Were you the only URM in your pre-med classes?

[martymd]

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I was. What were your experiences if you were in this situation in undergrad/post-bacc? Negative? Positive? I'm just curious.

Also, if there's another thread about this topic, my bad. Just let me know where it is! 😀

 

[Ambitionista]

I was. What were your experiences if you were in this situation in undergrad/post-bacc? Negative? Positive? I'm just curious.

Also, if there's another thread about this topic, my bad. Just let me know where it is! 😀

In my premed pre-reqs, no. We made up around ~10% of each class but for my graduating class, that percentage dropped a bit over the years.

In my upper-level science courses (Chemistry major), yes. I was often the only URM and the one of few females in predominately male ORM classes. For the most part I was okay however I definitely felt the need to prove myself almost constantly though. At times it seemed like other students would not take me or my input seriously until they saw my grades. Once they saw I was on par or higher than them then it felt like I could finally join the 'team'. Additionally, aside from my peers, I felt I stuck out like a sore thumb to my professors. (I even had an experience where I went to walk-in office hours for a professor of a 400 student O Chem class and he knew my name before my ever saying so.) I felt like this pressured me to do what I could to outperform my peers so I would not be looked at as the underperforming minority who did not belong.

Outside of classes, I was the only URM in some of my EC's as well. Same story pretty much. I just had to fight the stereotype that URMs always perform worse than their peers and that all black females have a ghetto, loud, and angry side to them (couldn't be further from the truth).

My experiences have been both positive and negative in a sense. Negative for what I said above and positive because they have prepared me for the future. I chose my undergraduate institution for this very reason. I knew by pursuing medicine I would be in a similar environment as a minority and wanted to the opportunity to adapt to the environment before medical school. I think it was also positive in the sense that I got the chance to educate some of my peers had never been around many URMs until college.

 

[Ambitionista]

please excuse my typos

 

[SoloDolo]

I was always the only URM or one of <4. Same deal with almost all of my ECs. Kind of sad, but I never let it get to me or anything. As for people not taking me seriously, I never had a problem with that as I have made a lot of friends in the science majors on campus and they all think I'm a boss.

I would say that my experiences have been an overall positive. I wish there were more URMs in the sciences here, but it is what it is. You kind of get used to being the only one or one of very few URMs in your classes.

 

[BLACKMD]

So far I am one of 4 black premeds in my prereq classes. We do have a couple Hispanics and one Arabic woman. Just for kicks I looked up my university and its 85% white enrollment.

 

[iave9963]

Sorry for typos, i'm lazy! I was the ONLY afro american male in all my prereqs classes except two. As far as sciences classes, talk about a ghost town lol. The problem that I generally encountered where my "peers" thinking my intelligence was not on par with theirs because I was, well you know.. 😀 But after the first few days of lecture and ESPECIALLY after our first test. Mentalities would change and all of a sudden everyone wanted to study with the kid. I even had a conversation at my junior college with a fellow Orgo classmate, who told me he used to be really racist against Afro Americans. I enjoyed the experience of talking with him, because he was honest, and seemed to really regret his old way of thinking. He told me it came from his elder family members. Ended up being a cool guy, even bought me lunch 😛. On another note when I did encounter a URM in my class I went bananas and acted like I found gold. Cheering deep down on the inside. But usually it was just myself, solo dolo. I made some good friends with other races and it was a good diversifying experience overall.
You will always encounter people who will have preconceived notions about you based on the color of your skin, just stay tough and like my mom says "Do what you have to do!"

 

[Koosalagoosagoo]

In my premed pre-reqs, no. We made up around ~10% of each class but for my graduating class, that percentage dropped a bit over the years.

In my upper-level science courses (Chemistry major), yes. I was often the only URM and the one of few females in predominately male ORM classes. For the most part I was okay however I definitely felt the need to prove myself almost constantly though. At times it seemed like other students would not take me or my input seriously until they saw my grades. Once they saw I was on par or higher than them then it felt like I could finally join the 'team'. Additionally, aside from my peers, I felt I stuck out like a sore thumb to my professors. (I even had an experience where I went to walk-in office hours for a professor of a 400 student O Chem class and he knew my name before my ever saying so.) I felt like this pressured me to do what I could to outperform my peers so I would not be looked at as the underperforming minority who did not belong.

Outside of classes, I was the only URM in some of my EC's as well. Same story pretty much. I just had to fight the stereotype that URMs always perform worse than their peers and that all black females have a ghetto, loud, and angry side to them (couldn't be further from the truth).

My experiences have been both positive and negative in a sense. Negative for what I said above and positive because they have prepared me for the future. I chose my undergraduate institution for this very reason. I knew by pursuing medicine I would be in a similar environment as a minority and wanted to the opportunity to adapt to the environment before medical school. I think it was also positive in the sense that I got the chance to educate some of my peers had never been around many URMs until college.

