The entry of African-American students into US medical schools: an evaluation of recent trends

A need to reassess US medical schools' admission of African-American students exists based on recent challenges to affirmative action. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AMMC) provided US medical school enrollment data and characteristics. Measures of enrollment were constructed for each medical school and aggregated by ownership type and state. After peaking at 1311 students in 1994, African-American medical school matriculation decreased by 8.7% by 1996. This decline was disproportionately generated by public medical schools. However, it was not limited to institutions that are located in states where anti-affirmative action policies have been implemented. Several schools were consistently successful (e.g., UCLA, Case Western, and Robert Wood Johnson) or unsuccessful (e.g., Texas Tech and Texas A&M) in enrolling African-American students. Recent gains in the enrollment of African-American students are being reversed, particularly at public institutions. Implications exist, particularly for the health of poor and underserved communities that are more likely to be cared for by such students during their careers as physicians.