FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
1) Why arent Asians considered for AA?
Because the purpose of AA is to increase the number of physicians that are underrepresented in MEDICINE. As you can see above, Asians are not underrepresented in medicine.
2) Why would the AAMC desire to increase the amount of physicians underrepresented in medicine?
1) minority physicians are more willing to practice in underserved population areas 2) with an ever increasing minority population, more minority physicians are needed to serve them 3) patient satisfaction is integral to health care, and minority patients are more satisfied with minority doctors 4) more minority physicians yields more health care data from minority populations that helps in researching specific diseases plaguing these communities. 5) diverse medical school class creates culturally competent doctors 6)
3) Why not just base AA on socio-economic status?
Do you remember the section on AMCAS where you can check off whether you are disadvantaged or not? That is where socioeconomic status is taken into consideration.
4) Do all URMs get lower scores and get into medical school?
No. Most dont get into medical school and most arent applying either. The average medical school has at the most 8 black students out of a class of 100 or more. About half of the ~35,000 applicants per year are not admitted to any school. About 10% of those who are admitted are URM and 10% of those who are not admitted are URM. So, currently ~15,750 non-URM do not get admitted to any school. If there were no URM, the number of non-URM who would not be admitted to any school would be ~14,000 (
LizzyM)
5) Isnt AA causing me to think that all minorities that are in my medical school got in only because of their race?
Dont blame affirmative action. If you feel this way, there were already preconceived biases within you about the intelligence level of minorities. AA just provides an avenue to openly express these biases.
6) Can I trust a doctor who was admitted to medical school through AA?
Dr. Ben Carson would never be where he is without affirmative action (
http://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/0472112988-ch7.pdf). Would you trust your childs brain tumor to be extracted by him? Probably.
7) Has affirmative action worked?
Yes. In a study done by the University of Michigan (although its dated); affirmative action has worked. In the 1970s blacks made up only 2.7% of the 37,690 enrolled medical students. By 1977, blacks comprised 6.0% of the enrolled 60,039 medical students (
http://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/0472112988-ch7.pdf)
8) Will black physicians return to black communities?
Yes. They serve predominantly black communities even when they are trained at non-minority medical schools. Also, research has shown that the nonminority peers of black medical students practice in predominantly white communities. (
http://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/0472112988-ch7.pdf)
9) Would a race neutral medical school admissions policy produce graduates who would tend to go into underserved areas?
NO. One study shows that a race-neutral AA program produces a quite different outcome. During the 20-yyear period of 1968 to 1987 the University of California at Davis admitted 20% of its students, a total of 356 as special consideration admissions. Special admissions were defined as a race-neutral group that included students with less than a GPA of 3.0 (4.0 scale) and/or an MCAT average score less than 10 for the 4 test subscores; this group was matched with students admitted under regular admission criteria.
The special group contained 33% who did not meet the minimum GPA for regular admissions, 44% who did not meet minimum MCAT scores, and 23% who met neither. In background the special admissions students were 35% women; 46% non-Hispanic Whites; 42.7% URM in the categories of Black, Native American, Mexican American, mainland Puerto Rican; and 11% Asian and minority groups not included in the previous categories. Among the regularly admitted students, only 4% were URM students. Graduation rates were the SAME for special admission and other students, nor was there a difference in their postgraduate training choices, their specialty certification status, or their description of patients served. This indicates that race-neutral affirmative action based on lower GPA and/or MCAT scores does not predict future speciality or medical practice experience. (Davidson and Lewis 1997).
10) Is there a URM box that you check off?
No. The same box that you check off that you are Caucasian, Indian, or Asian is the same box that one checks off to designate if they are Black or Hispanic.
