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?
Affirmative action in doctors, surgeons, EMT personnel and airline pilots inevitably leads to deaths.
Once they are admitted in college, they have to be passed and given a diploma or the college will be called racist, so we have a whole crop of dangerous incompetents.
When David Ortiz was shot recently in the Dominican Republic, he was flown to a Boston hospital, instead of to the best hospital in Cuba. It just seemed like an excessively long additional transportation time in an emergency situation, given how superior Cuban medical care is, we are told.
If everybody has a “right” to quality medical care, can anybody from any state present to the Mayo Clinic and demand treatment? If the government takes over medical care, we’ll be losing the best qualified doctors to better paying, less stressful occupations. The best won’t be better compensated than another with the same length of service. The best won’t want to live in flyover country. Once FedGov controls medical care, they will have to control distribution of doctors.
I do. They had to admit him to UC Davis. My son tried to get into UCD too, but got turned down. He ended up going to Sac State instead. He ended up getting what he wanted anyway, including a commission in the USAF. 😁
“...can anybody from any state present to the Mayo Clinic and demand treatment?”
Not under most Obamacare policies, if they want to be covered for non-emergency work. Only in-state is allowed.
“Once FedGov controls medical care, they will have to control distribution of doctors.”
Good point, and not unlike how the feds, particularly under Obama, dumped ‘refugees’ into red states.
When you are comatose you may not be consulted.
You just better hope the doc does not think killing you is justified as reparations for slavery.
According to the left, advocating that hiring and admissions be based on “qualifications” and “meritocracy” are racist.
“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?”
A plausible alternate conclusion is economic diversity. I personally know several doctors whose fathers are/were doctors and whose children are doctors. They all went to expensive and highly regarded preparatory schools and colleges, vacationed and studied abroad, had private tutors, were born with a silver spoon, and raised to become doctors at an early age. Given a choice between two people with equal or near equal qualifications, one who was raised in a stable family has the best education and economic advantages that money can buy and the other who was raised in a housing project by a single parent or grandparent and is a victim of an inner-city, violent, drug infested, government run school, I see nothing wrong with giving a preference to the latter over the former.
FYI: The biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action are not ethnic minorities, but alumni legacies from well-connected families such as Bush, Kennedy, and Roosevelt.
This has been goi g on while. You can choose your routine doctor.. but you are stuck eith skin color over quality in the most critical care scenarios.
Affirmative discrimination indeed
Besides, being an excellent doctor, our primary care doctor is a Scot/Irish guy in his mid 40’s.
In spite of the reverse racism, he had to endure at premed, med school, and family practice residency for 3 years in Californicator land, he survived all that bs to become an excellent doctor.
I had this conversation with an EXCELLENT black doctor 22 years ago. He was part of a team that was treating my 19 oz son. I asked him his GPA. He seem surprised (I ask this question a lot and most people are reluctant to disclose). I told him that he seemed to be bright, affable, and knowledgeable. That I was reluctant to take a chance on him. “Because I’m black?” “Because you are not a white male who does not look like an athlete.” He laughed. Turned out to be a great doctor for my son, but I would never had chosen him as a physician. My doctor is an old fat Jewish guy who drinks a bit, eats to much of the wrong foods, and thinks I am fine.
This nonsense started in the 70's and I personally am aware of a dozen white guys and gals who were honors grads, who were not accepted since the 90's.
I read not long ago that schools are graduating far too many vets for the numbers needed. Animals/pets are a luxury and the cost of caring for them has risen astronomically. Who ever heard of pet insurance when we were growing up?
Asians are all for affirmative action, UNLESS it affects their chances of going to school. Yes, that’s how corrupt they are.
Foreign Medical Universities are more and more the way to go.
In some states blacks only have to get 65% of the test right and whites have to get 85% right,wonder if it applies on these tests?.
When I was a kid brilliant, Jewish & WASP doctors were the mainstay of American medicine. It was good. Now, I’d take my chances with AI before trusting an Inferior with matters of health.
” My doctor is an old fat Jewish guy who drinks a bit, eats to much of the wrong foods, and thinks I am fine.”
Same here, a while ago. First thing that I did was look for Jewish names when I was shopping for doctors a while ago. While I don’t know if people with other names got either ‘help’ or went to a substandard school (or both), I do know it’s very unlikely that a given Jew got either.
And funny, the guy who got me thinking that way was Archie Bunker, when he was looking for a lawyer (”I new a Jew!”, “I need a Jew!”, yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck, funny). I doubt the writers had any clue as to how important and useful that bit of advice was and how it pretty much applies to any professional.
That’s already happening, de facto.
If you need the neurosurgeon on call and the roster is 50% black, those are your odds. Are they excellent at their jobs, or AA beneficiaries - who knows?
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