So whats the deal with minorities?

[MaybeMed123321]

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I have heard it's easier to get in if you are of African or Hispanic descent... personally I'm Portuguese but only speak a small amount of Spanish.. will this help my chances at all

 

[trino]

No, it will not help you get in. You are ORM. End of thread

 

[darkjedi]

I'm sorry to tell you but your thread has maybe 2 hours left to live. I suggest you make your arrangements.

 

[Goro]

It's real and there's a good reason for it. Portuguese are not considered URM; niether are are all Hispanics.

If you're attempting to start a flame war, don't bother. You'll get locked out and banned really quick.

I have heard it's easier to get in if you are of African or Hispanic descent... personally I'm Portuguese but only speak a small amount of Spanish.. will this help my chances at all or is the URM thing just a wives tale

 

[MaybeMed123321]

Just wondering guys didn't mean to start something!

 

[Burla]

Out of pure curiosity...can you explain this sentence: "personally I'm Portuguese but only speak a small amount of Spanish"

 

[MaybeMed123321]

Haha um yea my mother is a Portuguese immigrant but refused to teach it to me because she thought I would be decimated against. Just know Spanish from college. just thought Id throw that in there. ok will self end my post now

 

[MaybeMed123321]

Haha um yea my mother is a Portuguese immigrant but refused to teach it to me because she thought I would be discriminated against. Just know Spanish from college. just thought Id throw that in there. ok will self end my post now

 

[mrh125]

what's the deal with airline food?

 

[WillburCobb]

 

[nontradmomma]

what Hispanics are URM? I've heard Mexican & Puerto rican are. I don't know about the rest. I'm a quarter each of the following: cuban, puerto rican, Venezuelan, "white American". born in Venezuela, us citizen, fluent in English & Spanish. I've wondered what that makes me? being a "mixed nationality Hispanic", where do I fit in the URM spectrum?

 

[ChemEngMD]

what Hispanics are URM? I've heard Mexican & Puerto rican are. I don't know about the rest. I'm a quarter each of the following: cuban, puerto rican, Venezuelan, "white American". born in Venezuela, us citizen, fluent in English & Spanish. I've wondered what that makes me? being a "mixed nationality Hispanic", where do I fit in the URM spectrum?

Check the "Puerto Rican", "Cuban", "Other Hispanic", and "White" boxes and let the schools decide whether they consider you URM.

 

[graviton]

Edit: Never mind, had hypocaffeinemia.

 

[Dr Turkelton]

Best thread title ever.

 

[LizzyM]

Check your race and ethnicity just as you would on the US census. List your languages just as you would if you applying for a job. Each medical school decides, based on the demographics of the population it serves with patient care, who is URM. If a school wants to count you, then it will.

The proportion of black applicants who get admitted is about equall or slightly less than the proportion of white applicants who get admitted. Ditto Hispanic and Asian applicants. For a given combination of GPA and MCAT, the more rare applicants (black & hispanic) have a better chance of being chosen than Asian or white applicants with the same numbers. The thing is, don't look at the percentages, look at the numbers. The number of URM applicants at a given GPA/MCAT are sometimes very, very small and they are highly valued in a med school class because of the diversity they lend to the student body.

/thread.

 

[nontradmomma]

Haha um yea my mother is a Portuguese immigrant but refused to teach it to me because she thought I would be decimated against. Just know Spanish from college. just thought Id throw that in there. ok will self end my post now

I think the curiosity is based on the fact that the official language in Portugal is Portuguese, not Spanish. only a small percent of the Portuguese population speak Spanish. more speak French there than Spanish. but most speak Portuguese...

 

[Dr. Biology]

clearly don't think you can go MD with a 3.3 gpa because your Part Portuguese. Im sure Adcoms would rather have a white kid with a 3.7 than a minority with a 3.4.. I feel as if too many people rely on this to get into medical school, your best bet is a high gpa, good LORs and volunteering. I mean Im 1/16 Cherokee, but im not going to write that in on the amcas application. Point is rely on your academic achievements, not your race to get into med school

 

[touchpause13]

Goro and LizzyM have spoken. Let's just shut this down

 

[Dr. Biology]

Goro and LizzyM have spoken. Let's just shut this down

I second that motion

 

[moop]

Goro and LizzyM have spoken. Let's just shut this down

But this other time I also heard something about affirmative action and how URMs are taking advantage of it over other races....

 

[amazing tekkers]

Genuine question: are portuguese people white? What do they put for demographics?

 

[DermViser]

Check your race and ethnicity just as you would on the US census. List your languages just as you would if you applying for a job. Each medical school decides, based on the demographics of the population it serves with patient care, who is URM. If a school wants to count you, then it will.

The proportion of black applicants who get admitted is about equall or slightly less than the proportion of white applicants who get admitted. Ditto Hispanic and Asian applicants. For a given combination of GPA and MCAT, the more rare applicants (black & hispanic) have a better chance of being chosen than Asian or white applicants with the same numbers. The thing is, don't look at the percentages, look at the numbers. The number of URM applicants at a given GPA/MCAT are sometimes very, very small and they are highly valued in a med school class because of the diversity they lend to the student body.

