Diversity issues and sour grapes are plaguing the U School of Medicine, offending many and uniting the school in anger against the Utah State Legislature.
In response to allegations that the U School of Medicine was not following fair admissions policies two years ago, particularly in regards to racial and gender diversity, it underwent an audit by the Legislature.
The audit, done in January 2002, found that the school was not following some of its own policies and was allowing some bias to affect the selection process. A follow-up audit was completed earlier this month on Aug. 13.
Although the school has reformed the process and eliminated all possibility of bias, according to Wayne Samuelson, dean of admissions, they are still being accused of having admission procedures favoring women and minorities.
In an Aug. 14 article, The Salt Lake Tribune reported that, “The University of Utah School of Medicine has made some changes, but female and minority applicants continue to be admitted at a higher rate than white males, according to an audit released Wednesday.”
According to the Legislative Auditor General’s report, in the 2003 selection process, minority applicants had about a 50 percent chance of acceptance, while white applicants were accepted at a rate of about one in three.
Fifty-two percent of female applicants were accepted, while 31 percent of males were accepted. Minority females had the highest acceptance rates-seven in 10 applicants were accepted.
But the rate referred to is misleading, says Samuelson and Kim Wirthlin, associate vice president of health sciences.
“It’s better to look at the real numbers. Looking at ratios can distort the picture,” Wirthlin said.
If only four minority students were admitted one year and eight the next, that’s a 100 percent increase. But it’s still only eight students, Wirthlin said.
Furthermore, the school has no criteria for looking at race or gender in applicants, both Samuelson and Wirthlin said.
The admissions criteria examined are GPA, MCAT scores, physician shadowing, patient exposure, leadership ability, extracurricular activities, community service and research.
Values looked for are overall excellence, humanitarian skills and diversity of background, Wirthlin said, but there is no admissions policy in regards to race or gender.
“We define diversity much more broadly than the auditors define it in their audit,” Wirthlin said.
Samuelson acknowledged that people of minority background usually bring with them diverse experiences. But he also said the admissions committees have no way of knowing the race of applicants during the screenings.
Brett Christian is one of three student-body presidents in the medical school and said that the admission committees are made up of such diverse individuals, there’s no way they could even subconsciously favor any applicant over another.
Samuelson agreed, saying the school only selects four of the 29 committee members. More importantly, the scores are calculated in such a way that if any committee member was exercising a bias of any kind, it would be apparent and that person’s scores would be excluded.
The Legislature has carefully examined the current process for evidence of bias and has failed to find any, Samuelson and Wirthlin said.
“They’ve spent more time in our files than we have,” Samuelson said.
The school has fully complied with every suggestion made during the last audit and even gone beyond what was suggested in some cases, Samuelson said.
But the fact that the Legislature is still pushing them makes Samuelson think there are ulterior motives.
He said he believes the auditors keep referring to misleading ratios because they are really more concerned with the outcome of the process than the process itself. In other words, they are concerned with the demographics of the classes.
The U medical school has a higher percentage of whites and males in their student body than any other medical school in the western United States. During the admissions process, the U has fewer female applicants than anywhere else in the country, Samuelson said.
But while the school is receiving criticism nationwide for having a student body dominated by whites and males, the state Legislature is accusing them of giving preferential treatment to women and minorities.
Samuelson speculates the Legislature is pressing the issue because so many qualified applicants are turned down each year and their family and friends want reasons why.
Being a rather small school, only 102 applicants are admitted each year and 250 to 300 are turned away.
“Virtually everyone knows someone who has been turned down,” Samuelson said. “They’re looking for reasons.”
Sour grapes may be too simple an answer, but the original audit was demanded two years ago after the grandson of former Rep. Carl Saunders, R-Ogden, was rejected by the school, as was his father 20 years earlier.
Rep. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, and Rep. Kathryn Bryson, R-Provo, are supportive of the audit and neither was available for comment.
Samuelson also speculates the gender and racial preference accusations are being leveled because the school values “diversity of experience” and the word “diversity” is usually understood to mean race and gender.
But some students are insulted by the accusations. In a sense, the audit is saying female and minority applicants were admitted for reasons other than their qualifications.
“Regardless of where you apply, it’s difficult. No matter who you are, it’s difficult,” said Candice Yee, co-president of the school’s Association of Minority Medical Students.
“Did I get through because of an exception to the rule? No, I did everything the same, I took the same MCAT. To have this said takes us a few steps back from where we should be going,” Yee said. “It hurts and it sucks and people want a reason why they didn’t get in. There are a lot of factors.”
Yee was born and raised in Utah, and says she thinks the audit is tragic.
“I worked extremely hard to get where I got,” Yee said. “I didn’t get a handout, I worked just as hard as the next guy.”
She says she wishes there were more minorities at the school and as a president of the minority association, she hopes to make them feel comfortable coming to the U.
But she said she thinks the school is doing the best it can and disagrees with the audit.
“It does a great disservice to many people in the [medical] school. We all worked hard. People pointing to a minority and saying it’s why they got in discredits what they’ve done.”
Samuelson said he isn’t sure how the issue will be resolved.
“We’re hopeful we’ll convince people this is a fair process. We’ve tried to communicate our willingness to cooperate,” he said.
The auditors have suggested the committees focus more on GPA and MCAT scores in the admissions process.
But Wirthlin and Samuelson disagree.
“We focus quite a bit on academics. But GPA and MCAT scores are only two of the eight criteria we look at. It’s not the only thing that needs to be taken into consideration,” Wirthlin said.
Student body leader Ben Mizukawa will participate in the admissions process next year and said that he’s bothered by the idea of students being solely judged on grades and test scores.
He did very well on the MCAT, he said, but there is so much more to him, and the other students around him, than their scores.
It’s not until their third year, he said, that strengths and weaknesses of medical students become apparent.
Samuelson said research over the past 40 years has proven that true.
GPA and MCAT scores have been shown to be poor indicators of a student’s potential as a physician.
The tried and proven methods require hands-on experience like volunteer service and physician shadowing.
These attributes are hard to show in numbers, he said.
Both Wirthlin and Samuelson laughed at the idea of simplifying their jobs to looking only at grades and scores. “That would be much easier,” Samuelson said. But both agreed that it doesn’t work.
Samuelson said he hopes the audit will open people’s eyes about how difficult and complicated the admissions process is. But he also fears this issue will stigmatize the students.
Yee shared the sentiment. “The purpose of [the association] is not to create a polar divide or capitalize on minority issues. The purpose of [it] is to educate everyone about minority issues.”
She was even hesitant to talk about the issue for fear of making the minority students look like they felt targeted.
“My hope is the students don’t get distracted by this. They should get on with the work of being great doctors,” Samuelson said.