Race-Conscious Admissions in Medical Education

Last Updated March 13, 2023

Two cases under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court — Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina — seek to prohibit the limited consideration of an applicant’s racial or ethnic background in the higher education admissions process.  The AAMC has urged the court to refrain from a broad prohibition on awareness of an applicant’s race, which for many applicants is a significant part of their personal story. Moreover, any action that comes with the risk of decreasing diversity in the health professions and limiting the ability to address existing and projected physician workforce shortages is contrary to improving our country’s public health. 

The AAMC is committed to strengthening the diversity of the medical student body and the physician workforce. Supporting racial and ethnic diversity in the health professions — spanning classrooms, labs, and clinical settings — enriches the educational experiences of all medical and health professions students and the teaching experiences of faculty, and it is essential to improving the overall health of our nation. In fact, diversity cultivates an innovation mindset; catalyzes creativity and discovery; and enhances complex problem-solving, prediction, and forecasting.

If the court’s decisions require changes to current law and admissions processes, we will work together, share leading practices, and demonstrate unwavering resolve in achieving our missions and supporting necessary action to increase diversity in medical schools and the health professions. We will continue to work directly with and on behalf of our member institutions to support their efforts not only in admissions, but in an array of arenas, all in service of improving the health of people everywhere.

As David J. Skorton, MD, AAMC president and CEO, noted in a February 2023 message to the academic medicine community, the AAMC is confident we and our member institutions will meet the Harvard and University of North Carolina decisions with the resolve necessary to achieve and sustain our mission-driven educational, biomedical research, and health goals, all of which embed diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. 

As we await the court’s decisions, which are expected prior to the end of the court’s session in June 2023, the AAMC will continue to update this page with resources for the academic medicine community.

If you have questions or comments, please contact holisticreview@aamc.org.

• About the U.S. Supreme Court cases and the AAMC’s amicus brief: AAMC Leads Amicus Brief in Support of Consideration of Race in Higher Education Admissions (2022).
• Full amicus brief signed by the AAMC and 44 health professional organizations: AAMC amicus brief: SFFA v. Harvard and UNC (2022).

• Frequently Asked Questions: Race-Conscious Admissions in Medical Education
  This FAQ supports medical schools ahead of and after the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in two cases on race-conscious admissions in higher education.
• Webinar: “Planning for the SFFA v. Harvard and UNC SCOTUS Decisions” (2023)
  In this webinar, AAMC legal experts discuss the importance of these cases to health professional education and practice, walk through possible outcomes, and outline considerations for contingency planning.
• About holistic review and how it is being used in admissions: 
  • Foundational publications to guide you through evaluating your holistic admissions process and provide you with key legal and policy foundations:
    • Roadmap to Diversity and Educational Excellence: Key Legal and Educational Policy Foundations for Medical Schools, Second Edition (2014).
    • Roadmap to Excellence: Key Concepts for Evaluating the Impact of Medical School Holistic Admissions (2013).
    • Roadmap to Diversity: Integrating Holistic Review Practices into Medical School Admission Processes (2010).
  • Webinar: “Socially Accountable Admissions: Using a Different Lens to Evaluate Medical School Applicants and Promote Workforce Diversity” (2022).
    This webinar highlights effective strategies University of California, Davis, School of Medicine has used to increase enrollment of historically underrepresented and excluded students and to achieve institutional community health goals. 
  • Webinar series and additional resources: “Mitigating Bias in the Admissions Process” (2021).
• Resources from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME):
  • Data Collection Instrument for Full Accreditation Surveys (2022).
  • LCME Consensus Statement Related to Satisfaction with Element 3.3, Diversity/Pipeline Programs and Partnerships (2015).
• Comprehensive resources from the College Board’s Access and Diversity Collaborative
  • The Playbook: Understanding the Role of Race Neutral Strategies in Advancing Higher Education Diversity, 2nd Edition (2019).

• An AAMCNews viewpoint on the effects of eliminating race-conscious admissions: “Why Eliminating Race-Conscious Admissions Will Hurt Medical School Students” (2023).
• STAT News opinion piece authored by Lee Jones, MD, chair-elect of the AAMC Board of Directors: “Exclude Race From Medical School Admissions and Students, Patients, and the Entire Health Care System Lose Out" (2022).
• An AAMCNews article on the District Court decision in SFFA v. Harvard: “The Harvard Admissions Case: 5 Takeaways for Medical Schools” (2019). 
• An AAMCNews viewpoint on the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine decision to end the practice of considering race in admissions: “Race in Admissions in the Wake of the Texas Tech Resolution” (2019).
• AAMC Washington Highlights recap of the Fisher v. University of Texas decision: “Supreme Court Rules Universities May Continue to Consider Race in Holistic Admissions” (2016). 

Academic Medicine has published several articles about the use of race in admissions:  

• “The Not Underrepresented Minorities: Asian Americans, Diversity, and Admissions” (2020). 
• “Affirmative Action and Holistic Review in Medical School Admissions: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going” (2019). 
• “Race-Neutral Admission Approaches: Challenges and Opportunities for Medical Schools” (2007). 

MedEdPORTAL has published a resource on mitigating bias in the admissions process: 

• “Bias Breakers: Continuous Practice for Admissions and Selection Committees” (2022).

Additional scholarship about the use of race in admissions and the importance of diversity in health care:

• JAMA Network Open: “US Medical School Admissions Leaders’ Experiences With Barriers to and Advancements in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (2023).
• American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology: “Nurse Workforce Diversity and Reduced Risk of Severe Adverse Maternal Outcomes” (2022).
• JAMA Network: “Defending Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Undergraduate and Medical School Admission Policies” (2022).
• Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: “Patient-Physician Racial Concordance Associated with Improved Healthcare Use and Lower Healthcare Expenditures in Minority Populations” (2022).
• AMA Journal of Ethics: “What Does It Mean for Medical School Admissions to Be Socially Accountable?” (2021).
• AMA Journal of Ethics: “What Is the Role of Accreditation in Achieving Medical School Diversity?” (2021).
• JAMA Network Open: “Association of Racial/Ethnic and Gender Concordance Between Patients and Physicians With Patient Experience Ratings” (2020).
• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: “Physician-Patient Racial Concordance and Disparities in Birthing Mortality for Newborns” (2020).
• American Economic Review: “Does Diversity Matter for Health? Experimental Evidence From Oakland” (2019).