Posted on 06/30/2019 2:23:15 AM PDT by grundle
Full title: Acceptance rates at US medical schools in 2015-2016 reveal ongoing racial preferences for blacks and Hispanics
The table above (click to enlarge) of US medical school acceptance rates by race is a revised and updated version of one I’ve posted several times before, here’s a link to the most recent CD post on this topic from January 2015. The series of CD posts on medical school acceptance rates by race for various MCAT scores and GPAs has generated a lot of interest and comments in the past, so I’m posting on the topic again with new data for the 2015-2016 academic year that just recently became available from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Specifically, the table above displays: a) acceptance rates to US medical schools for Asians, whites, Hispanics and blacks with various combinations of MCAT scores and GPAs for the academic years 2013-2014 through 2015-2016 (aggregated for the three years), and b) average MCAT scores and average GPAs by race/ethnic group for matriculants to US medical schools in the fall of 2015.
For the 2015-2016 academic year, the average GPA of all students applying to medical schools was 3.55 and the average MCAT score was 28.3 (see AAMC data, Table A-16). The highlighted dark blue column in the middle of the table above displays the acceptance rates to US medical schools for applicants from four racial/ethnic groups for applicants with: a) GPAs that fall in the 3.40 to 3.59 range that includes the average GPA of 3.55 and b) MCAT scores in the range between 27 to 29 that includes the average MCAT score of 28.3. Acceptance rates for students with slightly higher and slightly lower than average GPAs and test scores are displayed in the other columns. In other words, the table above displays acceptance rates by race/ethnicity for students applying to US medical schools with average academic credentials, and just slightly above and slightly below average academic credentials.
Here are some observations based on the new AAMC data:
For those applicants to US medical schools last year with average GPAs (3.40 to 3.59) and average MCAT scores (27 to 29), black applicants were almost 4 times more likely to be admitted to medical school than Asians in that applicant pool (81.2% vs. 20.6%), and 2.8 times more likely than white applicants (81.2% vs. 29.0%). Likewise, Hispanic applicants to medical school with average GPAs and MCAT scores were more than twice as likely as whites in that applicant pool to be admitted to medical school (59.5% vs. 29.0%), and nearly three times more likely than Asians (59.5% vs. 20.6%). Overall, black (81.2%) and Hispanic (59.5%) applicants with average GPAs and average MCAT scores were accepted to US medical schools for the 2015-2016 academic year at rates (81.2% and 59.5% respectively) much higher than the 30.6% average acceptance rate for all students in that applicant pool (see bottom of highlighted dark blue column). For students applying to medical school with slightly below average GPAs of 3.20 to 3.39 and slightly below average MCAT scores of 24 to 26 (first data column in the table, shaded light blue), black applicants were more than 9 times more likely to be admitted to medical school than Asians (56.4% vs. 5.9%), and more than 7 times more likely than whites (56.4% vs. 8.0%). Compared to the average acceptance rate of 16.7% for all applicants with that combination of GPA and MCAT score, black and Hispanic applicants were much more likely to be accepted at rates of 56.4% and 30.5%, and white and Asian applicants were much less likely to be accepted to US medical schools at rates of only 5.9% and 8.0% respectively. We find the same pattern of acceptance rates by ethnic/racial groups for applicants with slightly above average academic credentials. For example, for applicants with MCAT scores of 30 to 32 (slightly above average) and GPAs between 3.40 to 3.59 (average) in the eighth data column (shaded light blue), the acceptance rates for blacks (86.9%) and Hispanics (75.9%) were much higher than the acceptance rate for whites (48.0%) and Asians (40.3%) with those same academic credentials. For all matriculants to US medical schools in the fall of 2015, the average MCAT score for Asians (32.8) and whites (31.8) were above the average MCAT score of 31.4 for all matriculants, while the average MCAT score for Hispanics (28.0) and blacks (27.3) had average MCAT scores below the overall average (see second to last column in table). Likewise, the average GPAs for Asian (3.73) and white (3.73) matriculants were above the overall 3.70 GPA average, while the average GPAs for Hispanic (3.59) and black (3.48) matriculants were below the overall average (see last column in table).
Bottom Line: Like in my previous posts on this topic, I’m concluding again that 2015-2016 medical school acceptance rates suggest that medical schools must have “affirmative discrimination” and “racial profiling” admission policies that favor black and Hispanic applicants over equally qualified Asian and white students. Even if factors other than GPA and MCAT scores (which are probably the two most important ones) are considered for admission to medical school, wouldn’t it still be very hard to conclude that admissions policies to medical schools are completely “race-neutral” and completely free of any “racial profiling” practices that favor blacks and Hispanics over Asians and whites?
