Applicant-interviewer gender concordance and the decision to enroll in dental school

To increase the yield of females in the entering class, the executive admissions committee at a private West Coast dental school instituted gender-concordant applicant-interviewer dyads. Supported by Tajfel's social identity theory, members of the committee assumed that female applicants interviewed by female faculty interviewers were more likely to enroll than females interviewed by male interviewers. The purpose of this study was to test that assumption. Data were collected on all accepted applicants (n=1,192) and all faculty interviewers (n=43) for the 2001-05 entering classes and analyzed with chi square. Results revealed no relationship between applicant-interviewer gender concordance and the decision to enroll at the school. Although these findings suggest that applicant-interviewer gender concordance does not play a significant role in the enrollment decision, additional research is recommended on which factors are important to women in deciding to enroll at a particular dental school.