The Minority Excuse
Published: 2 years, 1 month ago (Jul 28, 2008) in RandomTags: applications, Politics · Print This Post · Leave a Comment
I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, but through the medical school application process, I’ve realized that having a minority status seems to be an unfair advantage. It’s as if “minority” is synonymous with “disadvantaged” these days. For someone of South Asian decent, I can hardly call myself a minority in the medical profession especially coming from a relatively privileged upbringing; however, I can imagine wealthy individuals of African American or Hispanic decent who are claiming a minority status to “boost” their chances of getting into graduate school programs.
No, I haven’t actually conducted any studies on how prevalent this is. It’s just frustrating to imagine: Two people with identical qualifications (admission exam scores, GPAs, extracurriculars, etc.), but one getting in just because he or she is Hispanic. Don’t get me wrong, I know many outstanding applicants of what society considers to constitute minority decent, but this doesn’t change the fact – some people simply get accepted just because graduate schools need the demographic diversity. I hate this. I don’t mean to sound like I’m racist (because I’m not), but if a South Asian person applied as an underrepresented minority (URM) to a medical school, they might be asking for a death wish. If an African American did not apply as a URM, they too would be questioned. All of this is nonsense, if you ask me. Some people are just too comfortable reassuring themselves that their “minority” status will single handedly get them places in life. As Martin Luther King Jr. once so eloquently stated, people should “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Though there are many hard working “minorities” who deserve their accomplishments, some still prefer to rely solely on their ethnicity (and all the associated hardships) to drive their lives. This simply isn’t fair for those people who really had struggles working against them (ie, the economically disadvantaged). My accolades and admiration go out to those individuals, for they have to overcome actual hardships to get them anywhere in life.
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Published: 1 year, 5 months ago
how the heck did I get an avatar?! lol
Published: 1 year, 5 months ago
For female applicants to med school, the odds are good, but the goods are usually odd…
Published: 1 year, 5 months ago
Interesting observation.
Published: 2 years, 1 month ago
I am sorry Rishi. =(
I will also take advantage of being a minority. There aren’t that many Hispanic doctors, so we are not to blame, it is your over-achieving brethren. I am also not wealthy and have had tough jobs, going to school full-time and working full-time during all my college years. I wonder how I even do well sometimes. Working, I sometimes eat but a meal a day and have even developed gastritis and ulcers for pushing myself so hard. I do understand where you are coming from, and yes, there are some wealthy kids out there who take advantage of the “minority status” quite undeserved. Please don’t hate me! I have worked really hard to get somewhere, and I am also the only one in my family to get a college education, plus I speak spanish 100%, so that will also help me get in. Don’t let this “minority” business deter you at all, man. You are a dedicated individual who will make it in life, farther than me, the minority.
Published: 2 years, 1 month ago
I believe minorities should have this advantage because they are not afforded the luxuries of quality public schools or supportive family environments due to poverty and relatively less opportunities in general. I just think the definition of minority should be altered to focus on economic background rather than blanketing entire ethnic groups. When these systems were devised it was easier to do it that way because the inverse correlation between income and certain ethnic groups was staggering, and pretty much still is. I agree that if an African American student from a middle class background raised in the suburbs received an advantage in admittance due to race, that’s unfair. The same can’t be said for a student who went to a terrible public school, raised in a single parent household without the kind of support that you and I received (regardless of race). Yet, at the same time, if you start going by economic status, you open up a lot of loopholes. Family income? Individual income? Family’s net worth? What if they were once wealthy but lost it all? The questions are endless with that scenario so there are problems with both methods.