Does half-URM count as URM?

[sophop]

I have a similar question. I am half Hispanic and half white, and on my AMCAS I checked both the Hispanic and the white boxes as I identify equally with both. I recently got an email inviting me to an URM dinner after one if my interview invites. However, my dilemma is that I look much more like my dads side of the family which is white/Italian. I didn’t really get any of my moms Latina features. I’m worried that if I go to this dinner I won’t look “Latina” enough and the other applicants/ADCOM members will judge me for it and possibly question my ethnicity. It’s my top choice school and I don’t want to negatively impact my chances.Should I still go to this dinner even if I don’t look Latina? Will it look bad to admissions if I don’t go?

I was exactly in your position - and frame of mind - last year (except for the Italian part). On the advice of a close friend who looks "very Latina," I went to several of these dinners and found that I (we) are not alone. As others have said, it's all about your self-identity and as you probably know, being a light-skinned URM has its own whole set of experiences that we can bring to how we treat our future patients. (And congratulations on your IIs!)

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[Sunday11]

Thank you all for your kind replies! I guess I have a bit of imposter syndrome when it comes to this stuff, but your advice really helped 🙂

 

[premed.mom]

I have a similar question. I am half Hispanic and half white, and on my AMCAS I checked both the Hispanic and the white boxes as I identify equally with both. I recently got an email inviting me to an URM dinner after one if my interview invites. However, my dilemma is that I look much more like my dads side of the family which is white/Italian. I didn’t really get any of my moms Latina features. I’m worried that if I go to this dinner I won’t look “Latina” enough and the other applicants/ADCOM members will judge me for it and possibly question my ethnicity. It’s my top choice school and I don’t want to negatively impact my chances.


Should I still go to this dinner even if I don’t look Latina? Will it look bad to admissions if I don’t go?

Racial imposter syndrome is very common with people who are in our situation. I know how hard this can feel as I am in the same position. It's tough when you know what you identify and you know who you are but you still feel like you are being looked at differently because you don't look latinx "enough". I would say you should absolutely go. Be confident in who you are and as long as you know who you are no one is going to view you as disingenuous and "not enough" of whatever. Good luck!!!!

 

[RNtoMD87]

I'm Middle-Eastern. I know a person with family from North Africa (i.e. Egypt) who put themselves down as "African"-American. I've heard it's a fairly common tactic.

Its technically true. My friend in college was "African American" and he was whiter than me. How? He was South African but you would've sworn he was a Brit. I'm less white than he is (Native American ancestry).

Labels are dumb.

 

[RNtoMD87]

if you can speak spanish and you have ancestry from latin america id do it. There are people with just one black grandparent who get in as URMs, anecdotaly ofc

I don't think speaking Spanish should even be a requirement. Most blacks I know don't speak Swahili.

 

[Rajaredhilu]

I don't think speaking Spanish should even be a requirement. Most blacks I know don't speak Swahili.

haha thats true, and what about mexican who were adopted into no spanish speaking families, they are as urm as any other mexican urm

 

[RNtoMD87]

I had several friends in the Army, and a couple nurse coworkers that appear 100% Hispanic, but can't speak a word of Spanish. We get Hispanic patients who will just start speaking Spanish really fast and they're like "Whoa! I don't speak Spanish! No habla!" and they get the funniest looks.

 

[PeleHonuaMea]

Thank you for your insight. I am half Latina half white and my mom who is white raised me on her own but always made sure I understood my heritage and that I was part of Hispanic culture as much as she could. It leaves you with racial imposter syndrome which makes you feel like you either not white enough or not brown enough. And then I come on here looking for some kind of advice I can take with a grain of salt and what I read is a bunch of people saying “if you have to ask then you are not” lol.
Sorry I went on a rant but thank you for your words of wisdom I found them very helpful.

I guess one question you should ask as an URM: after med school, how will you serve your under represented community?

If you do not have any intentions of giving back to your identified community, then why would you identify as an URM?

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

Its technically true. My friend in college was "African American" and he was whiter than me. How? He was South African but you would've sworn he was a Brit. I'm less white than he is (Native American ancestry).

Labels are dumb.

Yeah... Hate to break it to your friend but he is South African not African American. In order to be African American he would have had to be born here. The term African American is described as a black American or someone relating to a black American. Even if his parents are South African and he was born here, he still wouldn't be African American. Oh my god! @Goro I think I finally found the perfect answer for the age old "I was born in a part of Africa but I'm not black. Can I still identify as AA on my app" question.

 

[RNtoMD87]

Yeah... Hate to break it to your friend but he is South African not African American. In order to be African American he would have had to be born here. The term African American is described as a black American or someone relating to a black American. Even if his parents are South African and he was born here, he still wouldn't be African American. Oh my god! @Goro I think I finally found the perfect answer for the age old "I was born in a part of Africa but I'm not black. Can I still identify as AA on my app" question.

I misspoke. He’s “African”. But my point is it makes him sound black. And while factually he’s African, it isn’t what most people mean.

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

I misspoke. He’s “African”. But my point is it makes him sound black. And while factually he’s African, it isn’t what most people mean.

Well he technically is African a lot of different people come from Africa. Unfortunately people only think black when they here Africa. If he intentionally says that because he wants people to think he's black well that's just really common and ugh.

 

[RNtoMD87]

Well he technically is African a lot of different people come from Africa. Unfortunately people only think black when they here Africa. If he intentionally says that because he wants people to think he's black well that's just really common and ugh.

He wasn’t trying to get into a school or anything. He would just tell black people and they would say “bullsh^%” and he would laugh and say “I’m more African than you are. When’s the last time you’ve been?”

I think he just had fun educating them. I don’t know.

 

[LizzyM]

Its technically true. My friend in college was "African American" and he was whiter than me. How? He was South African but you would've sworn he was a Brit. I'm less white than he is (Native American ancestry).

Labels are dumb.

You might think that labels are dumb but I think that definitions are necessary. US Census Bureau definition:
Black or African American – A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.

So your college friend was not African American. Most likely met the definition of White which is having origins in Europe....

Go back to "where were my people in 1491?" Those are your origins.

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

I had several friends in the Army, and a couple nurse coworkers that appear 100% Hispanic, but can't speak a word of English. We get Hispanic patients who will just start speaking Spanish really fast and they're like "Whoa! I don't speak Spanish! No habla!" and they get the funniest looks.

It's not their fault. A lot of parents want their kids to speak perfect English (unaccented that is) and they sometimes neglect teaching them Spanish. They also don't get that much motivation to speak Spanish because the language isn't exactly welcomed by a lot of Americans tu sabes?

 

[RNtoMD87]

It's not their fault. A lot of parents want their kids to speak perfect English (unaccented that is) and they sometimes neglect teaching them Spanish. They also don't get that much motivation to speak Spanish because the language isn't exactly welcomed by a lot of Americans tu sabes?

Yeah I know. I’ve seen it with exes that were Italian and Hungarian too. They only spoke a few words despite their parents being from those countries.

Another exes grandma lived under hitler. I enjoyed speaking to her in German. My ex didn’t speak any German at all.
And I meant Spanish* glad you knew what I meant