Question Regarding URM Status and Med School Interviews?

[cerebellumcat]

Hey everyone, I'm new to SDN and have a question regarding URM status.
I am part white, part Latinx (Mayan) and part Asian (Chinese). I have always considered myself a POC, am definitely treated like one... yes, I have dealt with racism, and look brown (for lack of a better word) and I was born outside the U.S. (in China). However, I have grown up with the predominately white side of my family (so I don't speak any language other than English), and have experienced many privileges due to that.
On the other hand, I volunteer at a local community health center that specializes in providing healthcare to minorities. I love volunteering there because everyone looks similar to me and I feel very comfortable.

Long story short, I am wondering if I choose not to identify my race on my medical school application, will they still ask me a question regarding my race/ethnicity in an interview, since I clearly don't look white?
I am not sure if I should check Latinx and Asian boxes because I feel like I did not experience those cultures' traditions growing up because I grew up with my predominately white side, and I guess the ethnical side of me doesn't want to take away a spot from someone who has experience the trials and tribulations associated with those cultures. But at the same time, maybe I should just check how I identify myself as and how I physically appear?

Please help me.. I am having an ethnical internal struggle here.

Thanks 🙂

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[MattieandMyGirls]

You should select what you identify with. If you are Asian, select Asian. Stop worrying about “taking someone’s spot”.

 

[cerebellumcat]

Thank you! I guess my main question is: If I choose not to identify my race on my medical school application, will they still ask me a question regarding my race/ethnicity in an interview, since I clearly don't look white?

 

[btuck]

I highly doubt and interviewer will just say something like 'you look ethinic, tell me more...' that sounds pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

 

[Goro]

Thank you! I guess my main question is: If I choose not to identify my race on my medical school application, will they still ask me a question regarding my race/ethnicity in an interview, since I clearly don't look white?

We're not allowed to do that!

 

[LizzyM]

Which boxes will you check on the 2020 US Census? Check the same on the AMCAS application or "choose not to reply". We really don't care and no one is going to ask why you do not appear "white" if that's the only box you check.

 

[cerebellumcat]

Awesome. Thanks so much! I will check all the boxes I identity as.

 

[boogerlice]

We're not allowed to do that!

Wait, is that a real violation? I did not put my race down and was asked about why not, with my interviewer clearly thinking I did it to gain an edge.

 

[Goro]

Wait, is that a real violation? I did not put my race down and was asked about why not, with my interviewer clearly thinking I did it to gain an edge.

Interviewers are not supposed to ask about stuff like. Asking about "Where's family originally from"? is OK.

 

[LizzyM]

Wait, is that a real violation? I did not put my race down and was asked about why not, with my interviewer clearly thinking I did it to gain an edge.

You were asked "why didn't you list your race on the application?" Just out of curiousity, what was your response?

 

[boogerlice]

@LizzyM and @Goro I feel it fair to preface what I recall with the following: There is a lot of racial admixture in Mexico so kids will often times come out with very different skin colors. I am the lightest of my siblings with color that people describe as olive as opposed to brown and since I avoid the sun I look pale; I still call myself brown. I also have a high forehead, sunken eyes. My Native American ethnic group is Totonac and I would say I have those stereotypical features, diminutive chin, chubby cheeks, long face. My brow ridge and nose don't look "ethnic," but they come from my mom's side which disparagingly call themselves "indios." So, to a South Asian I would look way more European than to someone with more familiarity to how Native Americans look.

I did not select a race because I am mixed between European and Indigenous, and I know the "boost" that selecting Native American is meant for those people whose family suffered through persecution by the US, whereas mine did not. I wanted to select both white and native, but felt that it was not fair to select native, given the "boost" is not for me. I also did not want to select white because it felt like I was turning my back on a part of history by selecting only one racial category. Plus "mixed" in the US connotes a more modern idea of racial identity. I selected Hispanic and left race empty.

My interview was not a native English speaker so I understood the underlying suspicion in his question.

