This is a big question that everyone asks. Traditionally, the AAMC (the association that oversees medical school policy, premedical programs, AMCAS, and the MCAT) has considered the following groups underrepresented 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).
For more info check out the following link.
http://www.stanford.edu/~sollopez/minority2.html
