<p>Browsing through this board, I see time and time again comments insinuating the presence of discrimination against Asian applicants. I have even seen members of this forum suggesting that it is a bad idea for applicants to indicate their race on the optional parts of application forms. What I want to know is, how much of reality is this? Will my chances of getting admitted somewhere be severely hindered because of my ethnicity? Is it no longer possible for a person of Asian descent to be genuinely interested in medicine (rather, more easily be labeled as someone whos parents are making them apply)? I have always seen my race as something I cherish and have great pride in. Will something so dear to my heart, prevent me from pursuing my dreams?</p>
<p>Obviously it won’t prevent you from doing so; many applicants do.</p>
<p>I do think it’s wise to avoid checking the boxes. Obviously you’re not going to fool anybody if your last name is Chang or Lee or something, but you do permit the school in question to put you in the “decline to state” category when they compile their statistics eventually.</p>
<p>They’re not fooled, of course. But by permitting them the flexibility to claim you as (essentially) a non-respondent, at least it doesn’t work against you.</p>
<p>They’re not biased against Asians – or at least, that’s a very, very small component of it. They just want to make sure they have enough underrepresented minorities in their classes, and they need to make room by denying otherwise-qualified overrepresenteds in order to do so.</p>