Being an URM
Hey guys, pretty new to the forum here.
I was wondering how much y'all think being an URM would help with jobs in finance and with eventually getting in B school? I could claim being Hispanic, black, or even native American because I'm Puerto Rican and it's such a mish mash of ethnicities. Hell I could even claim being "first generation" American because both of my parents were born on the island but I was the first to be born on good ol mainland USA.
I'm currently at a non target SEC school, but our accounting program is always ranked in the top 10 nationally so the Big 4 firms do a ton of OCR. I'm going to major in accounting and have a 3.5 right now after finishing two years in school with two co-ops (so full time work instead of going to school), but neither were finance related. One was 6 months abroad in an Asia country (think Hong Kong / Singapore) as a logistics analyst for a Global 500 electrical / industrial company, and the other one I'm currently at is another 6 months as a manufacturing engineer intern with the same company, but in the US. I'm trying to get into consulting but at my school it seems like the easiest way would be Big 4 advisory --> tier 2 consulting. Do you guys think that being a "first generation" (lol) URM is enough to prop up the rest of my resume which isn't stellar, and make me a competitive applicant for Big 4 advisory or even better for their consulting arms (S&O, Startegy&, ect)?
Thanks for any info.
You apply the URM advantage to college admissions, which you apparently did not. The most you can do now is look into some firms' diversity programs and/or apply that advantage to MBA admissions (hint: I know plenty of black males at ivy-league grad programs with sub 700 scores, hell, I'm pretty sure one got in with a 620).
URM has a distinct entryway into B-school. The lower gmat scores have more to do with smaller candidate pools for exceptional candidates than anything else. I'm at Kellogg now, and although I didn't use one I know there are several different programs which "groom" you for admissions, like MLT. Send me a PM if you'd like more details.
Be careful on the bullshit you spew, though, as you will have to show that you are a distinct URM. The Native American bit won't fly, and you may be able to pass for African American as well, but you're considered Hispanic.
Under Represented Minorities (Originally Posted: 03/24/2011)
hi all long time reader, new contributor. popping my cherry ;D
what fraction do you need to be to be considered a URM? 1/2? 1/4? 1/8? im asking because i recently found out that i am partially hispanic (one of my parents is adopted and recently discovered their 'real' parents and my biological grandmother is of hispanic descent) and am thinking of using it to my benefit during the application process. thank you all!!
Benefit how? like an organization such as INROADS or SEO?
Pretty sure the one drop policy is universal.
I would mention it for business school.
its 1/16
Probably by participating in diversity recruiting or declaring it in the online application in the diversity section.
Honestly, it's not about percentage. It's about identification. If you've lived your whole life as a white kid, randomly deciding now that you're a URM on a whim won't get you far in life. Besides, it may come back to hurt you if they see all your official documentation contradicting what you put on applications. My SA paperwork included an SAT score report, that's one for sure. Driver's license or background check or anything else, might haunt you later.
Sorry to hear about that bro.... tough thing to find out.. How you handling it?
brilliant post!
Hmmm. One of my friends was born in Spain to british parents working in banking and is considered Latino because of his national origin. Perhaps when it is time for me to have kids, the family will have to visit South Africa.
lol @ illini
Typically, I am 'take-every-honest-opportunity-to-get-ahead guy', but your question and the implied facts surrounding your situation makes me suspicious, at best. From the question, we can naturally assume that you have not identified physically, culturally, or socially as "Non-white Hispanic/ Latino" (you only found out based on the information provided by a third-party). So, you must ask: In what way and for what reason am I claiming to be an underrepresented minority? I do not, and never have, subscribed to the notion that ethnic groups are associated with a particular 'experience', socioeconomic or otherwise (I do not deny certain groups correlate with some socioeconomic experiences, statistically speaking). However, the obvious external/physical aspect of ethnicity is seemingly the aspect of the concept of race that most of us base our categorization schema. From your question, it doesn't sound like that is your case.
You clearly want to gain the obvious (and sometimes hidden) benefit(s) that underrepresented minorities get in terms of preferential treatment implied by the the artificially-constructed phrase- "underrepresented". But to do so, you would have to subscribe to the notorious 'one-drop rule' and the precept of hypo-descent, a shamefully bigoted world view. If, however, you are comfortable perpetuating the notion of hypo-descent for your narrow goals, by all means, do so- but, be sure you understand the consequences. Truthfully, by petitioning this forum, it suggest to me that you are seeking to mollify some unspoken guilt/uneasiness about invoking a minority status that you truly do not identify with. I think a safe, uncontroversial metric for you to use is this: Apply under the identity you have lived your life to date. As such, that doesn't appear to be Hispanic.
Now, I see your username is "tacotroll", so automatically makes me even more skeptical.
Dammit rls! You took my thunder!! I was just going to point out his username.
^---you should write a philosophy book or something
Hey, didn't wanna make a new thread, so I figured I'd just ask my question here.
I'm hispanic, but when I tan I get really dark compared to other hispanics. Is it ok if I check off black (or native American)?
I can't believe MessedUp asked that as a serious question.
If you look remotely Hispanic you may be able to pass that off during bschool/fellowship interviews... if you're looking more gringo probably not.
Read my signature.
That's waisis. http://vestiwiki.yabd.org/wiki/images/Waisis.gif
Mind = disintegrated
I'm not sure if you'll pass the paper bag test. Check with HR.
Banks get SAT score reports sent to them (as in an online order)? Would someone please elaborate on that? thanks
My BB (uber-tier) said so in the email.
said what?
The test for latinos should include singing a salsa song, preferably loud and doing steps, that will sort the thing out 100%.
It gave directions for submitting SAT score reports.
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