Fewer California Minorities Apply to Medical School

Black Issues in Higher Education, April 15, 1999

SAN FRANCISCO -- Fewer California minorities are applying to medical school, and more who do are leaving the state, according to a new study.

From 1990 to 1998, the number of minority students applying to medical school dropped by 25 percent, the number that were admitted fell by 30 percent, and the number that eventually enrolled dropped by 32 percent.

The study, which was to be released last month, was conducted by researchers from the University of California-San Francisco Center for California Workforce Studies.

"Diversity in the medical profession is not only a matter of educational equity, but is a public health issue with profound ramifications for access to care for the state's most needy communities," the researchers wrote.

The study blamed the decline on several factors, including the economic recession of the early 1990s, a faltering public school system, and the elimination of affirmative action policies in the University of California system and statewide. UC-San Francisco Chancellor Michael Bishop called the trend disappointing.

"We have too few underrepresented minorities entering the health care profession," Bishop says. "My personal guess is we have to reach children at an early age and convey to them these are worthy professions that are accessible to them."

The study compiled data from the state's six UC medical schools and private medical schools at Stanford University, Loma Linda University, and the University of Southern California.

Researchers focused on Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians because those groups are underrepresented among doctors, but did not examine entire statewide medical school population.