/thread.

Curious LizzyM, what diversity do URMs contribute to the medical school class? You mean the class gets along better as people are forced to deal with cultures they may not have been privy to before? Or those URMS are able to teach others how to deal with minority patients? Just curious as admissions officers observe their medical school classes, so curious what their observations are.

 

[DermViser]

Genuine question: are portuguese people white? What do they put for demographics?

 

[bearded frog]

​

 

[dyspareunia]

Curious LizzyM, what diversity do URMs contribute to the medical school class? You mean the class gets along better as people are forced to deal with cultures they may not have been privy to before? Or those URMS are able to teach others how to deal with minority patients? Just curious as admissions officers observe their medical school classes, so curious what their observations are.

We (URMs) are the reason all the white kids look over their shoulder before making a joke. I actually know a handful of my classmates who have talked about me being here only because I'm a URM. Probably true, as I've posted before, but still.. funny thing for med students to be worrying about.

 

[DermViser]

We (URMs) are the reason all the white kids look over their shoulder before making a joke. I actually know a handful of my classmates who have talked about me being here only because I'm a URM. Probably true, as I've posted before, but still.. funny thing for med students to be worrying about.

True, and I think it's bc affirmative action policies are public knowledge, and the AAMC has released data showing that there are different test scores and GPA for the average white, average black, etc. who matriculate into med school. Nothing racist about it. It's data.

You take any group of high achieving students who had to bust their butt to get where they are, they will naturally resent someone who didn't have to and still got a spot. The problem with AA is that one has no way of knowing whether that URM had the GPA/MCAT score on par with everyone else, so the easiest thing is to believe the worst.

What med schools do, wrongly IMHO, is speak out of both sides of their mouth when it comes to the importance of undergraduate GPA and MCAT score and medical school success.

 

[DermViser]

https://www.coe.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/Milem,O'Brien,Miner,Bryan,Castillo-Page,Schoolcraft(2012)-The_Important_Role_that_Diverse_Students_Play_in_Shaping_the_Medical_School_Curriculum.pdf

From another study:

This is hardly a peer-reviewed level of study. It's an opinion piece masquerading as a study.

https://www.coe.arizona.edu/faculty_profile/284 (The lead author)

Professor Milem’s research focuses on racial dynamics in higher education, the educational outcomes of diversity, the impact of college on students, and the condition and status of the professorate—including the ways in which faculty effectively utilize diversity in their classroom teaching. With his colleagues Mitchell Chang and Anthony Antonio, he co-authored Making Diversity Work on Campus: A Research Based Perspective, published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, which translates research demonstrating the educational benefits of diversity to develop a “roadmap” for college leaders of the conditions that must be in place if they are to maximize the opportunities for teaching and learning that racial diversity provides. Jeff contributed to two of the three books that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor cited in her majority opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger as being influential in helping to document the university’s claim regarding the educational benefits of diversity.

 

[ChemEngMD]

 

[DermViser]

?

 

[Copernicium]

This thread starts out and is named exactly like [URL='http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/are-acceptances-for-minorities-really-that-skewed.1067572/']THIS thread[/URL]. Compounded with the fact that OP just joined tyesterday...well....how bout we just end this discussion?

 

[bearded frog]

​

 

[juliuspepperwood]

Genuine question: are portuguese people white? What do they put for demographics?

People of mainland Portuguese descent (Iberian peninsula) are "white". People with Portuguese citizenship through former colonies (e.g. Angola or Mozambique) are likely URM.

 

[LizzyM]

People of mainland Portuguese descent (Iberian peninsula) are "white". People with Portuguese citizenship through former colonies (e.g. Angola or Mozambique) are likely URM.

Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a color (or race). People who claim hispanic ethnicity may be of any race (or color). Who is URM is completely dependent on each medical school's decision about what is URM at their school and to serve their community of patients (which may be local or which may be more broadly defined).

 

[masaraksh]

Yes OP, whats the deal with "minorities"?

can't believe mean girls, stewie, and colbert were posted before this.

 

[juliuspepperwood]

Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a color (or race). People who claim hispanic ethnicity may be of any race (or color). Who is URM is completely dependent on each medical school's decision about what is URM at their school and to serve their community of patients (which may be local or which may be more broadly defined).

Ah yea I wasn't thinking ethnicity vs race.

 

[touchpause13]

I feel like this needs to be said a thousand times on these things

Latina/o - from Latin America
Example: Mike's family is from Peru. Mike is Latino.
Hispanic - from a Spanish speaking country
Example: Jane is from Spain. Jane is Hispanic.

 

[LuciusVorenus]

Haha um yea my mother is a Portuguese immigrant but refused to teach it to me because she thought I would be decimated against. Just know Spanish from college. just thought Id throw that in there. ok will self end my post now

We don't decimate here in the U.S. That's mostly a Roman thing.

 

[LizzyM]

I feel like this needs to be said a thousand times on these things

Latina/o - from Latin America
Example: Mike's family is from Peru. Mike is Latino.
Hispanic - from a Spanish speaking country
Example: Jane is from Spain. Jane is Hispanic.

