Disadvantage to be an Asian ?

Artur, I disagree with your statement that "a good proportion" of Asian applicants are all numbers and no substance. True, traditional (perhaps stereotypical?) Asian culture pushes for high grades, scores, etc. while placing a secondary focus on the more "intangible" qualties. However, I believe this notion is a bit outdated. While this may have been more true a while ago with first and second generation Asian families, it doesn't hold true today where Asian families that have been in the U.S. for longer periods of time have adopted more Western culture and ideals. I don't know why you gave the example of "Dave" and "Jim" if you wanted to show how most Asians are as you described since both "Dave" and "Jim" are Asian. Regardless of race, a person with no "life experience" will have difficulty getting into medical school.

When I was interviewing for medical school, the Asians I met (there were a few Asians at every interview) had just as much "life experience" as anyone else. If what you say is true, and most Asians have a hard time getting into medical school, can you explain to me why many medical schools have a ~15-20% Asian population in their student body whereas Asians only make up 4% of the general population? There's no way that a group of so-called "cookie cutter" premeds could have become an ORM (over-represented minority) if what you say has merit. As stated in my previous post, I believe this is why Asians find it harder to get into medical school - simply because there are so many of us applying and by nature, medical schools compare similar applicants with similar backgrounds. The fact that Asians are overrepresented in medical school, I feel, attests, in some degree, to the strength of a good number of Asian applicants.

When you say "I hope it gives some advice on what you need to (get into) medical school", I take it you are saying that one needs things other than grades and scores to be sucessful, something that holds true for all applicants, not just Asians. Your equating the necessity for "life experience" with your antiquated perceptions of Asians' lack thereof is, as you said, ignorant at best, racist at worst.

[This message has been edited by WingZero (edited 07-13-2000).]

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Disadvantage to be an Asian ?