Here’s why the issue is important: In some states like California, Washington, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, and Michigan, racial preferences in college admissions to public universities are currently prohibited by state law. For example, Proposal 2 in Michigan, which was passed into Michigan Constitutional law by a 58% margin of voters in 2006, states:
The University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and any other public college or university, community college, or school district shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.
The AAMC doesn’t provide acceptance data by individual medical school, so we can’t conclude that any of the four medical schools at public universities in Michigan (University of Michigan, Michigan State, Wayne State and Oakland University) are practicing illegal “affirmative discrimination” or “racial profiling” in admissions, but it’s clear that Michigan state law, and the laws in several other states, expressly prohibit that practice. Based on national data, is there any conclusion other than the obvious one – that US medical schools are granting special preferences for admissions on the basis of race for certain preferred minority groups (blacks and Hispanics) over other non-preferred minority groups (Asians) and whites? When a black applicant with average academic credentials is four times more likely to be admitted to a US medical school than an equally qualified Asian applicant, what other conclusion is there?
Q: When/why/how did it become so acceptable to blatantly, legally (in most cases) and routinely discriminate against academically qualified Asian-Americans and whites for admission to selective colleges and medical schools by blatantly and routinely discriminating in favor of less academically qualified blacks and Hispanics? Will there ever come a time when it becomes illegal to engage in such blatant racial/ethnic discrimination, and base admission to selective colleges and medical schools on a color-blind, race-neutral policy?
Excellent minority doctors are stained by the existence of affirmative action doctors. White, male doctors are admitted on the basis of merit only and should be strongly preferred absent other data.
When/why/how did it become so acceptable to blatantly, legally (in most cases) and routinely discriminate ...”
That would be 1970. Yep almost 50 years ago. It was done first in the the case of women who, having been given a shot at entrance to all male schools were not getting in at the levels the femininsts thought proper. The entrance standards were at that point lowered.
White, male doctors? Look at those Asian numbers!
Yep. I am afraid of getting a black doctor for far they may be a quota doctor.
And overall medical care will decline.
JoMa
I wouldn't even consider choosing a black doctor because I would have doubts about their qualifications. Did they get into medical school because of brains and talent, or because of the color of their skin? I don't want to be the guinea pig who finds out the hard way.
Effectively this shifts the burden of screening for qualifications from the medical school to the consumer. A smart person playing the odds is compelled to disqualify the black doctor, fairly or unfairly as that may be.
This will result in discrimination against selecting black doctors by anyone else.
LOL! Soon the medical care in Cuba WILL be better than in the USA!
The Veterans Administration will always hire them!
I would have no problem demanding a white or Asian male doctor for me or a family member. If enough people did this, maybe the qualified black and Hispanic doctors would see the folly of AA admissions.
When my alma mater medical school comes to me asking for money, guess what my reaction is!
Remember the Baake case?
It’s not just medical schools. Veterinary Colleges have been doing the same thing for years, often taking almost exclusively female applicants. This is the main reason why the veterinary profession is nearly at the point, where it’s *exclusively* female these days.
The Ontario Veterinary College for example, has an entry class of 100 every year, and for over 25 years has *NEVER* allowed more than 4-5 males in per cohort.
There were quotas written into the ACA’s original drafts. I’m not sure if they made it into the final draft.
Wow. Tell me again why Asians are considered a primarily Democrat constituency.
“Excellent minority doctors are stained by the existence of affirmative action doctors.”
Tell me about it. I was recommended to a black doctor for a major operation from a guy who’s so right-wing, he’d probably get kicked out of this platform...so that had me wondering right away, as I had vowed to never use a black/Hispanic doctor - not that I thought they were all bad, but because they were held to differing standards, and there was no easy way to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Then it was my turn to get the knife. Met the guy, real easy going, relaxed, jovial type, really enjoyed his profession...until he started working on me, then he got serious. Absolutely PERFECT result!
Hopefully he sticks around for a while as I’m sure he can retire at any time...and perhaps that’s why he wasn’t one of the current-day ding-a-lings, because, back then, he was held to a much higher standard than today.
My brother was in medical school starting in 1963. He dated and later married the secretary to the dean of the school. The statistics then were skewed to favor whites over Jews. He said after looking at the numbers if they went strictly by the numbers, the entire entering class would have been Jewish. Of course now they’re counted as white and probably still skew the numbers up for that group. Discrimination is an old practice.
A few things from the article:
1) Why did anyone ever do this study?
2) Why did they release the results, once they knew just how skewed things are?
3) Perhaps surveys like this are the REAL REASON that the Democrats so desperately wants government to take over health care. In other words, as people understand our two-tier system in medicine, it will become harder and harder for black doctors to find patients...so easy solution - force people to use them.
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