Pakistani matriculants vs Asian Indians

[rom73085]

I was looking through the AAMC Data book recently and it was interesting to note the number of Pakistani matriculants into each school. I don't have it directly in front of me to provide direct numbers, but the number of matriculants for the 2009 year was less than Native Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics. Does anyone know why the discrepancy? Is it because most Pakistani american's identify as Asian Indian? Is it out of fear for racial discrimination? Would it work for or against an individual checking off as Pakistani when applying through AAMC and AACOM?

Discuss.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Web MD]

no

 

[jasmine112]

could you provide a link to this data? it's really surprising to hear this!

I'm both pakistani and indian, so i checked off both when applying. I don't know which category i would fall into in AMCAS' demographics...i don't think pakistani-americans count as URMs though, since we make up such a small proportion of the US population relative to blacks and hispanics (i'm gonna be lame and cite wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Race_and_ethnicity).

 

[MegaProjectile]

Discuss.

Nah.

 

[CoolWhipp]

D-d-d-d-duel.

 

[Web MD]

I have a 2.8 BCPM gpa and got a 23 on the MCAT, but I'm 1/4 black, 1/4 native american, 1/4 Indian 1/4 pakistani who practices a hybrid of judeo-islam jainism. Chances please?

 

[RogueUnicorn]

 

[AUD]

This is just my guess, but it could result from Pakistan being one nation, where as there are many nations across the world with black or hispanic populations. There are probably more black or hispanic people than there are Pakistani people, especially in this country.

 

[Chemdude]

I have a 2.8 BCPM gpa and got a 23 on the MCAT, but I'm 1/4 black, 1/4 native american, 1/4 Indian 1/4 pakistani who practices a hybrid of judeo-islam jainism. Chances please?

You can skip the DO vs. Caribbean discussion altogether. You have a good chance at Caribbean schools.


OP, I think it is pretty ridiculous to think that racism exists in the application process. I have heard this argument before. Someone once told me that the verbal section of the MCAT was created to ensure that non-White folks would never be successful in the application process...rubbish


Of course, you may have one of those racist old timers looking at your application/interviewing you, but I can guarantee that they are a minority. I have realized that there is a negative correlation between racism and education level. The majority of the adcoms are very educated people. Thus, I would assume that the majority of adcoms are not racist.

 

[Pisiform]

I am Pakistani American and my parents are Indian/Pakistani/American. In my application I usually select Asian (if there is no PAKISTANI option). Otherwise, I Like to go to Pakistani option -if there is any - because:
- it sets you apart from other students - Kind of URM
- colleges and universities look for colour/diversity in school and I am brown/wheatish
- I lived in Pakistan for 18 years - did my High School from there and this I think sets me apart with a person of same grade.

 

[hagridhermoineh]

I was looking through the AAMC Data book recently and it was interesting to note the number of Pakistani matriculants into each school. I don't have it directly in front of me to provide direct numbers, but the number of matriculants for the 2009 year was less than Native Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics. Does anyone know why the discrepancy? Is it because most Pakistani american's identify as Asian Indian? Is it out of fear for racial discrimination? Would it work for or against an individual checking off as Pakistani when applying through AAMC and AACOM?

Discuss.

It would be pure rubbish to speculate that discrimination has any hand in this. The simple truth of the matter is, there are many more (10X more) Asian Indians applying to medical school every year, than there are Pakistani applicants. Furthermore, the line between Pakistani and Indian is blurry at best, even to those people in each respective ethnic group. Taking into account the fact that few people self identify as Pakistani (for whatever reason) Pakistani doctors are just as overrepresented in the United States as Asian Indian physicians. A quick flip through the MSAR will tell you that there are quite a few Pakistani matriculants at some medical schools, close to none at some others. This might have something to do with the fact that there aren't many applicants who are Pakistani applying to that particular school. As far as competition, it is safe to assume that identifying oneself as "Pakistani" (which would be an informal classification, as this designation doesn't exist on AMCAS) would put you at as much of a disadvantage as identifying oneself as Asian Indian. This goes back to my aforementioned point about the blurry line and also because since the Pakistani pool of applicants is really small, medical schools looking to diversify their class will only pick the best applicants from the small, ultra competitive pool.

 

[docdoc121]

If you are a Pakistani or Pakistani-American, how likely is it that you would identify yourself as an Asian Indian in any survey, questionnaire, AMCAS application, day-to-day life, etc? From the many Pakistanis that I know, few to none would in most circumstances. Most Pakistanis would put down Pakistani, Asian, other Asian, or simply Other. However, that's anecdotal and based on my own experiences.

According to the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, Indians are the largest group of foreign doctors. There are over 50,000 Indian doctors (from India) without including the Indian-American and permanent resident Indian doctors. Pakistanis have around 12,000 doctors from Pakistan, without including Pakistani-American and permanent resident Pakistanis. In fact, there are more Filipino doctors from the Philippines than Pakistani. Furthermore, there are more Mexican doctors from Mexico than Pakistani doctors. So there are more of a particular group of URMs than there are Pakistanis in medicine.

You can find out more info by looking at the 2000 Census, the ECFMG records, the AAPI website, and even http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_medical_graduate#United_States.

 

[LizzyM]

In my experience, applicants born in Iraq and Pakistan as well as a few other countries in that part of the world as well as American born children of immigrants from those countires, often list themselves as "other" or "no response". So, they aren't even in the data set and the proportion and number of people in those categories then appears smaller than it truly is.

 

[skyblue2000]

In my experience, applicants born in Iraq and Pakistan as well as a few other countries in that part of the world as well as American born children of immigrants from those countires, often list themselves as "other" or "no response". So, they aren't even in the data set and the proportion and number of people in those categories then appears smaller than it truly is.

LizzyM, I just have to say I love you're new DP

 

[muhali3]

The answer is simple: Pakistani people comprise such a small portion of the US population compared to Blacks and Hispanics. Hence there are a much smaller amount matriculating compared to blacks/hispanics. No racism.

 

[LebLlama]

I think the whole race thing is ridiculous. The best people should be doctors, period.

I'd prefer that the doctor doing surgery on me got into med school for being the most competent applicant, not because he was of a certain race and we have to be politically correct. Such bull****.

Before you suggest I'm in the kkk, I'm non-white.

 

[alibai3ah]

The reason that Pakistani's are not URMs is b/c they are not under-represented. Comparitive to the entire population of Pakistanis in the US, they are enough Pakistani doctors = thus not a under-represented minority.

However, with African Americans/Hispanics etc. The overall population is sooo much larger. So while the number of black/hispanic physicians are greater than Pakistanis, the proportion is much smaller relative to the actual population. Thus making Hispanis and African Americans URM.


I hope that makes sense. it doesn't surprise me that there are a low number of Pakistani doctors (b/c there aren't THAT many of us here). There are wayyy more Indians here.

 

[amom]

I was looking through the AAMC Data book recently and it was interesting to note the number of Pakistani matriculants into each school. I don't have it directly in front of me to provide direct numbers, but the number of matriculants for the 2009 year was less than Native Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics. Does anyone know why the discrepancy? Is it because most Pakistani american's identify as Asian Indian? Is it out of fear for racial discrimination? Would it work for or against an individual checking off as Pakistani when applying through AAMC and AACOM?

Discuss.

I am a Pakistani American female who got into a medical school in TX. There is no racism in the admission process, at least I have not encountered any. The reason for so few Pakistani doctors is that, there is simply not enough of us over here compared to other racial groups including Indians.