Should I apply URM?

[you2tambien]

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[PfNO22]

Hi, so there are a couple of things a little bit concerning about this post but I'll try to address them one by one.

I am legally considered Hispanic: I am 25% Spanish. I don't look it at all though; I'm white and I'm from a pretty affluent area. I wouldn't really consider myself underprivileged. That said, I still do feel that my family is Spanish. All of my great-aunts speak Spanish better than English and I have a Spanish last name. Only one of my parents has a bachelor's degree.

So, this process doesn't really care what you look like. Futhermore the race and ethnicity information is optional. You should answer it as it best applies to you. According to the EEOC, no employer may "override" your self-identification.

There is room on the application to list your parents' educational history.

That said:

I fully intend to apply as a URM (specifically, ethnicity: Hispanic, race: white) if it'll help me out, but I'm just worried that interviewers will be turned off by the fact that I don't have darker skin/don't have a Latin American accent/don't come from a poor neighborhood.

This is troubling. Underrepresented status comes from many different places. Race and Ethnicity are just two.

AMCAS is interested mostly in "Disadvantaged Status." Again, you choose if this applies to you.

AMCAS:
"After completing this section, you will then be asked if you wish to be considered a disadvantaged applicant by your designated medical schools. Click Yes to be considered a disadvantaged applicant. You will be given an additional 1325 characters to explain why you believe you should be considered a disadvantaged applicant."

Can you answer this question? An appropriate answer would NOT be "Because it will help me during this process."

1) Will it be fishy if I don't "seem" Hispanic during interviews? ie, fishy enough so that I am automatically rejected.

No, and it would be illegal to reject you for that. They may ask you about your Spanish family and will likely be very interested to hear about it.

2) Do URMs even get a worthwhile bump for MD/PhD applications?

Disadvantaged applicants get a worthwhile bump. Your ethnicity COULD be a factor in self-identifying as disadvantaged, but it is not an assurance of that.

Have not taken the MCAT yet, but I'm a fairly good standardized test taker and I'll be taking a prep course in Fall 2011 with testing Jan 2012. I'm assuming I'll be able to get at least a 30.

Oooof, 30 is troublesome. Will not get you interviews many places.

GPA: 3.79 going into junior year.

Fine.

~1 year of research in two labs including 12 weeks full-time (I'm a transfer student so it's a little broken up and this is why it's a short amount of time for two labs). In the first lab my PI used my data in a publication (impact factor 6.5).

Do more research. Were you an author on the publication? Otherwise it doesn't really mean much.


Bottom line, does your ethnicity make you Disadvantaged? Only you can answer that question. And if you don't have an answer, then that will be a problem. I suggest you talk with an advisor in your school's Minority student office for some help with that.

 

[you2tambien]

Thanks for your opinion. I would never put down disadvantaged, as I don't feel that applies to me. I didn't realize that there was a distinction between disadvantaged and URM for AMCAS, so thank you for clearing that up. I intend to be as honest during the process as possible.

Also, I hope my original post doesn't offend anyone, I was just trying to explain my situation as simply as possible.

 

[K31]

If you consider yourself Hispanic, you should indicate that on the application. It may help your competitiveness a bit, but I don't think it's a huge deal; you still need the numbers/research/etc.

FWIW, I had a friend from undergrad who applied MD in a similar situation as yours--middle class family, Hispanic last name but looked as white as me. He indicated URM on the application, and said it did help a bit--he would have done well in the application process anyway, but got into a bit better school than my cracker ass would have with the same application.

 

[Choculitis]

He indicated URM on the application, and said it did help a bit--he would have done well in the application process anyway, but got into a bit better school than my cracker ass would have with the same application.

How can you possibly know that? Surely they didn't tell him that it was a factor.

 

[K31]

How can you possibly know that? Surely they didn't tell him that it was a factor.

You're right that we can't know for sure, but that's what my friend thought; it certainly didn't hurt him, which is what the OP is concerned about. We applied the same cycle and discussed this a lot.

 

[Lil Mick]

Some schools will look at ethnic/racial diversity in a program. That, as well as gender diversity and research are diversity, is one of the big things for MSTP grants. However, you still need good scores and research experience (don't have to be published!) to get into a program; a 30 would not be good when you're applying.

 

[Ombret]

It seems like 30 was just a guess, the OP has not even taken a prep course yet.

My two cents, do whatever feels most honest to you, don't worry too much about predicting the future. Would you feel comfortable seeing "You2tambien Applies for MSTP as URM" as a newspaper headline in your home town? If so, then go ahead and do it.

 

[you2tambien]

It seems like 30 was just a guess, the OP has not even taken a prep course yet.

Yes, I said 30 assuming that everything goes wrong during prep and on test day. 30 would be the absolute lowest score I would expect, obviously I'm hoping/expecting to get 35-36+.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

I didn't see a URM thread specifically for MD/PhD and I have a few questions.

I am legally considered Hispanic: I am 25% Spanish. I don't look it at all though; I'm white and I'm from a pretty affluent area. I wouldn't really consider myself underprivileged. That said, I still do feel that my family is Spanish. All of my great-aunts speak Spanish better than English and I have a Spanish last name. Only one of my parents has a bachelor's degree.

I fully intend to apply as a URM (specifically, ethnicity: Hispanic, race: white) if it'll help me out, but I'm just worried that interviewers (should I be lucky enough to converse with any) will be turned off by the fact that I don't have darker skin/don't have a Latin American accent/don't come from a poor neighborhood. So my questions are:

1) Will it be fishy if I don't "seem" Hispanic during interviews? ie, fishy enough so that I am automatically rejected.

2) Do URMs even get a worthwhile bump for MD/PhD applications?

Stats for reference/if necessary:

Have not taken the MCAT yet, but I'm a fairly good standardized test taker and I'll be taking a prep course in Fall 2011 with testing Jan 2012. I'm assuming I'll be able to get at least a 30.
GPA: 3.79 going into junior year.
~1 year of research in two labs including 12 weeks full-time (I'm a transfer student so it's a little broken up and this is why it's a short amount of time for two labs). In the first lab my PI used my data in a publication (impact factor 6.5).
I have 15 hours of shadowing and I will be starting a hospital volunteer program in Fall 2011. I also plan to do some more shadowing (maybe total of 50 hours)

Thanks for any thoughts!

You're part Spanish? In my book that doesn't really make you Hispanic. Spaniards are Europeans. Hispanic for purposes of defining URMs are people from the Americas who originate from Hispanophone cultures. It's like Theresa Heinz-Kerry being an African-American.

At any rate, if you are part Spanish there's no historical or present discriminatory practice why you should have been disadvantaged.

 

[you2tambien]

You're part Spanish? In my book that doesn't really make you Hispanic. Spaniards are Europeans. Hispanic for purposes of defining URMs are people from the Americas who originate from Hispanophone cultures. It's like Theresa Heinz-Kerry being an African-American.

At any rate, if you are part Spanish there's no historical or present discriminatory practice why you should have been disadvantaged.

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[Silverfalcon]

Short and sweet answers to your questions:

1) No

2) Probably not.

In addition, there are additional areas you should really focus on improving before worrying about this. That's a lot more important than the whole URM discussion.

 

[PfNO22]

You're part Spanish? In my book that doesn't really make you Hispanic. Spaniards are Europeans. Hispanic for purposes of defining URMs are people from the Americas who originate from Hispanophone cultures. It's like Theresa Heinz-Kerry being an African-American.

At any rate, if you are part Spanish there's no historical or present discriminatory practice why you should have been disadvantaged.

I like your truthiness. You've got chutzpah.