• A B Lumb and A Vail.
• School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Worsley Medical and Dental Building, Leeds LS2 9NL. medal@leeds.ac.uk
• BMJ. 2000 Jan 8; 320 (7227): 82-5.

ObjectiveTo assess the feasibility of anonymous shortlisting of applications for medical school and its effect on those with non-European names.DesignProspective cohort study.SettingLeeds school of medicine, United Kingdom.Subjects2047 applications for 1998 entry from the United Kingdom and the European Union.InterventionDeletion of all references to name and nationality from the application form.Main Outcome MeasuresScoring by two admissions tutors at shortlisting.ResultsDeleting names was cumbersome as some were repeated up to 15 times. Anonymising application forms was ineffective as one admissions tutor was able to identify nearly 50% of candidates classed as being from an ethnic minority group. Although scores were lower for applicants with non-European names, anonymity did not improve scores. Applicants with non-European names who were identified as such by tutors were significantly less likely to drop marks in one particular non-academic area (the career insight component) than their European counterparts.ConclusionsThere was no evidence of benefit to candidates with non-European names of attempting to blind assessment. Anonymising application forms cannot be recommended.

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