Med School sees 14% drop in minority applications

Underrepresented minority applications to the University's Medical School dropped 14 percent this year, in line with national trends showing fewer black, Latino and Native-American applicants to the nation's 125 accredited medical institutions. The national decrease was particularly pronounced in public universities affected by recent rollbacks to affirmative action. The number of minority students applying to medical schools in states like California and Texas that recently eliminated affirmative action in admissions decisions dropped 17 percent between 1996 and 1997. By contrast, the number of minorities applying to medical schools in states that did not repeal affirmative action policies fell just 7 percent. Additionally, the number of minorities accepted at medical schools that eliminated affirmative action policies plunged 27 percent last year, while the minority acceptance rate dropped just 4 percent in other states. The information comes from a recent study by the Association of American Medical Colleges, which argues that the affirmative action repeal has discouraged underrepresented minorities from applying to medical schools across the country, including institutions unaffected by the change. AAMC President Jordan Cohen said the national decline in minority applications is clearly linked to California's Proposition 209, which eliminated affirmative action in state institutions, and the Hopwood v. State of Texas federal court decision, which eliminated affirmative action in schools in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. "It is clear that the climate engendered by the Hopwood decision and Proposition 209 is discouraging minorities from applying to medical school," he said. Cohen said he finds it "particularly alarming" that minorities are even avoiding applying to medical schools in states that have not rolled back affirmative action. "This is an ominous sign for the medical community and our nation, which badly needs a physician workforce that is both diverse and reflective of our society as a whole," he added. At Penn, minority applications to the Medical School peaked at 811 in 1995 but fell to 776 in 1996 and 660 last year, according to Medical School Admissions Director Gaye Sheffler. The number of minority matriculants also fell from a recent high of 32 in 1994 to 22 in 1997. And although minorities continue to make up a small fraction of the 8,000 applicants to the University's Medical School each year, Sheffler insisted that the minority applicant pool remains "large and strong." Despite the decrease in black, Latino and Native-American applicants to the Penn Medical School, 40 percent of its students continue to come from minority backgrounds. But Sheffler said Asians, who comprise the Medical School's largest minority contingent, are not counted in the AAMC report because they are not considered to be underrepresented. She added that the Medical School remains "committed to increasing minority applications and representation" through programs such as a minority affairs office, which works to attract minority high school and college students to Penn's Medical School. Experts remain divided over whether the national decrease in minority applications is directly related to the affirmative action repeals in California and Texas. Jennifer Nelson, executive director of the American Civil Rights Institute, a group that studies affirmative action issues, argued that it's "a leap of logic to assume that changes in California and Texas account for this national trend." She noted that the national medical school applicant pool also decreased last year for the first time since 1988, with the number of students competing for approximately 16,000 slots dropping 8.4 percent to just over 43,000 applicants.

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