Sigh. Reckoner's analysis a few pages back already corrected for your "martian, earthling" by citing that 1/3 of asian applicants come from California schools.
Pulling from AAMC data already posted on this thread:
Total Number of Asian Applicants in 2012: 9,544
Total Number of Asian Matriculants in 2012: 4,121
Asian Acceptance Rate: 43.1%
Total Number of White Applicants in 2012: 26,649
Total Number of White Matriculants in 2012: 12,134
White Acceptance Rate: 45.5%
Number of Asian Applicants from the state of California: 2,168
As a percentage of Asian applicant population: 22.7%
Number of White Applicants from the state of California: 1,895
As a percentage of White applicant population: 7.1%
Number of Asian Matriculants from the state of California: 891
As a percentage of Asian applicant from California population, acceptance rate: 41.1%
Number of White Matriculants from the state of California: 817
As a percentage of White applicants from California population, acceptance rate: 43.1%
Conclusion I: Applicants from the state of California face a
uniform 2% drop in admission rates due to the nature of medical admission in the state.
Hypothesis: A
dramatically larger percentage of the asian population applies from the state of California when compared to White applicants (with White applicant numbers used as a "neutral" number since they are neither URM or ORM - discounting SES advantages, etc.) and thus the "California skew" has a greater effect on the Asian population than the White population.
Fact: Asian matriculants comprise 21.1% of the total matriculant pool
in spite of representing only 5.1% of the US population (US Census Bureau, 2013)
Fact: The average matriculating and applying statistics (MCAT /GPA /
LizzyM Score) for Asians and Whites are nearly identical.
Conclusion II:
The idea that there is a higher bar set for Asian applicants is a myth, a puff of smoke created by statistics and the given knowledge that Asians are over represented by a factor of 4 in the medical school population. Furthermore, the AAMC paper describing EO ratings highlights that only 30% of Asians are EO-1 or EO-2, the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups; consequently, less Asians will be considered for 'admission boosts' due to SES than members of other ethnic groups. The AAMC paper I linked last night, the position of Adcoms on this thread and this forum at large, and the available position of the AAMC endorses the fact that SES is indeed used as a factor in admissions when considering an applicant's disadvantage.
In case none of that sunk in, your Martian vs. Earthling comparison is void because the discrepancy is not 1 in 10 versus 9 in 10. It's 4.31 in 10 versus 4.5 in 10. The average Asian applicant, barring residence in California, should be able to gain admission into medical school with the same LizzyM (Mcat +GPA multiplier) score as a white applicant - ALL OF THIS IN SPITE OF BEING OVER REPRESENTED BY A FACTOR OF 4. In fact, considering the gross over representation of Asians in medical school, we can conclude that they remain over-represented thanks to the high-achieving history of their applicant pool - suggesting a highly meritocratic element to admissions that trumps the underlying mission to better represent the US population. No one is "fighting for scraps" or anything as dramatic as you said. There are no quotas ( I already explained the difference between quotas and admission policies in my first post on this thread and I don't expect to have to repeat myself).
If you find the idea of internal competition in an economically competitive system hard to stomach then I would leave the US right now because there's this thing called capitalism you see and it basically permeates every single part of American culture. However, if you want to continue to zealously enforce this "scrap" imagery, consider the mass of White and URM applicants sitting by the way-side watching 5% of the population gobble up 21% of available medical school seats. I don't mean for that last argument to be serious, mind you, because it isn't. Because the image you made wasn't serious to begin with. Because this whole debate is bollocks, and all solvents have been provided for all of your arguments.
