Does race make a difference in admissions?

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Ahmed786

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I know that (or at least I think) race is not supposed to play a factor in whether or not someone is admitted into medical school. I was born and raised in the US and my parents are of South Asian descent for the record. I am not sure whether this is just because of the area in which I live (around detroit), but it seems that many people in my area who are Pakistani/Indian seem to want to become doctors when they grow up and I wonder if it will be a disadvantage in admissions.
Over the past summer, I volunteered at a hospital in Detroit where 80% of the patients and staff consisted of African Americans. Sad but true, I did not see a single African American doctor in my entire time spent at this hospital and I wonder if this might have an affect on whether or not medical schools (at least in my area) might admit an African American over an Indian and if this same type of situation might hold true in other parts of the country. (assuming the statistics are pretty equal).
Although affirmative action was stopped (I think this year) for undergraduate admission to University of Michigan Ann Arbor I wonder if something to its effect still lingers in my area or perhaps in other areas of the US for medical school.
I hate to bring on the issue of race as I believe it does not play any role in the intelligence of an individual but my question remains: Does race play a subtle factor in whether or not someone is admitted into medical school?.

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Race definitely matters in admissions, but it won't for you.

If you really need more info, do a search. This has been beaten to death. Search for "affirmative action" and you will have hours of fun reading...
 
It's not a subtle factor. There is still affirmative action in medical school admissions policies, as well as more subtle factors to maintain gender balances, as well as class diversity in terms of skill sets and interests (which a cynic might suggest could easily allow for further racial consideration behind closed doors). Affirmative action has nothing to do with intelligence, it has to do with maintaining a population of doctors that somewhat resembles the population of patients to make sure that the general population of doctors has a better understanding of the populations they treat. The debate over why affirmative action is necessary to maintain this balance isn't worth going into as it would inevitably devolve into name-calling and bigotry.
 
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I hate to bring on the issue of race as I believe it does not play any role in the intelligence of an individual but my question remains: Does race play a subtle factor in whether or not someone is admitted into medical school?.


haha subtle factor :laugh: ... yeah, it's nowhere near subtle. They call it underrepresented minorities (URM).
 
Being an underrepresented minority confers a significant advantage. Affirmative action is alive and well in practically all of the med schools (except the UC's and Michigan).
 
Yes, being a URM offers an advantage. This topic has been discussed at length, I would suggest searching the topic if you want more info, as this topic tends to turn into a flame war quickly.
 
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