Social determinants be like...

Okay that is all true. But also if you are a white male with a 504 MCAT 3.3 gpa from a lower middle class background your chances of getting into MD med school are "Nope".

If you are a black female with a 504 MCAT and 3.3 gpa from an affluent background, your chances are still pretty solid.

I understand the justifications that can be made on increasing diversity in medicine, systemic racism that lowers opportunities for non-white applicants, and medical schools do too. Therefore medical schools across the country compete for a very small pool of black/hispanic applicants that have a viable chance to graduate (which I would define as a 495+ MCAT and 3.0+ sGPA). That is why there is money being poured into URM pipeline programs, advertising to URM, diversity departments and deans, and pre/post admit tours exclusively for URM students - they are in high demand. Do you really think that admissions councils care if the URM student they are admitting come from a high income background? No, they are looking for any way possible to increase diversity.

The mean MCAT of white/asian test taker is a 502. The mean MCAT of black student is 494 - and when you factor in the cost of taking the MCAT and the on average lower socioeconomic status of black students (as you mentioned), this is already a self selected group of relatively serious individuals, unlikely to be taking the MCAT on a whim. There is an unending ocean of white and asian applicants that would graduate from medical school just fine. There is a limited pool of black/hispanic applicants that will not have a 10-20% chance of failing out of medical school (the primary objective of admissions council, in order to protect the student from loans and the schools reputation). This is likely due to the host of socioeconomic and systemic racism barriers eliminating all the URMs that would have likely been able to graduate medical school if given the right supportive environment, but end up not graduating highschool, failing out of college, or getting through college but not with the necessary GPA to make it through medical school.

Often when a white or asian students ask what they can do to get into medical school, they get told: "get the grades, get the good MCAT, and then have something special about yourself". Having good grades, a good MCAT and being black or hispanic already makes you relatively special amongst your peers.

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