Sorry I’m not replying really, but just chiming in on a discussion that has occupied much of my thought.
I am getting my undergrad in Spanish. It is incredibly useful in the ER where I currently work. Being able to speak Spanish is way cool regardless. It is hilarious to watch people’s faces when a 6’4" guerro starts casually conversing with the latino waiter, patient, coworker etc.
I think that schools want to see that if given the chance to be doc’s we will not be the robotic digital doc’s who cannot relate to their patients. Particularly patients from different ethnic backgrounds. Honestly though I don’t think that will be too much of a problem for most OPMs since we’ve had to be out in the world while getting old, and not gone straight from high school to undergrad to med school. Hopefully somewhere in all that experience we’ve all learned how to interact with people we may not even understand.