Am I considered a minority?

This is a big question that everyone asks. Traditionally, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC),the association that oversees medical school policy, premedical programs, AMCAS, and the MCAT, has considered the following groups to be minorities in medicine.

African Americans, Mexican Americans, Mainland Puerto Ricans, and Native Americans (American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians).

As of 2004 the AAMC has expanded its definition. The term used now is Underrepresented in Medicine. Here is the definition.

"Underrepresented in medicine means those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population."

This change broadens the definition to recognize the changing demographics of our nation. It gives more power to individual schools to implement programs to better serve its communities. So in basic terms, some schools might consider different students underrepresented depending on the community they serve.

This definition also differs from another related but different designation, disadvantaged. The AAMC and most schools also consider other factors such as being educationally disadvantaged (e.g. first in family to graduate college) and financially disadvantaged (e.g. being raised in poverty).

So what does this mean for students that are considered underrepresented in medicine?

There are resources such as summer and year-long programs and scholarships that specifically target this population of students. Also, medical school admission policies take this, as well as other factors, into consideration.

Why all the fuss? Why don’t other students also get these benefits?

The bottom line is that increasing the numbers of students that are underrepresented in medicine creates a culturally competent workforce. This strategy is being used and has been shown to improve health care access for all as well as racial and ethnic health status disparities. This is just one of the ways that medicine is evolving to create a system that better serves who we ultimately will care for, our patients.

Click for more information on the AAMC’s Underrepresented in Medicine definition.