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Jolly, P. Academic Achievement and Acceptance Rates of Underrepresented-Minority Applicants to Medical School. Academic Medicine, 67;765-769, 1992.

PURPOSE: In this study, the author investigated the relationship of acceptance rates and measures of academic achievement of underrepresented minorities as compared to other applicants.

METHODS: Data for the study were collected from the historical data files maintained by the Association of American Medical Colleges for the years 1978-79 through 1991-1992 and were used to develop statistics on acceptance rates for underrepresented minorities and for other applicants. Data included personal characteristics, MCAT scores, and undergraduate science GPA. Descriptive statistics were related to trends in applicant pool size.

RESULTS: The results indicated that acceptance rates for both underrepresented minorities and other applicants increased as numbers of applications from both groups declined, then decreased as application numbers again increased. Underrepresented minorities were accepted at substantially higher rates when compared with other applicants within the same ranges of grades and MCAT scores.

CONCLUSIONS: The author concluded that these results indicated medical schools were generally acting affirmatively in selecting applicants from underrepresented minority groups. In addition, the author reported that concerns of underrepresented minorities being accepted at lower rates than other applicants were unfounded.