Affirmative action and the MCAT

[Jugador75]

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According to a very reliable source (a book that my friend has which is completely about minorities applying to med schools, and which did extensive surveys of all the U.S. med schools) if you are black and applying to med school, you will receive an average of 9 additional points on your MCAT! Of course, it differs by race, black being the "best" race and hispanic being one of the "worst", only getting 2 additional points on the MCAT.

Thoughts about this?

 

[raiders]

Hi All,
I've been monitoring this thread off and on for a while. One of the main reasons is i've been patiently waiting to see what exactly this "very reliable source" that jugador originally spoke of is. I've never heard of med schools actually adding 9 points on to the score of black people or anybody else. Especially, since the average score of black matriculants is only about 6 points lower than the average score of white matriculants and not 9 points (50% difference), going by the AAMC stats for 1999 (the most recent year i've seen the stats for) I believe. If I've missed the listing of this source then please tell me.
I'm wondering if this is just some kind of urban legend to get upset non-URM applicants, even more upset than they already are. If it is I guess it's worked, since it's been viewed more than 1,500 times as these AA threds always are. If not, and Jugador does have a legitimate source, then forgive this post.

 

[Carlene]

I'm waiting for this 'reliable source' too. Has anyone looked at this site www.mdapplicants.com. You can search by g.p.a and mcat scores and get a list of the applicant's rejections, interviews, and acceptances. Some people got in with a mcat score below 25.

 

[Jugador75]

I asked my friend for the name of the book and he's being a real dick about it just because he can. But it doesnt take a genious to figure it out. According to AAMC the average african amercian scores an 18! Which is 6 points below the national average. Since there ARE blacks in med school, it's pretty obvious that something is being done to compensate for the low scores. Whether they add 6 or 9 points is kind of trivial - the idea is still the same.

 

[Carlene]

Are you trying to say no blacks scored above a 30? Do you know what an average is? Some people are going to score below that average or above it. 18 is the average of blacks who took the test, but that's not the average of those accepted.

 

[Jugador75]

Very true - but neither is 24 the average for the whites who are accepted. Both races have to score above the average for "their race" in order to be accepted. The difference is that if you are black then getting a 23 or 24 is actually doing quite well (relatively) and you have a pretty decent shot at med school, whereas if you're white and you get a 24 we both know that you dont have a prayer.

To answer your question - of course there are blacks that get 30's and above. I have repeatedly said on this post that there are MANY MANY very intelligent blacks out there who fully deserve to get into med school, and who deserve it more than many whites who are not as smart. However, if you are black, and the average is an 18, and there ARE blacks accepted into med school, clearly you dont have to score in the 30's to get in. That's all I'm saying.