• Carol A Terregino, Aaron Saguil, Tanisha Price-Johnson, Ngozi F Anachebe, and Kristen Goodell.
• C.A. Terregino is professor of medicine, senior associate dean for education and academic affairs, associate dean for admissions, and chair of the admissions committee, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey. A. Saguil was associate dean for recruitment and admissions, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, at the time this work was completed. He is associate dean, regional education, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, San Antonio, Texas, now. He is also vice chair, Medical College Admission Test Validity Committee, Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, DC. T. Price-Johnson is executive director of admissions, University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson, Tucson, Arizona. N.F. Anachebe is associate dean of admissions and student affairs, and associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia. K. Goodell is associate dean of admissions, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
• Acad Med. 2020 Mar 1; 95 (3): 344-350.

AbstractAdmissions officers assemble classes of medical students with different backgrounds and experiences who can contribute to their institutions' service, leadership, and research goals. While schools' local interests vary, they share a common goal: meeting the health needs of an increasingly diverse population. Despite the well-known benefits of diversity, the physician workforce does not yet reflect the nation's diversity by socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, or other background characteristics.The authors reviewed the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores and backgrounds of 2017 applicants, accepted applicants, and matriculants to U.S. MD-granting schools to explore avenues for increasing medical school class diversity. They found that schools that accepted more applicants with midrange MCAT scores had more diverse matriculating classes. Many schools admitting the most applicants with scores in the middle of the MCAT score scale were public, community-based, and primary care-focused institutions; those admitting the fewest of these applicants tended to be research-focused institutions and to report pressure to accept applicants with high MCAT scores to maintain or improve their national rankings.The authors argue that reexamining the use of MCAT scores in admissions provides an opportunity to diversify the physician workforce. Despite evidence that most students with midrange MCAT scores succeed in medical school, there is a tendency to overlook these applicants in favor of those with higher scores. To improve the health of all, the authors call for admitting more students with midrange MCAT scores and studying the learning environments that enable students with a wide range of MCAT scores to thrive.

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