Is it really this hard?

kristin5792
Thu, 03 May 2012 14:50:32 +0000

My school definitely pays attention to diversity. I’ve spoken with our diversity coordinator before (we were seated next to each other at a banquet) and he mentioned that the whole purpose of his position was to ensure that students with diverse backgrounds were aware of the possibilities at medical school, much like mom2 mentioned. I hosted a few applicants this season–2 of them African American males–who mentioned, without prompting, that they had been recruited by various schools who either called them, visited their campus, or otherwise asked them to apply there. One is from Nigeria and a D1 athlete–so perhaps that played a role. They did not specify which schools. They each held multiple acceptances when I hosted them (one in December, the other in January) so I imagine their statistics were competitive.

For what it’s worth, there are 6 SE Asian kids, 3 Indian kids, 5 African Americans, and 2 American Indians in my class. The others (myself included) are Caucasian. In terms of race and ethnicity, my class is among the most diverse my school has seen. And across all races and ethnicities in my class (Caucasian included), there are a few people who I wonder how on earth they got here!

Regardless of what’s fair or not, I do remember how frustrating it was as an applicant to see that there were such differences in acceptance rates. But hey, it worked out in the end.