October 11, 1999
UC establishes task force on minority medical school enrollment
The University of California is establishing a task force to examine declines
in the enrollment of first-year underrepresented students at the university's five
medical schools.
Citing a 12.5 percent drop from last year, President Richard C. Atkinson is directing
the task force to:
- examine the reasons for this decline, given that the number of admission offers to underrepresented students increased nearly 30 percent this year;
- assess longer-term trends in underrepresented minority enrollment in the university's medical schools and their implications for both education and access to health care; and
- recommend steps that UC can take to encourage more underrepresented students to choose health sciences careers, prepare them for admission and recruit them to UC.
Atkinson will ask the task force to complete its work by next spring.
"We know that many factors, from the availability of scholarships to geographical
location, influence students' choices about medical school," said Atkinson.
"But a significant number of underrepresented students accepted at UC this
year chose to go elsewhere, and understanding why could make a difference to our
outreach efforts."
The university's five medical schools enrolled 569 first-year students this fall.
A total of 196 admissions offers were made to underrepresented minority students.
Some students likely received offers from more than one UC medical school. Last
year, 151 admission offers were made.
Despite the 30 percent increase in the number of admissions offers this fall,
acceptances from underrepresented students dropped to 63 from the previous year's
72, a decline of 12.5 percent.
This year's figures continue a downward trend that began in 1993. Data prepared
by the American Association of Medical Colleges shows that as recently as the early
1990s, four of UC's five medical schools ranked within the top eight medical schools
nationally in the percentage of their graduates who were underrepresented students.
UC Vice President for Health Affairs Cornelius L. Hopper will chair the task force,
which will look at both short-and long-term trends in the admission and enrollment
of underrepresented minorities, among them African Americans, Mexican Americans
and Native Americans.
"The continuing decline in enrollment of underrepresented students is particularly
disturbing in view of the increasing diversity of the state and the university's
prior record in this area," said Hopper.
"We believe that expanding the number of underrepresented students trained
by UC medical schools is one vital dimension of our efforts to improve access to
care for medically underserved groups and communities in California."
Hopper has served as vice president of health affairs for the last 16 of his 20
years with the university. His responsibilities include long-range planning for
the health sciences, liaison with the California Legislature on health sciences
education and clinical programs, and administration of statewide programs in geriatrics,
AIDS, tobacco-related diseases, and breast cancer. He will retire as vice president
for health affairs in January 2000, but at Atkinson's request he has agreed to serve
as chair of the task force until it has completed its work.
Data on fall 1999 medical school enrollments is available at:
http://www.ucop.edu/acadadv/datamgmt/meddata
