It’s no secret that African-American men, like other underrepresented minorities, are few and far between in many graduate school disciplines, such as engineering and law.
In medicine, though, the numbers are strikingly low and have gotten worse.
Out of a total of 49,480 applicants to medical school in 2014, only 1,337 were black men. That’s even fewer than the number of black male applicants in 1978, when 1,410 applied, according to an August report from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Only a fraction of these applicants are accepted and later enroll in medical school.
[Find out which medical schools interview the most minority applicants.]
“In 1978, there were 542 black male matriculants, and in 2014, we had 515,” wrote Marc Nivet, chief diversity officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges, in the report. “No other minority group has experienced such declines.”
Experts say there are many reasons why few black men enroll in medical school.
“So many black men are being lost to incarceration and there are issues of implicit bias related to just our society in general,” says James Hildreth, president and CEO of Nashville’s Meharry Medical College, a historically black school that is among the top producers of black doctors in the U.S.
There’s also a lack of role models. “A lot of black men don’t see other black men as physicians or people in health care in general,” says Eddie Hackler III, a black student at the medical college.
Students and administrators from the three medical schools that graduate the most black doctors, according to the AAMC, offered the following suggestions for African-American men who dream of going to medical school.
[Find out how to choose which medical school to attend as a minority applicant.]
1. Research postbaccalaureate programs : Before applying to medical school, many aspiring doctors enroll in postbaccalaureate programs, which can help them get the scientific background they’ll need to excel in medical school. Some programs also offer admissions test prep and volunteer opportunities.
Many of these postbaccalaureate options focus on serving underrepresented minorities.
Adrian Boscolo-Hightower, a black medical student, took classes through two postbaccalaureate programs before starting his M.D. In the first program, offered by the University of Pennsylvania, he says, “there wasn’t a lot of guidance.”
“It’s about fit,” says Boscolo-Hightower. “You can easily go to a place where you’re just a number, and you don’t get the support that you need.” He later completed a program through the medical school at the University of Illinois–Chicago, which is third among U.S. schools in graduating the most black doctors. He will graduate from UIC’s medical school in 2018.
He suggests premeds get in contact with students at the postbaccalaureate program they’re interested in and ask: “Do you feel like you were supported?” He also advises asking about the pros and cons of each program.
[Speak with current medical students when deciding where to enroll.]
2. Don’t let the MCAT stop you: The Medical College Admission Test, better known as the MCAT, can be a hurdle for many aspiring medical students. The hourslong exam tests applicants on everything from biology to sociology, and a low score can greatly hurt an applicant’s chance for med school admission.
Hildreth of Meharry Medical College, which ranks second in graduating black doctors, says he has found that black men are more deterred by the exam than others.
“It’s my experience, oftentimes, that black men who aspire to go to medical school, they will take the test and not do well the first time and not bother to try again,” he says.
Mentors, he says, can help applicants better prepare for the exam and the admissions process overall.
3. Attend a college that focuses on premed students: Hackler, the Meharry student, spent much of his time as an undergrad researching online how to get into medical school and what to do once he was accepted. His undergraduate institution, Bowling Green State University in Ohio, didn’t have a lot of support for premeds, he says.
Sites such as The Student Doctor Network became his guide. “I was always forced to go look for information myself,” he says.
He encourages black applicants to attend colleges that have strong premed programs, such as Xavier University of Louisiana, a historically black college that was recently profiled in The New York Times for sending more black undergrads to medical school than any other college in the country.
“They pride themselves on getting students to medical school and dental school and just health professional schools in general,” Hackler says.
Many educators believe minority students need to be exposed to health professions and what it takes to get into medical school well before their undergraduate years.
“We should be reaching back to students before they even enter college, maybe as they make their way into high school,” says Jorge Girotti, associate dean and director of special curricular programs, as well as director of admissions, at UIC’s College of Medicine, “so that they begin to understand the demands — what exactly do you need to do in terms of your academic background? — and at the same time also expose them to the work of a physician.”
Minority student groups at the college connect with other premeds to continue the pipeline, he says.
At the Howard University College of Medicine, a historically black college that graduates the most black doctors in the U.S., there are a number of programs for high schoolers and college students to help them learn about the health sciences, says Hugh Mighty, dean and vice president of clinical affairs.
Howard, he says, is an example of what young black men who are interested in medical school can achieve.
“We have over 4,000 alumni,” Mighty says. “There’s your proof that you can do it, too.”
Searching for a medical school? Get our complete rankings of Best Medical Schools.
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3 Tips for Young Black Men Interested in Medical School originally appeared on usnews.com
