Affirmative Action Policy in Medical School Admissions

Legal challenges to affirmative action are growing, a trend suggesting that a proactive stance is needed to maintain a policy that still has viability, legitimacy, and utility. Medical schools admissions offices in the United States emphasize the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), even though many studies have found that grade point averages are better single predictors of future academic achievement, regardless of the student's socioeconomic or racial category. The current essay suggests there is an overreliance on the MCAT in medical school admissions. Medical colleges should encourage the development of additional applicant selection criteria, while continuing to use affirmative action programs, in part to address the need for increased community-oriented health care.