fact or cap - entry to med school discriminates based on race (1 Viewer)

[gamja]

I know that med schools have alternate rural and indigenous pathways but I've also heard from my tutors that some universities have a bias when choosing applicants for medical school - i.e. choosing fewer asians/indians (perhaps maintaining a quota of other backgrounds hispanic, anglo-australian etc) to 1. promote diversity or 2. (more sinister) have actual racial bias and not wanting 'entire med cohort to be asian'.

Some told me that even applicants from selective schools have less chance compared to kids from private schools, and how they've seen JRAHS kids with insane atar+ucat combos lose places to white people etc... I personally doubt the claims.

Is this true?

 

[Average Boreduser]

The race part completely false. Although the selective school one might have little effect (this accounts from a few friends Ik who went to med in selective schools) but I doubt it would be siginificant.

 

[Drdusk]

I know that med schools have alternate rural and indigenous pathways but I've also heard from my tutors that some universities have a bias when choosing applicants for medical school - i.e. choosing fewer asians/indians (perhaps maintaining a quota of other backgrounds hispanic, anglo-australian etc) to 1. promote diversity or 2. (more sinister) have actual racial bias and not wanting 'entire med cohort to be asian'.

Some told me that even applicants from selective schools have less chance compared to kids from private schools, and how they've seen JRAHS kids with insane atar+ucat combos lose places to white people etc... I personally doubt the claims.

Is this true?

It’s not unthinkable that this could be the case either officially or maybe unofficially. Affirmative action based on race has been said to exist in other western countries such as America where right now there’s two cases in the Supreme Court, students of fair commission v Harvard & North Carolina where students are arguing it’s discriminatory towards asians. So it’s possible but someone would need to give evidence to say it happens for a fact in Australia as opposed to anecdotes.