The community college pathway to medical school: a road less traveled

Underrepresented minority and first-generation college students are more likely than white students to attend a community college before transferring to a four-year school. Talamantes and colleagues report in this issue that, according to their study of 2012 medical school applicants and matriculants, community-college-first applicants were significantly less likely to be admitted to medical school even after other important predictors, including grade point average and Medical College Admission Test scores, were taken into consideration. These findings suggest that rather than appreciating the "distance traveled" and obstacles overcome by applicants who got their start at a community college, medical school admissions committees may be consciously or subconsciously discounting their achievements. The authors of this Commentary consider the study by Talamantes and colleagues as well as other recent data related to community college graduates and emphasize that community colleges attract many high-achieving applicants who for any of several reasons-limited finances, inadequate advising, insufficient financial aid, or a need to stay close to home-choose not to enroll in a four-year college right away. They argue that if medical school leaders are serious about lowering the social, racial, and economic barriers to medical school, they must start viewing two years of premedical education at a community college as an asset rather than a liability.