Is it really this hard?

norcalguy
Thu, 03 May 2012 19:00:24 +0000

So, the SOMs try to find the ones with talent whose GPAs suffered a bit thru no fault of their own. After all, these kids will be “retaking” those science classes again in med school, right?



So, wouldn’t these students with inadequate K-12 education–>lower college grades eventually struggle more in med school as well? At no point will they have a chance to “catch up.” Med school is certainly not a good time to be catching up on anything.

The AAMC did a fairly long study looking at data from the 1980’s-1990’s. What they found was that the dropout rate from med school DUE TO ACADEMIC REASONS was under 1% by Asians and Whites and approx 4-6% by URM’s. Proponents of AA cited that the 6-year graduation rates (99% vs. 95%) were fairly equal (true). Opponents of AA cited that the drop out rate for URM’s were 4-10x as high for URM’s as for ORM’s (also true). Same data. Used to support two different conclusions.