Medical Schools: The Ultimate Gatekeepers
Major
Public Health
Anticipated Graduation Year
2022
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
The medical industry in The United States continues to lack in diversity. Although many minorities grow up aspiring to be doctors and medical professionals, by the time medical school applications come around, a large portion of them have dropped pre-medicine coursework and majors. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the medical school academic pipeline and identify the barriers that causes such high dropout rates. Studies suggest medical schools make the process for entering medical education greatly more difficult for the socio-economically disadvantaged students to keep up with their counterparts. From the format of the MCAT, a standardized admissions test, to the applications themselves, it is clear that becoming a medical professional is a process catered towards the wealthy. In America this predominantly means the non-Hispanic white populations. In order to improve care for all in today’s medical industry, it is important to increase the diverse representation or providers. Increasing representation allows healthcare professionals to develop better cultural awareness and provide improved care for their patients.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Justin Harbison - Public Health Sciences, Anthony McIntosh - Public Health Sciences
Streaming Media
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Medical Schools: The Ultimate Gatekeepers
The medical industry in The United States continues to lack in diversity. Although many minorities grow up aspiring to be doctors and medical professionals, by the time medical school applications come around, a large portion of them have dropped pre-medicine coursework and majors. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the medical school academic pipeline and identify the barriers that causes such high dropout rates. Studies suggest medical schools make the process for entering medical education greatly more difficult for the socio-economically disadvantaged students to keep up with their counterparts. From the format of the MCAT, a standardized admissions test, to the applications themselves, it is clear that becoming a medical professional is a process catered towards the wealthy. In America this predominantly means the non-Hispanic white populations. In order to improve care for all in today’s medical industry, it is important to increase the diverse representation or providers. Increasing representation allows healthcare professionals to develop better cultural awareness and provide improved care for their patients.