I was just wondering if being a minority and a female has any affect for acceptance into optometry school. This is quite a touchy touchy subject and I hope that I am not opening up a can of worms here. Ive read some optometry school websites stating that they have a mission to increase diversity. For the record, I am a minority, first generation, first of my family to attend a University (University of Washington that is) and I was just wondering if there are schools out there in other states who considers this as a part of their admissions process. I know that in Washington state, it is illegal for schools to consider a persons ethnicity for admissions. I am not trying to raise any political questions or ask anybody of their political opinions, its quite obvious that our country is divided enough as it is. Just wondering if anyone could answer this question as a fact. Thanks a lot guys. 😳
Does being a women who is also a first generation minority strengthen an applicant?
- Thread starter Kit-Kat
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Hi Kit-Kat:
It may depend on where you apply to.
For example, women have outnumbered men in each class at UCBSO for at least the last 5 years (I don't have stats before then). My class is 65% women and the 4th year students have 73% women. Also, Asians account for 57% of my class, and 73% for the 1st year class.
If you are a minority (i.e., Native American), I think there is a section on every application that you can state what kind of social or economic hardships you have been through.
I am also the first in my family to go to college (my mom only finished a few years of high school and my dad did not get pass junior high school), but I don't think that it played a huge factor for me. The application will ask you for the highest education your parents received and your parents' incomes (I believe they still do ask in applications, but I'm not sure).
I can't really answer your question but I hope this information will lead you to a better source (contact the schools directly also).
Best wishes,
Rosanna
It may depend on where you apply to.
For example, women have outnumbered men in each class at UCBSO for at least the last 5 years (I don't have stats before then). My class is 65% women and the 4th year students have 73% women. Also, Asians account for 57% of my class, and 73% for the 1st year class.
If you are a minority (i.e., Native American), I think there is a section on every application that you can state what kind of social or economic hardships you have been through.
I am also the first in my family to go to college (my mom only finished a few years of high school and my dad did not get pass junior high school), but I don't think that it played a huge factor for me. The application will ask you for the highest education your parents received and your parents' incomes (I believe they still do ask in applications, but I'm not sure).
I can't really answer your question but I hope this information will lead you to a better source (contact the schools directly also).
Best wishes,
Rosanna