Should I include this on my secondaries?

[arnimmic]

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Hello all,

I've started working on my secondaries and the big question I am asking myself is how will I bring diversity to the programs I am applying to. I am a non-traditional student that received a degree in Accounting in 2009 and went back to fulfill my premed preqreqs and get a lot of clinical experience.

I am not URM on paper, but I definitely do not look "caucasian" due to a croatian and native american background. Growing up in a southern town, it was not always easy to fit in and I have definitely been discriminated against several times which has help to define my desire to work in a clinical setting helping under represented minorities. I was considering mentioning the above in my secondary application as I have not mentioned it on my primary but am concerned it could be taken the wrong way.

Can you all please provide me with your thoughts on this? Thanks for your help!

 

[Goro]

Can't hurt.

Hello all,

I've started working on my secondaries and the big question I am asking myself is how will I bring diversity to the programs I am applying to. I am a non-traditional student that received a degree in Accounting in 2009 and went back to fulfill my premed preqreqs and get a lot of clinical experience.

I am not URM on paper, but I definitely do not look "caucasian" due to a croatian and native american background. Growing up in a southern town, it was not always easy to fit in and I have definitely been discriminated against several times which has help to define my desire to work in a clinical setting helping under represented minorities. I was considering mentioning the above in my secondary application as I have not mentioned it on my primary but am concerned it could be taken the wrong way.

Can you all please provide me with your thoughts on this? Thanks for your help!

 

[RurMed]

Hello all,

I've started working on my secondaries and the big question I am asking myself is how will I bring diversity to the programs I am applying to. I am a non-traditional student that received a degree in Accounting in 2009 and went back to fulfill my premed preqreqs and get a lot of clinical experience.

I am not URM on paper, but I definitely do not look "caucasian" due to a croatian and native american background. Growing up in a southern town, it was not always easy to fit in and I have definitely been discriminated against several times which has help to define my desire to work in a clinical setting helping under represented minorities. I was considering mentioning the above in my secondary application as I have not mentioned it on my primary but am concerned it could be taken the wrong way.

Can you all please provide me with your thoughts on this? Thanks for your help!

Honestly, I would focus on your clinical experience and accounting degree and how those make you a unique and valuable candidate for a medical school class. Diversity doesn't just mean racial background, it means how are you different than the rest.

Nothing wrong with mentioning your past struggles with bigotry, but I wouldn't focus on that exclusively. If it was truly a life changing experiences, go ahead, but if you are just looking to answer the diversity question, your eclectic resume and experiences are far more interesting and relevant to medical school admission.

 

[Shjanzey]

Wish I could claim URM for being white in a hispanic neighborhood, but it just doesn't work like that.

 

[QofQuimica]

If you want to work with underserved patient populations, that is an important thing to let med schools know about, because some schools have working with the underserved as their mission and want to recruit people like you. But, you'd better have the work/volunteering experience to back you up, and you need to write about them in a positive way. Along with answering the literal question asked, the main point to keep in mind when writing med school essays in general is that they should be positive, positive, positive. You can write about whatever and whomever you like, but you want to be Sammy or Sally Sunshine when you explain it. Talking about being a social outcast is not positive. Talking about being discriminated against is not positive. Talking about helping other people learn to embrace diversity is positive. Talking about wanting to improve health care access for the underserved is positive. You get my drift.

 

[Shjanzey]

If you want to work with underserved patient populations, that is an important thing to let med schools know about, because some schools have working with the underserved as their mission and want to recruit people like you. But, you'd better have the work/volunteering experience to back you up, and you need to write about them in a positive way. Along with answering the literal question asked, the main point to keep in mind when writing med school essays in general is that they should be positive, positive, positive. You can write about whatever and whomever you like, but you want to be Sammy or Sally Sunshine when you explain it. Talking about being a social outcast is not positive. Talking about being discriminated against is not positive. Talking about helping other people learn to embrace diversity is positive. Talking about wanting to improve health care access for the underserved is positive. You get my drift.

