When it comes to applying to medical school, filling out applications is just the beginning. An interview with a school’s admissions staff is often the last hurdle applicants must cross before getting an acceptance letter — and it’s not an easy one.
“A lot of students are uncomfortable with the interview process as a whole,” says Kameron Matthews, co-founder and co-director at Tour for Diversity in Medicine, which travels across the country teaching high schoolers and college students about the medical school application process. The tour aims to increase the number of minorities in various health professions.
Many applicants, who are often college students, struggle with answering questions in a professional manner, says Matthews, who graduated from Johns Hopkins University‘s medical school.
[Be selective when pursuing medical school as a minority applicant.]
Underrepresented minorities, which include African-Americans and Latinos, often don’t make it to this stage of the application process or get accepted.
In 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, only 6.1 percent of medical school matriculants were black and 8.5 percent were Hispanic, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Many prospective students may not come from a background where they can gain interviewing skills at a young age, Matthews says. “Those students who are minorities, who maybe haven’t had that exposure through family assistance or mentor assistance, they may be at a disadvantage,” she says.
Some of the most competitive medical schools interview the most underrepresented minorities, according to data submitted by 109 ranked institutions to U.S. News in an annual survey. Below are the 10 schools that interviewed the most underrepresented minorities for the class starting in fall of 2014.
| School (name) (state) | Underrepresented minorities interviewed for fall 2014 | All applicants interviewed | All fall 2014 enrollees | U.S. News research rank | U.S. News primary care rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center | 318 | 768 | 181 | 83 (tie) | 85 (tie) |
| George Washington University (DC) | 276 | 1,150 | 178 | 67 (tie) | RNP |
| Tufts University (MA) | 257 | 948 | 200 | 49 (tie) | 52 (tie) |
| Yale University (CT) | 239 | 745 | 104 | 7 | 57 (tie) |
| University of Texas Health Science Center–San Antonio | 236 | 960 | 203 | 55 (tie) | 67 (tie) |
| Dartmouth College (Geisel) (NH) | 231 | 752 | 89 | 37 (tie) | 29 (tie) |
| University of Illinois | 226 | 827 | 297 | 49 (tie) | 85 (tie) |
| University of California–San Diego | 225 | 743 | 125 | 17 | 19 (tie) |
| Columbia University (NY) | 217 | 1,064 | 157 | 8 (tie) | 52 (tie) |
| Boston University | 215 | 1,069 | 166 | 30 | 52 (tie) |
Only one school on the list is labeled Rank Not Published, or RNP: George Washington University, for its ranking in primary care. A school with this label is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of its ranking category. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.
[Consider pipeline programs as an option for getting into medical school.]
The College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State University interviewed the least number of underrepresented minorities — zero — but it did accept 48 students who fall in this category. Overall, it only interviewed eight students for the class that started in fall of 2014.
Michigan State’s M.D.-granting school, however, has a different track record for applicants. Out of 515 applicants who interviewed for the school’s College of Human Medicine, which awards M.D.s, 114 were underrepresented minorities.
Minority applicants can’t assume that the number of students interviewed translates to the number of students who will be accepted and enrolled. Texas Tech, for example, interviewed the most underrepresented minorities but those students only have an acceptance rate of 4.2 percent for that school.
[Speak with current medical students about their experiences when choosing a school.]
University of Illinois, which is seventh on the list, accepted the highest percentage of underrepresented applicants out of all 10 schools: 10.4 percent.
Admissions interviews can be a challenge for all students, no matter their race, when it comes to medical school, says Matthews. But it doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker.
A good mentor can help applicants prep for these conversations by hosting mock interviews and giving them feedback.
“It’s about practicing the skill,” Matthews says.
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Which Medical Schools Interview the Most Minority Applicants? originally appeared on usnews.com