The URM Advantage

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

SDN has been without a URM thread for at least a week, so I'll stir the pot with this interesting post from the Incidental Economist.

Seriously though, there's some really good stuff connected via the hyperlinks.

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/affirmative-action/

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[pandahunter]

SDN has been without a URM thread for at least a week, so I'll stir the pot with this interesting post from the Incidental Economist.

Seriously though, there's some really good stuff connected via the hyperlinks.

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/affirmative-action/

I remain unconvinced that affirmative action is still a good idea.

 

[plumazul]

SDN has been without a URM thread for at least a week, so I'll stir the pot with this interesting post from the Incidental Economist.

Seriously though, there's some really good stuff connected via the hyperlinks.

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/affirmative-action/

Thanks for the link.

I remain unconvinced that affirmative action is still a good idea.

The problem, of course, is that there has always been some kind of institutionalized "affirmative action" throughout human history. I would like to live in a utopia, but I'm a realist.

 

[TwinsFan]

LOL.



Great video. Reminds me of these charts and how people look at the percentages, but ignore the magnitude of the numbers.

12,000 White students where admitted to med school with sub 30 scores.
https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/2012factstable25-4.pdf
2,800 Asian students where admitted to med school with sub 30 scores.
https://www.aamc.org/download/321516/data/2012factstable25-3.pdf
2,400 Black students where admitted to med school with sub 30 scores.
https://www.aamc.org/download/321514/data/2012factstable25-2.pdf

If you're outraged about students with low scores becoming doctors, why are these students never addressed?

I don't really have much of an opinion on this other than what numbers are being chosen as relevant. To get a better picture of potential bias look at a "high risk" category. Scoring a 27-29 on the MCAT is not high risk to fail the USMLE, this still demonstrates capacity to do pretty well on the boards (per the study on MCAT vs. board pass rate) but the competitiveness of getting a spot has driven average acceptance scores up.

However, USMLE pass rate starts to drop off more significantly below 27, and it steepens as you score several points lower. Take a look at the data by race of people who scored 23 or less on the MCAT to see "high risk" people who were still accepted, by numbers and percentages:

RACE - MATRICULANTS/APPLICANTS = %MATRICULATED
Asian - 114 / 3839 = 3.0
Black - 881 / 6106 = 14.4
White - 940 / 10863 = 8.7

Discuss...

 

[eHombre]

RACE - MATRICULANTS/APPLICANTS = %MATRICULATED
Asian - 114 / 3839 = 3.0
Black - 881 / 6106 = 14.4
White - 940 / 10863 = 8.7

Discuss...

HBCUs account for much of this discrepancy. Their social mission leads them to focus more on other qualities in an applicant. Since the people in this thread won't even be applying to one of these schools, I fail to see we should get worked up over this.

 

[metview]

URMs have a huge advantage. Just look at Columbia's demographics. 25 African Americans and 3 Asian Indians, 25 total Asians, where there are much more Asian applicants. I don't think it's fair nor right. There are more URMs with low stats who get in over Asians.

 

[Conejito]

This thread is too complicated. I like taking the difficult and making it simple.

It's like chewing hard meat. You got to tenderize it.

Just let everyone who wants to go to med school in. END OF PROBLEM.

 

[Lost In Transcription]

my feeling when seeing this was bumped

Let's pretend medical school was a meritocracy, and students are admitted based on some function similar to say....deltaG or deltaH. The biggest difference in their merit growth.

If someone has all the resources available to them and can easily shadow, take mcat prep etc, then it isnt meritly (lol words?) as impressive as someone who did slightly worse but made a huge improvement.

URMs are just more likely to have a bigger delta function, and diversity is desired in medicine because patients want doctors like them...and, my god, yes, premeds- the patients opinions matter.

Of course there is bad things about forced AA. But we forgo that because there are a LOT of problens with the regular system anyway (nepotism *cough*). So...nothing is perfect.

Just because someone got 1 pt lower on their MCAT doesn't make them inferior as a candidate to you. Premeds forget that...clear to see in the "Here my mcat and gpa, now make my school list" threads.

Anyway WHY BUMP THIS THREAD WHY

 

[Lost In Transcription]

So many grammar errors and things not explained well...sigh. too early to be on sdn

 

[Conejito]

Anyway WHY BUMP THIS THREAD WHY

WHY ask WHY?

Yeah, lots of errors. Hey future doctor, get used to earlier hours to be up.

 

[Lawpy]

This thread is too complicated. I like taking the difficult and making it simple.

It's like chewing hard meat. You got to tenderize it.

Just let everyone who wants to go to med school in. END OF PROBLEM.

my feeling when seeing this was bumped

Let's pretend medical school was a meritocracy, and students are admitted based on some function similar to say....deltaG or deltaH. The biggest difference in their merit growth.

If someone has all the resources available to them and can easily shadow, take mcat prep etc, then it isnt meritly (lol words?) as impressive as someone who did slightly worse but made a huge improvement.

URMs are just more likely to have a bigger delta function, and diversity is desired in medicine because patients want doctors like them...and, my god, yes, premeds- the patients opinions matter.

Of course there is bad things about forced AA. But we forgo that because there are a LOT of problens with the regular system anyway (nepotism *cough*). So...nothing is perfect.

Just because someone got 1 pt lower on their MCAT doesn't make them inferior as a candidate to you. Premeds forget that...clear to see in the "Here my mcat and gpa, now make my school list" threads.

Anyway WHY BUMP THIS THREAD WHY

So many grammar errors and things not explained well...sigh. too early to be on sdn

WHY ask WHY?

Yeah, lots of errors. Hey future doctor, get used to earlier hours to be up.

 

[AlphaBeta<3]

I love the OP

 

[emarem]

OP is monumental. Thank you.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Please do not bump old threads without significant reason. Thank you.