Academic achievement and acceptance rates of underrepresented-minority applicants to medical school.

While the participation of minority groups underrepresented in medicine has increased from 3% of first-year enrollment in 1968-69 to 11% in 1992, many have been concerned that the percentage of underrepresented-minority applicants accepted is smaller than that of other applicants. To investigate the relationship of acceptance rates and measures of academic achievement, historical data from 1978-79 through 1991-92 on applicant characteristics maintained by the Association of American Medical Colleges were used to develop statistics on acceptance rates for underrepresented minorities and for other applicants, by each applicant's mean score on the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) and undergraduate science grade point average. Those statistics were then related to trends in applicant numbers. Results show that acceptance rates for both underrepresented minorities and others increased as the numbers of applications from both groups declined, then decreased as applications again rose. When underrepresented-minority applicants were compared with other applicants within the same ranges of grades and MCAT scores, underrepresented-minority applicants were accepted at substantially higher rates in every stratum. Thus, medical schools generally are acting affirmatively in selecting applicants from underrepresented-minority groups.