Question about Race/Ethnicity on Med School Application

[abcdelemoneater]

Hi everyone, I had a quick question about race/ethnicity classification on med school applications. I was born in the United States, but my parents and ancestors are from the Philippines and Spain. I lived in the Philippines for a few years as well. My parents speak some Spanish and mostly Tagalog, but my grandparents speak Spanish fluently. I have a ton of Spanish heritage in my lineage, as my ancestors originally came from Spain to the Philippines not too long ago. I have done genetic testing and the results conveyed this and shown that my own DNA is mostly of Spanish origin.

Many of the customs my family follows is Spanish and I have always been active in the hispanic community. I have always identified myself as a Hispanic individual on almost all of my documentation because of these reasons.

Would I be able to classify myself as a Hispanic applicant or would I fall under Pacific Islander? If it is the latter, then will I be classified as a URM or simply under the broad umbrella of "asian"?

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[gyngyn]

UiM is a designation made by individual schools for populations whose representation in medicine is less than their proportion in a catchment area.
"Hispanic" is a heterogeneous group, many of whom (including Filipinos and Spaniards) are far from under-represented.

 

[abcdelemoneater]

Just to clarify, neither spaniard nor filipino falls under URM? Also, would filipino be lumped under "asian" and "spaniard" under "other hispanic origins"?

 

[bluepeony]

Just to clarify, neither spaniard nor filipino falls under URM? Also, would filipino be lumped under "asian" and "spaniard" under "other hispanic origins"?

Correct, neither is URM.

Filipino = Asian
Spaniard = White

 

[TheIllusionist]

put hispanic. if you look it enough and identify it, no one will say ****. system exists. go and exploit it. if it happens enougj, it will be done away with in the long term so you will both benefit and contribute to the long term solution.

tons of hispanics with near pure Spaniard blood from Latin America still put hispanic. Some are more White than you. If they can do it, why should you not be able to?

 

[gyngyn]

Just to clarify, neither spaniard nor filipino falls under URM? Also, would filipino be lumped under "asian" and "spaniard" under "other hispanic origins"?

That is correct. Both of these groups are very well represented in medicine.
Spaniards are European and Filipinos are Asian.
There are Asian sub-groups that may be considered UiM by some schools, though.

 

[Goro]

put hispanic. if you look it enough and identify it, no one will say ****. system exists. go and exploit it. if it happens enougj, it will be done away with in the long term so you will both benefit and contribute to the long term solution.

tons of hispanics with near pure Spaniard blood from Latin America still put hispanic. Some are more White than you. If they can do it, why should you not be able to?

This is advice so bad that it's almost malicious. Due to the huge numbers of ORM candidates who magically discover their ethnic heritage upon applying to medical school, Adcoms are aware that people are checking the wrong ethnicity boxes for the wrong reasons.

Hence, one may get a lot of IIs from this (or maybe not), but will also accrue a lot of rejections. One SDNer checked Native American and got 20 IIs and 19 rejects (the accept was at his state school which would have accepted him even if he checked "purple"

This is another reason why we look for evidence of service to undeserved communities.

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

Suppose that the OP identifies as Hispanic, is perceived as Hispanic, and has lots of service to the Hispanic community: I’d suspect this is something different entirely.

 

[Goro]

Suppose that the OP identifies as Hispanic, is perceived as Hispanic, and has lots of service to the Hispanic community: I’d suspect this is something different entirely.

That will be fine.

 

[OfMiceAndWomen]

On the AMCAS, there is the possible designation of “Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin” —> “other Hispanic, Latino or of Spanish origin”

From the info that you’ve shared, it seems like you can either choose that or “Filipino” under Asian.

Regardless of what choice you put, whether or not you are considered URM will be decided by the specific adcom. URM consideration can be highly variable depending on location of the school.

For example:

There are Asian sub-groups that may be considered UiM by some schools, though.

The Center of Diversity and Inclusion at MGH considers southeast Asian groups (e.g. Lao, Hmong) to be URM in the area that they serve.

 

[gyngyn]

The Center of Diversity and Inclusion at MGH considers southeast Asian groups (e.g. Lao, Hmong) to be URM in the area that they serve.

There are schools in CA that also consider them UiM!

 

[abcdelemoneater]

That is correct. Both of these groups are very well represented in medicine.
Spaniards are European and Filipinos are Asian.
There are Asian sub-groups that may be considered UiM by some schools, though.

My friend is 1/4 Mexican but the rest is Filipino/Spaniard (her grandma on her dad's side is fully Mexican), would she be able to self-identify as Mexican? She has been active in the Mexican community, celebrates a mix between Filipino and Mexican traditions, and can speak a little Spanish understand it as well (but not too well-versed, mostly Tagalog or English).

 

[OfMiceAndWomen]

My friend is 1/4 Mexican but the rest is Filipino/Spaniard (her grandma on her dad's side is fully Mexican), would she be able to self-identify as Mexican? She has been active in the Mexican community, celebrates a mix between Filipino and Mexican traditions, and can speak a little Spanish understand it as well (but not too well-versed, mostly Tagalog or English).

You can select multiple options on AMCAS, and if you are of mixed heritage, it is the most honest thing to do so. I’d imagine if she puts down only Mexican, an interviewer may ask about her heritage and realize that she is also Filipino.

 

[abcdelemoneater]

You can select multiple options on AMCAS, and if you are of mixed heritage, it is the most honest thing to do so. I’d imagine if she puts down only Mexican, an interviewer may ask about her heritage and realize that she is also Filipino.

She intends on selecting multiple options regardless, but out of sheer curiosity, would she still be considered as a URM for the Mexican part? If someone is mixed, how do they decide whether they want to put her under Mexican or Filipino or Spanish? Is it if there is any Mexican or Black (minimum of 1/4), and are active within ones own community, then they automatically place you under URM status?

Also, is there an option where you can select which you identify the most with, etc.?

 

[bluepeony]

She intends on selecting multiple options regardless, but out of sheer curiosity, would she still be considered as a URM for the Mexican part? If someone is mixed, how do they decide whether they want to put her under Mexican or Filipino or Spanish? Is it if there is any Mexican or Black (minimum of 1/4), and are active within ones own community, then they automatically place you under URM status?

Also, is there an option where you can select which you identify the most with, etc.?

School dependent, up to individual adcoms to decide.

 

[OfMiceAndWomen]

She intends on selecting multiple options regardless, but out of sheer curiosity, would she still be considered as a URM for the Mexican part? If someone is mixed, how do they decide whether they want to put her under Mexican or Filipino or Spanish? Is it if there is any Mexican or Black (minimum of 1/4), and are active within ones own community, then they automatically place you under URM status?

Also, is there an option where you can select which you identify the most with, etc.?

I'm not adcom so I can't say for sure what goes on during admission meeting. But I don’t think there is a general criteria for URM designation. IMO the advantage that URMs have come from the narrative they craft about their family, background, heritage, community and desire to serve the community. There’s no robot that places you under URM. A person reads your application and places your ethnicity in the context of your application.

I don’t believe there is an option to pick which you identify more as. You just have to write about it or show it through your ECs.

Something that might be of interest to you is, on the AMCAS, you will be asked to list the languages you can speak, and how often each language was used in your childhood home.