Immigrant Diversity

Started by DoctorCakes
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DoctorCakes

DoctorCakes

Location: Wayyyyy up there.
7+ Year Member
My parents were immigrants. I am a first gen citizen. Am I really that diverse compared to other applicants? Most of the applicants I know are some form of immigrants, but this could be selection bias on my part. I feel like this topic has been over used in diversity essays and therefore is a weaker argument.
 
Does their experience as immigrants make you more diverse or influence your perspective? It also depends on how much the culture your parents are from played a role in your life. I have friends whose parents are from certain countries and despite growing up in the U.S., their culture was incredibly important to their development. Other friends I know grew up middle/upper-middle class and adopted a fairly typical American lifestyle/perspective.
 
Do you feel like being an immigrant was important to your life and education? How so?
 
Princeton Medical Student said:
would someone who came to US when they were 12 be dime a dozen?
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Asian immigrants really started coming in 1965 after the immigration and naturalization act. However due to immigration issues and cold war issues, a relatively small number of asians could immigrate until the ~1980s. This means that if someone came as a kid, they'd be around 40ish now and their kids would be applying for med school making them first generation immigrants. So relative to the total population of Asians, the vast majority of them are recent immigrants and because so many of them are in higher education, you will see a ton of immigrants or first generation Americans of Asian decent.
 
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I know a number of Vietnamese premeds and med students whose parents came to the US as children about 40 years ago. Since Asian and Indian immigrants seem to place a high priority on their children becoming doctors, their ORM status has gone thru the roof.

Look at pics of white coat ceremonies. It can almost be rare to see a lighter-hair-colored male student. They're the new minority (jk)
 
Goro said:
30% of any med school class is either of East or South Asian ethnicity. And nearly all of these are either immigrants, or 1st generation Americans.
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So I guess would you suggest writing about something else for diversity? Like interest in reading or something? IDK I feel like that sounds dumb and not diverse either.
 
DoctorCakes said:
My parents were immigrants. I am a first gen citizen. Am I really that diverse compared to other applicants? Most of the applicants I know are some form of immigrants, but this could be selection bias on my part. I feel like this topic has been over used in diversity essays and therefore is a weaker argument.
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I did just this. But my experience had a huge impact on my viewpoints and some of the specific things I want to accomplish by studying medicine.


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