Minority

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jaz_saini

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This might sound like a stupid question, but i wanna know what is a minority student? What benefits do they get?

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typically, a minority would be anyone that is not white. It is a racial/ethnic distinction. So far as I know, religion and sexual orientation are not used to determine minority status.

An underrepresented minority is something different. That is a minority whose racial or ethnic group makes up a smaller proportion of physicians than it should. By "should" I mean the proportion it would if every group was represented in the physician population in equal proportion to the general population. For example, Asian-Americans are not URMs, but African Americans are.
 
so as an Asian Indian would i be a minority??
 
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Again, there is a distinction between a plain "minority" and an "underrepesented minority".

Asians Indians are minorities.

Asian Indians are not underrepresented in the field, and therefore are not "underrepresented minorities" (URMs). URM status is what is often considered when applying to medical school.
 
Yeah, I don't think Asian Indians are under-represented. So you're probably not much better off than being white. Being a URM matters, or it can. Being a non-URM minority doesn't help much, from what I can tell.
 
Being an Asian or Asian-Indian almost puts you in the majority in medicine (modern day). almost.... I do not know the numbers, just the perceptions that I and my classmates have.
 
Under-represented minorities are the following groups and ONLY the following groups in consideration for medical school admissions: Mexican-Americans, Mainland Puerto Ricans, Native Americans (American Indians), and African-Americans. All other groups may be minorities in terms of the overall American populace, but they receive absolutely no special consideration for medical school admissions as they are either appropriately represented or even over-represented in terms of practicing physicians. Asian-Indians are especially well represented due to foreign medical graduates from India.
 
Being a under-represented minority does help a little. However, a good gpa and solid mcat scores is a must. Ex. I have a friend who is from Puerto Rico that has a 3.75 cum and a 27 MCAT with a decent amount of extracurriculars. Up to date he has about 8 interviews so far with HArvard coming up next month.
 
Vinsanity:

Where in PR are you? I did my undergrad at Mayaguez. Send me a private messge with your info.

RetroMan
 
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