Hello there! I would like someone to look over my demographic information and experience and identify whether these are appropriate for my diversity essays.
Basic Information: I am US citizen (received my citizenship a month ago!) and have lived in my state and this country for 6 years.
Immigrant Experience
I immigrated from the Philippines to do high school in the United States. My family was poor and lived in an infested bungalow in a small town. My mom was lucky to meet and marry an American through her work as a nurse, and he sponsored my family to immigrate over. During the immigration process, my younger brothers and I were essentially rendered homeless as my mother continued her employment abroad (father was shot in a shootout when we were younger), and we moved through multiple homes in this process, including through abusive relatives. This lasted for nearly a year. We were out of school, experiencing regular instances of violence both within the home and witnessing gang violence occurring on the streets. I experienced sexual assault and bouts of skin infections during this lonesome period, and hospitals were far and unable to help me beyond eczema medication. This year-long experience away from my mother and taking care of my brothers at a young age fostered my strong desire to pursue not just medicine, but public policy in regard to immigration and better access to healthcare globally.
My question: Is the homelessness and house-hopping appropriate to include? Should I stick to just the second part (maybe even minus the sexual assault experience?) to serve as primary foundations for my pursuit of medicine? I don't aim for a pity party of a diversity essay, but I would like to be as representative of my background and past as possible.
U/ORM Status
Reading online, it appears as though being from the Philippines is identified as ambiguously over- and under-represented in medicine depending on each medical school's definition. Another caveat, however, is that my mother's side of the family descends from direct Spanish lineage, and thus, I'm unsure whether this would constitute my ethnicity as Hispanic. I understand this technicality is offensive to some, but it is a genuine question I'm unsure how to tackle as the concept of race and representation was not something I had come across until I immigrated to the United States. For my first standardized exams in high school, for example, I checked 'Asian,' 'Hispanic,' and 'Pacific Islander,' as I sincerely didn't understand any better, but I want to make sure I classify myself correctly in this process. During the college application process, I checked simply 'Asian,' due to the definitions outlined on the US Census. Additionally, the nursing profession is full of Filipinas due to historical ties between the US and the Philippines, so it appears as though the Philippines should be well-represented in medicine.
My question: Am I URM or ORM?
Basic Information: I am US citizen (received my citizenship a month ago!) and have lived in my state and this country for 6 years.
Immigrant Experience
I immigrated from the Philippines to do high school in the United States. My family was poor and lived in an infested bungalow in a small town. My mom was lucky to meet and marry an American through her work as a nurse, and he sponsored my family to immigrate over. During the immigration process, my younger brothers and I were essentially rendered homeless as my mother continued her employment abroad (father was shot in a shootout when we were younger), and we moved through multiple homes in this process, including through abusive relatives. This lasted for nearly a year. We were out of school, experiencing regular instances of violence both within the home and witnessing gang violence occurring on the streets. I experienced sexual assault and bouts of skin infections during this lonesome period, and hospitals were far and unable to help me beyond eczema medication. This year-long experience away from my mother and taking care of my brothers at a young age fostered my strong desire to pursue not just medicine, but public policy in regard to immigration and better access to healthcare globally.
My question: Is the homelessness and house-hopping appropriate to include? Should I stick to just the second part (maybe even minus the sexual assault experience?) to serve as primary foundations for my pursuit of medicine? I don't aim for a pity party of a diversity essay, but I would like to be as representative of my background and past as possible.
U/ORM Status
Reading online, it appears as though being from the Philippines is identified as ambiguously over- and under-represented in medicine depending on each medical school's definition. Another caveat, however, is that my mother's side of the family descends from direct Spanish lineage, and thus, I'm unsure whether this would constitute my ethnicity as Hispanic. I understand this technicality is offensive to some, but it is a genuine question I'm unsure how to tackle as the concept of race and representation was not something I had come across until I immigrated to the United States. For my first standardized exams in high school, for example, I checked 'Asian,' 'Hispanic,' and 'Pacific Islander,' as I sincerely didn't understand any better, but I want to make sure I classify myself correctly in this process. During the college application process, I checked simply 'Asian,' due to the definitions outlined on the US Census. Additionally, the nursing profession is full of Filipinas due to historical ties between the US and the Philippines, so it appears as though the Philippines should be well-represented in medicine.
My question: Am I URM or ORM?
