Minority students, affirmative action, and the admission process: a literature review, 1987-1998.
BACKGROUND
Despite numerous initiatives, medical educators have failed to effect a sustainable increase in the number of underrepresented minority students at medical colleges in the United States. This study reviewed the recent literature regarding the admission process to specifically examine and determine if current policies are helping facilitate the proper representation of minority students. Papers were selected on the basis of their relevance to the topic of underrepresented minority students and medical school admission policies and were limited to the years between 1987 and 1998. Each paper was individually evaluated on the basis of its study design and soundness of its contribution to the field.


CONCLUSIONS
The articles are organized under 4 major themes: Cognitive factors (mostly Medical College Admission Test scores and grade point average), noncognitive factors (e.g., leadership ability, interpersonal skills, motivation), the admission interview, and enrichment programs. Table 1 briefly summarizes these constituent articles.


CONCLUSIONS
It was found that the body of literature is inadequately small and heterogeneous with regard to study design and results. A concerted effort must be made across medical education to correct the deficiencies in this particular area.
Department of Medical Education, University of Illinois at Chicago, 808 South Wood Street, 986 CME, Chicago, IL 60612-7309, USA. Ara.Tekian@uic.edu
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Tekian
D004521:Educational Measurement; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D008913:Minority Groups; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D012577:Schools, Medical; D014481:United States