Recruiting black medical students: a decade of effort

Beginning in the mid-1960s, the enrollment of African-Americans in the nation's colleges of medicine began to rise dramatically, but by 1975 it had leveled off, and it has since remained essentially unchanged at 6 to 7%. The University of Tennessee College of Medicine failed to increase its enrollment of black students during the period of dramatic growth, and it consistently ranked among the bottom one-fourth of U.S. medical schools in this respect until the fall of 1988. With the enrollment of 17 first-time, first-year African-American students for both the 1988-89 and 1989-90 academic years, the college now ranks in the top one-fourth of the nation's medical schools in this regard. This essay chronicles the events, discoveries made through self-analysis, new programs, changes in operating procedure, and institutional commitment that led eventually to this improvement. Based on a decade of experience, the authors recommend that UT Memphis and all other U.S. colleges of medicine become directly, but appropriately, involved in students' education far earlier than traditionally considered to be within their domain. If lasting and effective alliances can be established with institutions of primary, secondary, and undergraduate college education, it should be possible to escape from the persistent and perplexing problem of stagnation in the growth of black enrollment.