The US government disagrees and states that Hispanic, Latino and Spanish may be used interchangeably.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_RHI825212.htm

 

[NontradCA]

Yes OP, whats the deal with "minorities"?

can't believe mean girls, stewie, and colbert were posted before this.

I was just about to post this

 

[asebasp]

The US government disagrees and states that Hispanic, Latino and Spanish may be used interchangeably.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_RHI825212.htm

This. Some people prefer to be called Latino/a and some people prefer to be called Hispanic. I think it depends on personal preference but there's always some degrees of gray when it comes to all those terms. Which ones include/exclude Brazilians? What about people from Spain? Suriname? I think this is a large reason why it just depends on the individual and what term they feel comfortable with.
I personally really dislike Hispanic since I think it denotes a history of South American subservience to the Spanish, but to each his own.

 

[lazywindmill]

I feel like this needs to be said a thousand times on these things

Latina/o - from Latin America
Example: Mike's family is from Peru. Mike is Latino.
Hispanic - from a Spanish speaking country
Example: Jane is from Spain. Jane is Hispanic.

This isn't necessarily true. Both of those terms have ethnic identity aspects that relate to post-colonial connotations, regional preferences, and socioeconomic/political connotations among other things. It's really best to let people self-define.

 

[STLMako91]

clearly don't think you can go MD with a 3.3 gpa because your Part Portuguese. Im sure Adcoms would rather have a white kid with a 3.7 than a minority with a 3.4.. I feel as if too many people rely on this to get into medical school, your best bet is a high gpa, good LORs and volunteering. I mean Im 1/16 Cherokee, but im not going to write that in on the amcas application. Point is rely on your academic achievements, not your race to get into med school

I would like to comment on your signature opposed to your actual post. The pre med population is not considered to be a normal, random sample. There is a preexistent intelligence bias, so 50% of premeds do not have an IQ below 100.

As far as this thread, I think the type of URM depends on the region in the country you are in and thus the school.

 

[LizzyM]

I would like to comment on your signature opposed to your actual post. The pre med population is not considered to be a normal, random sample. There is a preexistent intelligence bias, so 50% of premeds do not have an IQ below 100.

As far as this thread, I think the type of URM depends on the region in the country you are in and thus the school.

Normal does not mean what you think it means when you are discussing stats.
You can take a random sample of the population and may find that the data is not normally distributed.
If you want to argue that 50% of premeds do not have an IQ below 100, you may want to define pre-med and show how you might prove that half of them do not have below average IQs. Do you know what proportion of pre-meds actually take the MCAT, what subset of that subset make an AMCAS application and what subset of that subset are admitted? A lot of winnowing goes on and those who are below average in intelligence are left by the wayside but there well may be many "pre-meds" who have IQs of 99 or less. Do you really want to derail a thread with this nonsense? I don't but felt the need to school you in stats.

 

[MDforMee]

What geographic background checkboxes can Hispanics mark on the AMCAS and AACOMAS applications?

 

[ridethecliche]

Haha, good to see you have some time on your hands. I've always enjoyed your posts @LizzyM

 

[LizzyM]

What geographic background checkboxes can Hispanics mark on the AMCAS and AACOMAS applications?

IIRC, there is a place to list (or choose from a pull down menu) one's country of origin.

 

[ChemEngMD]

What geographic background checkboxes can Hispanics mark on the AMCAS and AACOMAS applications?

You're choices are: Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Other Hispanic if memory serves me right.

 

[MDforMee]

You're choices are: Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Other Hispanic if memory serves me right.

Interesting. I'm gonna geek out with some maps while I'm taking a study break... Here is wikipedia's country listing for the Hispanic American census designation:



Similarly, here is the Iberian American listing (for the OP):


And for Latin Americans, too:

 

[ChemEngMD]

@MDforMee yeah, it's a self designation thing so I guess individuals can make the call, but I'm pretty sure that AMCAS is using the Hispanic American census designation.

It's relatively vague.

 

[STLMako91]

Normal does not mean what you think it means when you are discussing stats.
You can take a random sample of the population and may find that the data is not normally distributed.
If you want to argue that 50% of premeds do not have an IQ below 100, you may want to define pre-med and show how you might prove that half of them do not have below average IQs. Do you know what proportion of pre-meds actually take the MCAT, what subset of that subset make an AMCAS application and what subset of that subset are admitted? A lot of winnowing goes on and those who are below average in intelligence are left by the wayside but there well may be many "pre-meds" who have IQs of 99 or less. Do you really want to derail a thread with this nonsense? I don't but felt the need to school you in stats.

What I was trying to get across was that there is no reason to believe that the IQ distribution for premed students exactly overlaps the IQ distribution for the general population in this country. Even the average college student is several IQ intervals higher than the average person living in America. Thus, I do not need to specifically define what pre med really means because even if you take the definition of premeds with the lowest average level of intelligence (those consisting of freshmen during the first month of college where being a pre med seems very doable), that would be significantly higher than the average intelligence of an average US citizen anyways. Are there premeds with IQs of less than 100? Of course. Is 50% of the pre medical population (however you want to define it) consisting of those people? NOPE.

Delete this post or do whatever you want with it.