. His GPA is inflated. He applied to the wrong schools. He has character flaws. He's by implication looking down on Osteopathic medical schools (as a CSU Stanislaus student, even, bwahaha). He should not be going to medical school.

 

[mcloaf]

How did a thread with so much potential turn into something so pedestrian?

Pre-allo, I am disappoint.

 

[ninjaman22]

Is this real life?!

 

[knv2u]

He'll get kicked out and blocked from all med schools if they discover it. Not worth the risk and totally unethical, unfair to all of us who play by the rules

While I question the ethics of doing this, if he discloses both names whenever required to do so on the application and completes it truthfully, there is no way that he can be kicked out of medical school for it. If his name is Jose Lopez, per a court order, then it is what it is. I still think it is a stupid idea, but I disagree with you here. I do agree with you that if discovered prior to admission (very likely), he might very well be blackballed by the schools in admitting him, but that is different that stating or implying that he could be subject to disciplinary sanctions (i.e. the kicked out part of your statement).

 

[knv2u]

Also, is getting into medical school really worth living such a big lie the rest of your life? Okay, so you may become a doctor. Still, imagine having to explain your name change to future employers or people you're dating. You're changing your identity to get into medical school. Or leading to a life where you're having to live more and more lies. That sounds far worse than having to reapply to medical school once or twice.

He could always change it back while in medical school. This is a simple and relatively easy legal proceeding to complete on your own in most states. I still think it's a stupid idea though.

 

[knv2u]

Tell every med school that.

I mean, by asking this question OP's "friend" isn't ethical to begin with. Maybe he can fake hours and LoR's.

I do want him to do this just so that it blows up in his face. Its funny how premeds think we're entitled to a spot in medical school.

Why go through with forging hours and letters or recommendations when there would be a far easier solution (assuming the ORM hypothesis is correct, which I think it isn't)? He could just say that he is part Hispanic and mark it on the application, right? Even if his parents have Asian names, one of them could have been part Hispanic. To be clear, I think this would be extremely unethical and I could never bring myself to do it personally, but the person that is the subject on the initial post clearly has questionable morals anyway.

 

[DermViser]

Just to be fair, it's not the government doing it in this case. Even private schools do this. The AAMC wrote an amicus curiae brief in the Fisher vs. UT Austin case, begging them not to strike down affirmative action. What do you think the "Office of Diversity and Education" that nearly all schools have is for? It's not like all 135 schools all had the EXACT SAME idea.

 

[Beth_W737]

I was referring to if he changed his name without disclosing the old one.

 

[Espadaleader]

Many people are myopic in regards to diversity admissions. URM in name only will not boost you that much if you are not interested in diversity, primary care, health disparities etc. The best bet would be to keep the Asian designation and go with a minority/health disparities slant. The problem is that you cannot fake that. Some URMs do well because they were doing underserved "medicine" from childhood. Hear me out. For example, a URM may be able to draw on 10-15 years of social capital and experience in minority health, health disparities etc. and can talk about these issues because they lived through it.

ADCOM: Tell me about your experience in health care and health disparities?

INTERVIEWEE: Yes, from childhood I grew up in underserved community, high drug use, crime etc. I was uninsured/ on medicaid etc., I understand how it feels and it motivated me to do X, Y, Z in college.

A URM in name only cannot compete with that. BUT A POOR ORM COULD, but since the OP's friend is not poor he is 0/2.

A ORM may able able to claim that they did "global health from childhood" if they grew up in a foreign country and have experiences there etc. For example, I know some Indian friends that grew up in India and experienced first hand some of the public health issues in that country.

ADCOM: Tell me about your research and experience in global health

INTERVIEWEE: Yes, as a child, I had malaria in India...motivated me to pursue medicine...I research cytokines and inflammation etc. to discover malaria pathways etc. I want to reduce the burden of malaria in India.

If the OP's friend claims to be gay, he cannot complete with someone that is actually gay and actually cares about "LGBTQ medicine from childhood". I don't have a gay friend that is applying to medical school but I am sure some gay applicants talk about how their personal experiences as a child and teen influenced their pursuit of medicine etc.

In closing, the ADCOMs are not superficial. You don't get in simply because of the name, its the story and diversity you bring to medicine that gets you in.

OP's friend is better off finding his own "____ medicine" since childhood story and build on that.

*I hope I am not confusing people with "____ medicine/health" since childhood. I define that as a pre-college personal experience that demonstrates your experience with medicine. For example, if your grandmother passed away in hospice and you took care of her when you were in high school you can use that in your interview to support why you volunteered at a nursing home and why you want to do palliative care medicine. It also prevents the interviewer from thinking you are bull******** them or just padded your app etc.

SOLUTION: I would talk about Asian health disparities among Asian ethnic groups in America if I was the OP. If may be weaker because he didn't grow up underserved but it may work.

 

[baconshrimps]

I really don't think it matters much where you choose to go. I mean different schools may have differing opportunities available but in the end, it mostly comes down to GPA/mcat followed by ECs. Sure there are more competitive applicants coming from the UCs but it's not necessarily because they went to a UC. Rather, you have to remember that more high caliber students go to the UCs in the first place. A good student regardless of where he's graduating from will be competitive for medschool admissions.

Yes there are cases where CSU graduates continue post graduation work at UCs but it also goes the other way around. I've met so many UC graduates attending my school for .post bacc. I actually think that the CSU is better for premed studies because you're getting an equivalent education for 100k less.

These days, and especially in the pre-med game, you absolutely get what you pay for. In the case of CSU vs UC, you get passed over for the people who went to the more reputable and more rigorous programs. Sorry, that's just the way this process works. Pretty sure if you have a 3.6 or whatever from CSU Fullerton or College of St. Olaf, you'll probably only make a splash at the middle-lower tier schools.

 

[Bacchus]

Closed. Stop using unnecessary memes or youtube clips or links, etc. etc. etc. etc. Read a sticky or two at the top of the forum (or the TOS) that explains this.