Finishing the Bridge to Diversity - Member Profile - AAMC

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Finishing the Bridge to Diversity education partnerships have been created to identify promising students early in the educational pipeline, to enrich the science and related offerings available to students from poorly This is the novel element of the Project’s strategy: To create honest-toequipped schools, God partnerships with selected feeder schools that will complement and to establish mentoring relation- reinforce the many useful approaches undertaken for years by many ships to keep the in the academic medicine community. flames of inquiry and aspiration burning intensely, and to provide adequate counseling to ensure that all the milestones on the long road to medical school are understood and met. What happened after the launch of Project 3000 by 2000 What happened was a second dramatic upturn in the number of underrepresented minorities admitted to medical school (Figure 6). Indeed, the number began to rise almost immediately and tracked right along the trajectory toward the Project’s numerical goal of 3,000 new entrants to medical school among underrepresented groups by the turn of the century. In 1994, for the first time in history, more than 2,000 underrepresented minority students entered medical school, up from fewer than 1,500 in 1990. But how is this possible I just got through saying that Project 3000 by 2000 was aiming at the long haul. How did it achieve such early success I think one reason, for sure, was the new attention focused by the Project on the Percent 25 Project 3000 by 2000 20 15 10 % URMs in US Population % URM Matriculant 1,470 Matriculants 2,014 Matriculants 12% 10% 5 0 1988 1990 1992 1994 YEAR 1970 1966 1962 1958 1954 1950 1994 1990 1986 1982 1978 1974 Figure 6. Temporary rise in the percentage of underrepresented minorities (URMs) who were matriculated in medical schools from 1990-1994. This upswing was partly due to increased attention that the launching of Project 3000 by 2000 (shown by circle) focused on the lack of adequate racial and ethnic diversity among medical students. 9
Finishing the Bridge to Diversity lack of adequate racial and ethnic diversity among medical students. As a result, we saw a significant increase in the fraction of underrepresented minority applicants who gained acceptance at virtually every school. As it happens, we also got a boost from the rising tide of applicants during this same period; the pool of minority applicants rose along with the pool of all applicants. Call it the Hawthorne effect if you like, but, in fact, the measurable progress made during this phase validated, once again, the power of affirmative action. Standing the Test The next critically important question to address, and one that the critics of affirmative action raise repeatedly, is whether the use of affirmative action as a tool, and the resulting increase in the number of minority medical students, leads to unqualified individuals becoming doctors. To raise such a question is to concede ignorance of the facts. First of all, no one in their right mind would argue for admitting anyone to medical school who did not evidence the academic skills and personal No one in their right mind would argue for admitting anyone to qualities necessary for completing medical school who did not evidence the academic skills and personal the M.D. degree. qualities necessary for completing the M.D. degree. Such an admission policy would not only violate our oath to patients, it would be a disastrous disservice to individual students. And the data clearly show that medical schools are keen to avoid this pitfall. The vast majority of medical students from underrepresented minority groups, as is true of all students admitted to medical school, do successfully complete the rigorous requirements for graduation. Medical school admission committees cannot be commended enough for the care they take in selecting our country’s future physicians. That only a handful of students from all backgrounds, majority and minority alike, prove unable to withstand the rigors — or to meet the financial costs — of a medical education and must abandon the quest along the line, is ample testimony to the skill and wisdom of our admission committees. But let’s return to the data for some less happy news. What is now evident, unfortunately, is that the initial upturn in the admission of underrepresented minorities following the launch of Project 3000 by 2000 leveled off in 1995, and, even more alarmingly, actually fell — by more than 100 individuals — among this year’s matriculants (Figure 7). After the historic high of 1994, something changed. Has Project 3000 by 2000 run out of steam Quite the 10
Page 1 and 2: Finishing the Bridge to Diversity
Page 3 and 4: 1965 Residency Class, Harvard Unive
Page 5 and 6: Finishing the Bridge to Diversity T
Page 7 and 8: Finishing the Bridge to Diversity A
Page 9 and 10: Finishing the Bridge to Diversity P
Page 11: Finishing the Bridge to Diversity r
Page 15 and 16: Finishing the Bridge to Diversity w
Page 17: Finishing the Bridge to Diversity e

Finishing the Bridge to Diversity - Member Profile - AAMC

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?