From what I remember it was something like,
Interviewer:"Where are you from?"
Me: "Texas, but originally California."
I: "No, you're family,"
Me: "My parents are from Mexico, but I was born here."
I: "Ah, I see you did not mark a race, but your family is Spanish, white? Why did you not mark it down?"

I was thrown off by that and should have replied with what I wrote up above about why I selected Hispanic instead of a race. Instead, I felt insulted at one being accused of "gaming the system" and about other race issues. So, I was fighting back the urge to stick out my hand and tell him drain my veins and prove himself wrong.

I wound up replying after a bad pause, "Uh.......... I am not white." After that he let it go with an "okay," and moved on to tearing apart my application on other fronts. So yeah, I interpreted it in an accusatory manner because he asked me a leading question, but it's possible that it wasn't.

 

[LemonTreeAKALemon]

Mayan does not equate to Latin. To be Latin means to have inherited Latin culture. Not all people who reside in Latin America share in the mainstream Hispanic culture. There have been many Native Americans tribes in the region who were able to maintain their culture identity and were therefore never “Hispanicized” linguistically, culturally, or genetically. Thus if you have inherited mayan admixture but not Hispanic culture, than you would be Native American-mixed but not really “Latin”.

 

[LizzyM]

@LizzyM and @Goro I feel it fair to preface what I recall with the following: There is a lot of racial admixture in Mexico so kids will often times come out with very different skin colors. I am the lightest of my siblings with color that people describe as olive as opposed to brown and since I avoid the sun I look pale; I still call myself brown. I also have a high forehead, sunken eyes. My Native American ethnic group is Totonac and I would say I have those stereotypical features, diminutive chin, chubby cheeks, long face. My brow ridge and nose don't look "ethnic," but they come from my mom's side which disparagingly call themselves "indios." So, to a South Asian I would look way more European than to someone with more familiarity to how Native Americans look.

I did not select a race because I am mixed between European and Indigenous, and I know the "boost" that selecting Native American is meant for those people whose family suffered through persecution by the US, whereas mine did not. I wanted to select both white and native, but felt that it was not fair to select native, given the "boost" is not for me. I also did not want to select white because it felt like I was turning my back on a part of history by selecting only one racial category. Plus "mixed" in the US connotes a more modern idea of racial identity. I selected Hispanic and left race empty.

My interview was not a native English speaker so I understood the underlying suspicion in his question.

From what I remember it was something like,
Interviewer:"Where are you from?"
Me: "Texas, but originally California."
I: "No, you're family,"
Me: "My parents are from Mexico, but I was born here."
I: "Ah, I see you did not mark a race, but your family is Spanish, white? Why did you not mark it down?"

I was thrown off by that and should have replied with what I wrote up above about why I selected Hispanic instead of a race. Instead, I felt insulted at one being accused of "gaming the system" and about other race issues. So, I was fighting back the urge to stick out my hand and tell him drain my veins and prove himself wrong.

I wound up replying after a bad pause, "Uh.......... I am not white." After that he let it go with an "okay," and moved on to tearing apart my application on other fronts. So yeah, I interpreted it in an accusatory manner because he asked me a leading question, but it's possible that it wasn't.

Well, you self-identified as Hispanic but did not list a race (Hispanics may be of any race according to the US Census Bureau definition of Hispanic). So, perhaps the interviewer had some curiosity as to why you self-identified as Hispanic as it is a wide-ranging designation. It is too bad that the question was asked and too bad that it threw you off your game at the interview. Did you get admitted there, or anywhere?

 

[boogerlice]

Well, you self-identified as Hispanic but did not list a race (Hispanics may be of any race according to the US Census Bureau definition of Hispanic). So, perhaps the interviewer had some curiosity as to why you self-identified as Hispanic as it is a wide-ranging designation. It is too bad that the question was asked and too bad that it threw you off your game at the interview. Did you get admitted there, or anywhere?

I was rejected there, but thankfully accepted in-state 🙂