I applied at a school last year with "underserved populations" as their primary mission statement. When I turned in 5 years as an interpreter in a medical clinic in an underserved population (800+ hours) as an EC, as well as an application directed towards their mission, I was rejected with the mystical statement that "I need more shadowing experience"

True story 😀

 

[LingoLaine]

I applied at a school last year with "underserved populations" as their primary mission statement. When I turned in 5 years as an interpreter in a medical clinic in an underserved population (800+ hours) as an EC, as well as an application directed towards their mission, I was rejected with the mystical statement that "I need more shadowing experience"

Unfortunately, for every accepted candidate there are usually many other worthy applicants who are not offered admission.

 

[Shjanzey]

Unfortunately, for every accepted candidate there are usually many other worthy applicants who are not offered admission.

True, however I find it hard to believe many of those applicants had more ECs than I did. I have been at it longer than most have been in college 😉 Granted...I understand it is only one aspect of the application, however I think they could have offered better advice than what they did. I felt like the were reaching for excuses so they just threw in the first thing that came to mind (even if it didn't fit).

Of course, it is hard to remain objective too

 

[QofQuimica]

I applied at a school last year with "underserved populations" as their primary mission statement. When I turned in 5 years as an interpreter in a medical clinic in an underserved population (800+ hours) as an EC, as well as an application directed towards their mission, I was rejected with the mystical statement that "I need more shadowing experience"

That's a great EC, but I don't disagree with them for wanting you to have some shadowing experience as well. Being a medical interpreter isn't the same as seeing what physicians do on a day-to-day basis. For example, I spend a relatively small proportion of my work time using a medical interpreter. If that interaction was your only experience with what a resident's job entails, you'd have a very limited and biased view. In contrast, if you followed me around for an entire work day, you'd get a much better appreciation for how much time I spend doing indirect patient care activities versus actually caring for patients. (Unfortunately, I spend way less time with patients than I do with charting and other busy work.)

 

[Captain Sisko]

Hello all,

I've started working on my secondaries and the big question I am asking myself is how will I bring diversity to the programs I am applying to. I am a non-traditional student that received a degree in Accounting in 2009 and went back to fulfill my premed preqreqs and get a lot of clinical experience.

I am not URM on paper, but I definitely do not look "caucasian" due to a croatian and native american background. Growing up in a southern town, it was not always easy to fit in and I have definitely been discriminated against several times which has help to define my desire to work in a clinical setting helping under represented minorities. I was considering mentioning the above in my secondary application as I have not mentioned it on my primary but am concerned it could be taken the wrong way.

Can you all please provide me with your thoughts on this? Thanks for your help!

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Native Americans URMs? I could've sworn they were from forum hearsay, but I haven't actually checked (or known where to check).

 

[arnimmic]

If you want to work with underserved patient populations, that is an important thing to let med schools know about, because some schools have working with the underserved as their mission and want to recruit people like you. But, you'd better have the work/volunteering experience to back you up, and you need to write about them in a positive way. Along with answering the literal question asked, the main point to keep in mind when writing med school essays in general is that they should be positive, positive, positive. You can write about whatever and whomever you like, but you want to be Sammy or Sally Sunshine when you explain it. Talking about being a social outcast is not positive. Talking about being discriminated against is not positive. Talking about helping other people learn to embrace diversity is positive. Talking about wanting to improve health care access for the underserved is positive. You get my drift.

Thanks to everyone for the advice! In response to this post I have 100 hours 50% volunteering 50% shadowing and counting in a low income clinic that is connected with a homeless shelter and community center. This was the experience that solidified this my interest in working with the underserved. Do you think this experience is significant enough?

Also, thank you for the advice on keeping it positive. This is something I need to focus on.

 

[arnimmic]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Native Americans URMs? I could've sworn they were from forum hearsay, but I haven't actually checked (or known where to check).

Thank you for your reply! Yes, I believe they are but there are certain tribe documentation requirements that I am fairly certain I do not meet. However, I am not really interested in "URM status" or using it to show hardship, etc. I am more interested in demonstrating how my appearance in the context in which I was raised (the South) has shaped my worldview. I think being classified as caucasian but looking different enough to welcome certain comments/treatment has given me an interesting sort of "in-between" perspective that will allow me to have certain cultural sensitivities as a physician that I otherwise might not have.