This happens to me all the time, its not a bad thing though! I have a big ole afro and stand out like a sore thumb...

 

[quechua]

Lower division courses - not at all. Maybe 20% URM. Professors and peers didn't treat me differently.

Upper division courses - certainly (unfortunately). ~5% URM. Professors and peers didn't treat me differently

Graduate level courses - haaaa. There were speckles. Some professors and peers initially kinda questioned my ability, but after class presentations, group discussions... etc... They understood.

See it's funny. When someone doubts you, they think you know *nothing* about everything. As soon as they realize you know *a bit* about something they think you're a gunner or just "bright".

 

[iave9963]

as soon as they realize you know *a bit* about something they think you're a gunner or just "bright".

+1000

 

[La Presse]

Lower division courses - not at all. Maybe 20% URM. Professors and peers didn't treat me differently.

Upper division courses - certainly (unfortunately). ~5% URM. Professors and peers didn't treat me differently

Graduate level courses - haaaa. There were speckles. Some professors and peers initially kinda questioned my ability, but after class presentations, group discussions... etc... They understood.

See it's funny. When someone doubts you, they think you know *nothing* about everything. As soon as they realize you know *a bit* about something they think you're a gunner or just "bright".

That's right. 😎

They had better understand that this isn't a game. Despite attending a large research school, there aren't many URMs in my classes. I'm typically the token AA.

 

[NontradCA]

This doesn't bother me much, I just don't want to be that token AA in med school though. I'm applying to mostly DO schools and the % of AAs is ~ 3% in the schools I'm applying to. Anyone else concerned about this?

 

[quechua]

This doesn't bother me much, I just don't want to be that token AA in med school though. I'm applying to mostly DO schools and the % of AAs is ~ 3% in the schools I'm applying to. Anyone else concerned about this?

3rd and 4th years may make you the token when you are rotating. That's just based off of probability. There's a good chance you'll be the token in residency if you apply to anything other than primary care (family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine).

If given the opportunity I would also avoid being the token as well, but I'll gladly do it if necessary.

 

[SheedahG]

I went to a small all-women's college that boasted of diversity. It might have been true for the humanities, but in the sciences, it was a totally different story. I found that in my lower division classes, I was one of 3 or 4 black women in each class. In the upper division classes, I was usually the only URM.

 

[nvnme]

Strong bump, but I am now. The only other black guy in the class dropped it two weeks in. On exam day the poor guy came in, looked at it, and got up and walked out. Hasn't been back since. Not seeing another face similar to mine is something new for me, but I guess it's to be expected heading down this particular career path.

 

[SilentSoldier]

I've been so used to being one of few URMs in my classes dating all the way back to high school. It was business as usual in my science classes.

 

[AdrianVeidt]

Les and less of us as I went deeper into the pre-req's. 5 out of about 70 in my last pre-req (orgo 2)

 

[El Nino]

I have the pleasure of attending a HBCU, however I'm still a minority on campus. As an African American male, I'm usually one of very few black males in my upper division science courses. My lower division science courses had a few of us, but most changed major before/after taking organic.

 

[WolverineDoc13]

I've had similar experiences when I was in undergrad. I was the only or one of 2-3 black or Latino kids in my science classes in an environment where affirmative action was hotly debated in the news. This meant my classmates appeared to "think twice" before getting into study groups with me or listening to my explanations of particular concepts. I hate to sound morbid, but this will continue in medical school and residency.

Classmates professors and attendings will challenge you, question you, and sometimes mistake you as the nurse instead of the medical student. 🙄 Im a fourth year in med school, and i once had to report an attending fortalking down to me and another black colleaguein front of my other classmates. Consider this undergrad experience a good preparation for the future. I'm not justifying this racist behavior, but it's important to build resiliency skills early.

 

[neurotroph]

^ Sad to hear, but totally expected. We'll never get to stop having to prove ourselves :/

I was one of the few URMs taking organic chemistry as a freshman (maybe like 5 of us out of 80), but my other science classes have had a good number. Haven't quite taken upper level classes yet, but there are a lot of URM bio majors/premeds at my school. Not many in other science majors.

 

[Lucca]

I live in Texas (about 20% hispanic population a my school, I think) so I'm never completely alone in my pre-med reqs. I am mostly alone in some of the other programs I'm involved in though, even one specifically for pre-meds. Still trying to find Venezuelans outside of Engineering haha XD

 

[eizeral]

I'm was probably the only Hispanic and probably 1 of 3 URM's in all of my science classes. I'm Mexican, but don't look it I guess because most people have no idea what ethnicity I am. #eyeroll.