High Price of Medical Education a Barrier for Many
Last week, the Association of American Colleges (AAMC) announced a new campaign to increase diversity in medicine. The disparity between the racial background of the U.S. population and the nation’s doctors is profound. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 98 million, or 33 percent, of the country’s total population belongs to a minority race. Yet, according to the AAMC, only 6 percent of all practicing physicians in the U.S. are minorities.
The AAMC has been concerned about this issue for a long time. They’ve developed many programs to try to attract minority applicants to medical schools. Unfortunately, they haven’t been very successful. For a while, the number of minority applicants was increasing, but the numbers have again begun to decline.
As part of their new campaign, the AAMC has also launched a Web site, AspiringDocs.org, which is an attempt to make the idea of going to medical school more appealing to minority groups. One of the premises of the new campaign is that while more and more minorities have been graduating with biology degrees, the number of medical school applicants from this group has remained steady. The AAMC is hoping to change that.
Although I applaud the AAMC for their efforts over the years to increase the diversity of our nation’s doctor pool, I think there are a number of factors working against them. Probably the most important factor is cost. Medical school is horrifically expensive. If you are from a low-income family, the thought of spending $200,000+ to go to school can be mind-boggling. How could you possibly undertake something that will cost more than your entire family makes in ten years? While it’s true that there are many types of financial assistance programs, the vast majority of students will end up having to pay the money back eventually. Unless you plan on being a cosmetic surgeon in Beverly Hills, making $2,000 loan payments every month, on top of medical malpractice insurance and many other costs, can be a frightening prospect. Since I plan on working with underserved populations, I’m quite scared about how I’m going to manage paying back my student loans.
Not only is the cost of actually attending medical school intimidating, but the cost of just applying can be equally daunting. If you add up the expense of getting an undergraduate degree, taking the MCAT, applying to medical schools, traveling for interviews, and paying many other fees, the number is astounding.
When I was applying to medical school, I had a decent job, yet I still could not afford everything. I spent money on an MCAT prep class, and then had barely any money left to pay for all the applications and travel costs. If I had trouble affording it, imagine how someone making minimum wage might feel. If you can’t even pay to apply to medical school, how could you begin to entertain the thought of actually going to medical school?
There are plenty of other reasons why many minorities are not applying to medical school, such as the lack of minority role models. In addition, many elementary and secondary schools are so busy making sure that “No Child is Left Behind,” that they don’t have the time and resources to effectively teach the sciences. If we don’t foster an interest in the sciences at an early age, how can we expect our children to want to pursue medicine later in life?
To me, it seems like the issue always comes back to money. I think the question that we should be asking ourselves is, “how can we make medical school more accessible to everyone?” Right now, we’re facing a shortage of physicians, and the problem is most severe in the rural and impoverished areas of the country. Considering that many of our patients are from diverse backgrounds, we need to ensure that our doctor supply is equally as diverse.
My name is Kendra and I am a fourth-year medical student attending