Black Students Show Some Progress in Medical School Enrollments

According to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, for the 2018-19 entering class, 4,430 Black students applied to medical schools in the United States. This was an increase of 8 percent from those who applied to medical school for the 2015-16 academic year. Of all Black applicants to medical school, women made up nearly 65 percent of the total.

A total of 1,596 Black students were accepted for admission to U.S. medical schools. They made up 7.1 percent of all students accepted for admission. The acceptance rate for Black applicants to medical school was 36 percent. For White applicants, the acceptance rate was 45.4 percent.

This academic year, 1,540 Black students enrolled at a U.S. medical school. They made up 7.1 percent of all medical school matriculants. The number of Black students enrolling in medical schools is up 14 percent from the 2015-16 academic year. Women were nearly 61 percent of all Black medical school matriculants.

The Association of American Medical College also complied figures on the undergraduate colleges and universities that produced the most graduates who went on to apply to medical school for the 2018-19 academic year. Leading the list are historically Black Howard University in Washington D.C. with 115 graduates and historically Black Xavier University of Louisiana with 91 graduates. The University of Florida had 77 Black graduates who applied to medical school, the most of any predominantly White educational institution.

Spelman College in Atlanta, with 60 graduates, and Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, with 45 graduates, were the only other historically Black colleges and universities among the top 20 undergraduate institutions having the most Black graduates who applied to medical school.