Questions on URM and ORM

I think there exists a point of confusion from people with respect to URM admissions in that people seem to think people who are otherwise not qualified to get into medical school end up getting into medical school strictly as a function of their race (or vice versa: people who are qualified to get into medical school won't because of their race). This really isn't the case, at least not directly. Are the stats for some URMs lower than for other ethnicities? Yes - just look at the data. Does this actually mean anything? Well, it may correlate to lower scores on standardized exams, but short of that not really. Doing better or worse on exams does not mean you are going to be a better or worse doctor. What it means is that you're good at standardized tests, which is advantageous from both a medical school and a residency program perspective as there is less concern about your ability to pass the exams that you need to pass in order to successfully complete your training.

My best friend going on 10+ years is a URM who scored <30 on the MCAT but got into one of the best public schools in the country. He scored <220 on step 1 but ended up at a quality residency program and has been doing well. I would have no qualms about sending my kids to him when he completes his training. Test scores and academic achievement are only one part of the picture, and apart from doing what you need to do in order to get your license and become board-certified, they are largely meaningless except as a predictor for future performance.

In medical school admissions, there is also strong belief in the thought that having people of a variety of backgrounds is helpful in order to get that whole diversity thing going and exposing students to other students of different backgrounds. There is also data to support the idea that some people (namely, URMs) have a preference for seeing a doctor with which they share an ethnic background, further legitimizing the idea that URM admissions is a good idea. You might disagree, and I think time will tell whether a program like this actually has much of an impact on achieving those goals of "increasing access" to these communities who, for one reason or another, feel that seeing an ORM physician isn't preferable. From my own experience, there were some URMs in my medical school class that absolutely intended to practice in their own communities at the end of their training, though this is not a universal goal from what I can tell.

Regardless, if you're a qualified applicant you will get into medical school - whether ORM or URM - and no is going to be "stealing your seat." Is it unfair? Maybe, maybe not, I suppose it depends on your perspective. But it doesn't matter one way or another, just as it doesn't matter that there are applicants with better applications than yours that might be "stealing your seat" regardless of their race.

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Questions on URM and ORM