Moderate NYC Arguer

One of the things I continue to find remarkable in this debate is how many people look at Black students scoring in the 95th percentile on the MCAT — often higher than the average matriculant at most American medical schools — and still conclude they were admitted “only because of race.” These are objectively elite academic performers. Many scored higher than applicants admitted to excellent medical schools across the country. And yet some people persist in speaking as though the mere existence of Black students at Yale is proof that standards collapsed and that unnamed “more deserving” Asian applicants were robbed. At that point, the conversation is no longer about MCAT scores. It is about an inability to imagine that highly accomplished Black students belong in elite institutions. What also fascinates me is how quickly social media pundits become absolute authorities on physician selection, while dismissing the judgment of admissions committees at institutions that have spent generations training world-class physicians and scientists. Medicine is harder — and more human — than sorting percentiles on a spreadsheet.

If 29% of the qualified black candidates are interviewed and 1% of the qualified asian candidates are interviewed that is called racial discrimination. It is, to use DEI language, a severe inequity. If the candidate pool of black candidates is low, that is a different topic entirely.

Multifactorial, but we certainly don’t select medical students based on their probability of staying in clinical practice long term.

Its kinda weird, some of yall feel entitled to a spot, and when you dont get it you look at equally qualified Black ppl as the ones taking opportunities, while Black ppl make up like 5-10% of the candidate pool

For anyone keeping track, a Maine Democratic candidate had an SS tattoo on his chest and a Texas Democratic candidate is proposing putting Jews in camps.

1. MCAT tests have a substantial correlation with performance in medical school. 2. Performance in medical school has a substantial correlation with various measures of physician competence. 3. Black scores on the MCAT for the last four decades have been substantially lower than white/asian scores. Around an SD or more. 4. Black mean performance as physicians on various measures of competence have been lower than white/Asian performance. None of the first three assertions can be empirically denied. The evidence is too consistent and replicable. The fourth assertion is not only empirically undeniable. It is logically inevitable.

The fact that some Asians feel entitled to an Ivy League education is precisely why they're not getting selected for these schools. Get some fucking imagination and some damned grit! There are many paths to success.

I understand why many Asian families feel frustrated in elite admissions systems. In intensely competitive environments, there is a real perception — and sometimes evidence — that exceptional academic performance still does not guarantee admission. That feeling should not be dismissed. But admissions committees also confront another reality: if you have 100 applicants from privileged, high-performing educational pipelines with nearly identical scores, resumes, research access, tutoring, and opportunities, it is not irrational to also value the applicant who achieved similar academic success despite poverty, instability, underfunded schools, family hardship, or lack of institutional advantages. That is not abandoning merit. It is recognizing that achievement exists in context. And medicine especially is not merely selecting expert test takers. It is selecting future physicians who will care for human beings across every class, culture, language, and circumstance in society. The irony is that many people who defend “objective merit” often become deeply uncomfortable the moment merit is evaluated in anything broader than a percentile ranking.