Medical-school enrollments in the United States rose in 2010 with minority students leading the way, according to statistics released this morning by the Association of American Medical Colleges. While enrollment grew over all by 1.5 percent, to 18,665 students, it increased by 9 percent among Hispanic students, by 2.9 percent among black students, and by 24.8 percent among American Indians, in a pattern that showed up in all regions of the country. Also this week the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine reported that enrollments rose 6.5 percent at its member institutions this year.
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From Roger Clegg, Center for Equal Opportunity: Asians, of course, don’t count. But, in case you are interested, it appears that their applicants increased by 3.2 percent and their enrollees by 2.4 percent. As I read the tables, they now make up 23 percent of first-year enrollees and 22 percent of applicants. But they are not — repeat, not — to be considered minority students. If they were, then this would be very embarrassing for those who insist that members of the other, true minority groups are entitled to preferential admissions treatment — especially when the Asian students are being admitted in the face of, rather than as beneficiaries of, such discrimination.
Roger, it’s too bad that you so badly want to use Asians to embarrass African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. What do you hope to gain from inflicting such embarrassment? You should use that energy to improve the educational outcomes of these non-Asian American racial minority groups. In addition to being more constructive, doing so will earn you better karma.
From Roger Clegg @22286593: Just trying to end discrimination against ANYONE on the basis of melanin content or national origin. Seems to me that in an increasingly multiracial and multiethnic country — where, indeed, individual Americans (starting with our president) are increasingly multiethnic and multiracial — we can’t have a regime that sorts people by skin color and what country their ancestors came from, and treats some better and others worse depending on what silly little box they check. E pluribus unum, you know? — that’s my karma.
As for improving educational outcomes, here’s the secret: Hit the books. And it helps a lot if there are two parents in the house insisting on this. The illegitimacy rates for the three URMs you mnetion are all above 50 percent; for whites and Asians, they are below 30 percent.
to quote: “The illegitimacy rates for the three URMs you mnetion are all above 50 percent; for whites and Asians, they are below 30 percent”….
wow–the old trope of racialized sexuality hidden as a discussion about “merit”. This is an old form of racism (ie, women of color were hypersexual) that was used to justify Jim Crow, among other practices.
Admission to medical school historically has revolved around how we define “merit.” I’ve published on this topic, and I have found that race and gender have always been intertwined with this discussion.
Moreover, to addres the comment about 2-parent families–does Mr. Clegg have any proof that children of divorced parents have more problems getting into medical school??
Several observations:
To find the actual numbers, not just the percentages, I had to click on the link in the article, and then on another link. Some interesting actual numbers. For example:
(1) Indian/Native was 202 (of 16,648) in 2004; now 191 (of 18,655), same as 191 (of 17,003) in 2005.
(2) Asian has jumped from 3450 in 2003 to 4214 in 2010: gain of 764 – a 22% gain
(3) Black/African-American has gone from 1205 to 1350 in the same seven years: gain of 145 – a 12% gain
(4) Latino: from 1091 to 1539: gain of 448 – a 41% gain
(5) Whites: from 11288 to 12094: gain of 806 – a 7% gain.
Draw your own conclusions.
Another interesting statement in the AMC summary: “all underrepresented racial and ethnic groups saw gains”.
Does “underrepresented” imply that the percentage accepted must equal the demographic percentage? Not, say, the qualified (based on MCATS and undergrad records) ratios?
“Ethnic groups” – I didn’t see Jews, Mormons, Evangelical Christians, Amish (do any Amish become MD’s?), Gullah, etc.
From Roger, @22028881: The connection between illegitimacy and a wide variety of social problems has been well-documented. See, for starters, Kay Hymowitz’s Marriage and Caste in America, Amy L. Wax’s Race, Wrongs, and Remedies, and my column here: http://old.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint050100b.html. Sorry if you think that pointing this out is racist. Call it what you like, but the racial disparities that we all lament will not disappear, no matter how aggressively quotas are used, for so long as more than 7 out of 10 African Americans are born out of wedlock, which is the current rate.
I work with poor children from URMs. The teens text constantly, rarely read, routinely have babies at ages 13-17 (often purposely and with the blessing of their families), and care very little about school. The children being raised by these teenagers have little hope to achieve more than raising another generation who do the same. They are given money and other benefits by various governments, but they use it as an end not a means. I hope that URMs are not still receiving preferential treatment in medical school admissions. It is one thing to have an ill-prepared cashier, but a doctor needs to be sharp and well-educated. I don’t blame the schools for the kids’ failures, it is the parents. Other groups have achieved with less handouts, we don’t need to anguish about the URMs: they need to take responsibility for themselves and their children.
Why are these medical school statistics about URMs even published?