Leaving parts of AMCAS blank?

[curlykid]

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Will it hurt me if I leave the race / ethnicity box blank? Will my app be looked upon unfavorably?

This is a stupid question: Are Indians and Pakistanis considered Asian? Both countries are located in Asia, yet all of my Asian friends (Chinese, Korean and Japanese) claim that Indians / Pakistanis are NOT Asian, and are considered more caucasian. What do you think?

I always hated this question. My mother was born in India (speaks a handful of indian languages) and my father in Africa (speaks Swahili and England), granny, and great granny born in Uganda. Both sides are of Indian lineage, yet I don't know the language, the culture / religion (we're Christian), more people in my fam speak fluent Portuguese than an Indian language. I know I would answer Indian if forced to on any census, but I am a little bit of everything...

 

[TCIrish03]

I don't know how it would affect you (I hope it's just for statistical purposes), but this just goes to show why I hate that box (not just AMCAS, but every form you will ever have to fill out)...mainly, race issues are not just "white/black/yellow/other" like they were when the civil rights movement first started. The concept of "interbreeding" was unheard of, and an ethnicity such as your own was unfathomable. One of my friends is a Chinese Jew, another is white but from South Africa, and Hines Ward?

If I were the guy who makes the AMCAS, I would have a simple yes/no box for "underrepresented minority", with a dropdown box to explain your situation subjectively. This can be verified if you interview or matriculate. Each school can fill then according to their needs/wants, but having a quota of 10% asians, 20% blacks, 50% whites, etc doesn't work for the reasons you mentioned above. There are far too many mixed-race people (and that's a good thing) to have a straight quota-sytem work. Sorry about the rant, but my girlfriend (hopefully soon-to-be fiance) and I were just discussing this the other day.

And yes, she's a minority.

 

[LizzyM]

Will it hurt me if I leave the race / ethnicity box blank? Will my app be looked upon unfavorably?...

No and no. I see a small number each year who leave it blank. I can't imagine that anyone will care.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

Will it hurt me if I leave the race / ethnicity box blank? Will my app be looked upon unfavorably?

This is a stupid question: Are Indians and Pakistanis considered Asian? Both countries are located in Asia, yet all of my Asian friends (Chinese, Korean and Japanese) claim that Indians / Pakistanis are NOT Asian, and are considered more caucasian. What do you think?

I always hated this question. My mother was born in India (speaks a handful of indian languages) and my father in Africa (speaks Swahili and England), granny, and great granny born in Uganda. Both sides are of Indian lineage, yet I don't know the language, the culture / religion (we're Christian), more people in my fam speak fluent Portuguese than an Indian language. I know I would answer Indian if forced to on any census, but I am a little bit of everything...

Any country east of the Ural mountain range is in Asia and thus "Asian" in a sense. Indians and Pakistanis are part of South Asia where as your Japanese, Chinese, and Korean friends seem to distingush Asian as anything in consensus with East Asian (i.e. themselves). Tell them they should take a geography course

If you decide to put down a👎 race/ethnicity, I'd say use the one you most identify with.

 

[saffronrain]

Will it hurt me if I leave the race / ethnicity box blank? Will my app be looked upon unfavorably?

This is a stupid question: Are Indians and Pakistanis considered Asian? Both countries are located in Asia, yet all of my Asian friends (Chinese, Korean and Japanese) claim that Indians / Pakistanis are NOT Asian, and are considered more caucasian. What do you think?

I always hated this question. My mother was born in India (speaks a handful of indian languages) and my father in Africa (speaks Swahili and England), granny, and great granny born in Uganda. Both sides are of Indian lineage, yet I don't know the language, the culture / religion (we're Christian), more people in my fam speak fluent Portuguese than an Indian language. I know I would answer Indian if forced to on any census, but I am a little bit of everything...

It's funny you mention it, because my mom is ALWAYS after me about those things. I'm Indian myself, and she tells me we're more caucasian... which I find hard to believe. I'm unsure what to put down, but for now it's blank. I think, when all is said and done, Indians are Asian-- South Asian.. You seem to be a mix.... soo......... geez... leave it blank. 🙂 😎

 

[nekrogg]

Any country east of the Ural mountain range is in Asia and thus "Asian" in a sense. Indians and Pakistanis are part of South Asia where as your Japanese, Chinese, and Korean friends seem to distingush Asian as anything in consensus with East Asian (i.e. themselves). Tell them they should take a geography course

If you decide to put down a👎 race/ethnicity, I'd say use the one you most identify with.

get yo flame suit on!!

 

[lainey234]

Any country east of the Ural mountain range is in Asia and thus "Asian" in a sense. Indians and Pakistanis are part of South Asia where as your Japanese, Chinese, and Korean friends seem to distingush Asian as anything in consensus with East Asian (i.e. themselves). Tell them they should take a geography course

If you decide to put down a👎 race/ethnicity, I'd say use the one you most identify with.

Interestingly enough Middle Easterners are considered caucasian even though the Middle East is obviously on the Asian continent. I wish I had known that in the 7th grade when boys at my bus stop were throwing rocks at me and telling me to go back to Iran (I'm from Iraq btw). Next time my parents get a threatening phone call or are taken aside at airprort security I will remind them that the AMCAS defines them as white so they can just tell all the ignorant people to p*ss off.

I intend to leave the box blank as well.

 

[shantster]

You seem to be a mix.... soo......... geez... leave it blank. 🙂 😎

You actually can choose both in there, but for statistical purposes, I believe that you show up as "Other".

 

[curlykid]

You seem to be a mix.... soo......... geez... leave it blank. 🙂 😎

i'm not a mix actually, apparently my lineage is completely indian, just that my ancestors and relatives settled all over the world for business reasons, but that's off topic...

By geography, we are on the asian continent, and therefore should be classified as asian if you consider geography.

though it is interesting to consider that most indian languages come from the same language family (Indo-European languages) as european languages such as the Spanish and Latin among others.

We are all members of the same race: "the human race". We are all human beings. I recognize that there are cultural differences among us, and so I think we should have a URM box on AMCAS, so that there are doctors representative of every culture who understand and can meet the needs of members of their community, but beyond that, there shouldn't be any other race/ethnicity divisions on the AMCAS.

 

[notdeadyet]

Will it hurt me if I leave the race / ethnicity box blank? Will my app be looked upon unfavorably?

No. But I'd be prepared for folks to expect you to be white. I know a few folks in situations similar to yours but MANY more who decline to answer based on either the misguided hope they may go into a "maybe" URM pile or are just disgruntled with AA.

 

[nebbione]

Of perhaps equal interest is the fact that some schools have as many as 7 "Other" students matriculating while some consistently have 0. Check out the ethnic breakdown of the Mayo entering class.