Does being hispanic help significantly for an MS?

[jaejin]

Does being a hispanic US citizen help to get accepted to a masters program?  if so what do you think the level of siginificance is?

 

[THS]

Depends on the part of the country you are in.  Most universities are going to have initiatives that support bringing in more women and US ethnic minorities, but if you are in the Southwest its unlikely to matter as much as if you are applying to the Northeast or Midwest. 

Edited January 18, 2017 by montanem

[jaejin]

@montanem well, I'm from the southeast applying to the northeast... MIT, Columbia, and Michigan. Also , Stanford, but that's complete that's the opposite location.

[THS]

Well, from what I understand, your minority status wont hurt.  I am also hispanic so I know that my hispanic status won't matter much on my Arizona application because Arizona has a large hispanic population (we settled it first).  But my Michigan application might be looked upon slightly different because there are fewer hispanic Americans in Michigan (4% or something like that).  There are also a number of studies taking place on campuses that are looking at barriers to tenure in STEM for women and minorities which means that extra attention is being paid to making sure that minority students have access to these fields and to jobs afterwards.  I was a research assistant on one at the university I did my MA at.  At any rate I think the overall answer is that you should still make sure you have strong GREs, a strong GPA, a great set of letters of rec, and a solid statement of purpose...you won't get into grad school just for being tan, but it might slightly tip the odds in your favor if a program currently has a largely white graduate student body.