<p>does it really matter</p>
<p>This has been covered MANY times before on the forum. Use the “Advanced Forum Search” tool.</p>
<p>The conventional wisdom is that yes, it does matter.</p>
<p>Most schools want to have a reasonably diverse student body. So just by the definitions of URM and ORM, it’s going to matter. If you are URM, it’s going to work in your favor and if you are an ORM it’s going to work against you. Of course, you still have to be academically admissible. These distinctions would come into play if an AO has a choice between two similarly qualified applicants.</p>
<p>Here’s are some questions for you:</p>
<p>Are you a URM or an ORM and what do you want to know…is it harder or easier for you to get into School X?</p>
<p>@OP, please tell me u typed the thread’s title wearing mittens…</p>
<p>For those wondering what the URM and ORM mean…</p>
<p>URM = Under Represented Minority (which is generally understood to include Black*, Hispanic, and Native American applicants)</p>
<p>ORM = Over Represented Minority (which is generally understood to mean those of Asian or Indo-Pak heritage**)</p>
<p>*I choose to use “black” instead of African-American, because I feel the term A-A excludes people of color with Caribbean ancestry.</p>
<p>**That said, I think if you were a kid from say Burma/Myanmar, whose family sought refuge in the US, that would be a different story.</p>
<p>@SevenDad I am a urm. I was wondering how much that effects me during the application process</p>
<p>Being a URM is seen as a non-trivial advantage for an applicant over being an ORM or white. ORM’s and whites as a whole are likely capped in terms of the maximum percentage the school will accept while the URM’s are likely not, but only admissions officers of a school really know the actual magnitude of the advantage. Being an URM won’t get you miraculous acceptances, but it can and does get students in who would never have been accepted if they had been an ORM or white.</p>
<p>Also, if you are a URM and eligible for one of the programs like ABC or Prep for Prep, I’d advise getting involved with one…</p>