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THE MCAT WAS DESIGNED TO FAIL (ON PURPOSE):
Many medical schools in the 19th century either did not accept white women or non-white men and women.
In response to this, medical schools were established specifically to teach Black doctors or white women.
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Many medical schools in the 19th century either did not accept white women or non-white men and women.
In response to this, medical schools were established specifically to teach Black doctors or white women.
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I was surprised when I learned that women made up around 5% of the total of physicians between 1880 and 1910, thanks to schools such as Women's Medical College of Chicago and Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.
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Similarly, there were numerous schools such as @MeharryMedical, that provided medical education to Black men and women.
Image source: Meharry Medical Archives
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Image source: Meharry Medical Archives
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In total, between 1868 and 1900, 14 schools were established to teach Black men and women to become physicians.
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Image source: Meharry Medical Archives
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Image source: Meharry Medical Archives
Some quick math reveals that, of the ~150 medical schools at the time, about 10% accepted future Black doctors.
So what happened?
Image source: Howard Nursing School Archives
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So what happened?
Image source: Howard Nursing School Archives
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So what happened?
The early 1900s saw calls for "reform" in medical education.
Some of the reasons were good, notably *highly* variable standards across medical schools (some physicians started their own just to make money).
But other reasons weren't so great...
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The early 1900s saw calls for "reform" in medical education.
Some of the reasons were good, notably *highly* variable standards across medical schools (some physicians started their own just to make money).
But other reasons weren't so great...
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Notably, "well educated" physicians had to compete with numerous physicians who were not well-trained.
Thus, there was too much supply for the demand, and doctors were not making enough money.
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Thus, there was too much supply for the demand, and doctors were not making enough money.
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Interestingly, Miller and Weiss, reported that the American Medical Association "covertly funded" the Flexner report in order to protect the financial interests of its members by limiting the number of new physicians entering the profession.
Source:
8/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/24632042
Source:
8/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/24632042
Anyways,
Dr. Flexner's report set off a whole lot of consequences...
including the disbanding of most medical schools that accepted women and Black students.
He argued for racial segregation but not gender segregation in medicine (I wonder why -__- ).
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Dr. Flexner's report set off a whole lot of consequences...
including the disbanding of most medical schools that accepted women and Black students.
He argued for racial segregation but not gender segregation in medicine (I wonder why -__- ).
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One of these consequences was the MCAT. It was developed in the late 1920s, and would become the first widely used standardized admissions test in the US.
In the 1940s, the test pivoted away from academic aptitude and towards ensuring physicians "looked the part."
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In the 1940s, the test pivoted away from academic aptitude and towards ensuring physicians "looked the part."
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Why? Because in 1936, the AMA's Committee on Medical Education debated a resolution that recommended that admission to medical school be based on "character, personality, adaptability, and social fitness."
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The original design of the MCAT was slammed because of its inability to measure "character."
The results of a 1937 survey by the AMA yielded that most physicians felt that medical schools had to "get men with the 'right background'"
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The results of a 1937 survey by the AMA yielded that most physicians felt that medical schools had to "get men with the 'right background'"
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By the early 1940s, even FA Moss, the MCAT's "inventor" began to agree with (or cave to) the AMA's desire to have a test that was more...shall we say... exclusive.
"Moss.... altered his test in ways that were culturally biased toward "old stock" American men."
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"Moss.... altered his test in ways that were culturally biased toward "old stock" American men."
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Here is an example of the deliberate ways the @AAMC_MCAT weaponized the MCAT against "undesirable" medical school applicants such as recent immigrants.
Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3218063
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Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3218063
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Another way medical schools and the AAMC excluded undesirable students was through quotas.
This was necessary because undesired groups like Catholics and Jews were still getting into medical school despite the MCAT being designed for them to fail.
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This was necessary because undesired groups like Catholics and Jews were still getting into medical school despite the MCAT being designed for them to fail.
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Following World War II, the United States saw a massive shift in the way we perceived race and ethnicity.
Whereas before WWII where American Jews were "othered" and treated as not white, the majority of race-based vitriol was directed at Black Americans.
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Whereas before WWII where American Jews were "othered" and treated as not white, the majority of race-based vitriol was directed at Black Americans.
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This is when we started to see quotas relaxed against groups like Jews and Catholics, but not Black students.
In 1956, for example, only 28 of 80 schools even accepted Black students.
Image source: Meharry Medical College
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In 1956, for example, only 28 of 80 schools even accepted Black students.
Image source: Meharry Medical College
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The @AAMC_MCAT was then redesigned *again* this time in a way where African Americans consistently did worse than White applicants.
This was the perfect excuse for medical schools to deny Black applicants - they "didn't meet qualifications."
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This was the perfect excuse for medical schools to deny Black applicants - they "didn't meet qualifications."
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Let us fast forward to today...
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The @AAMC_MCAT is still being used as a tool of oppression!
Did you know that to obtain accommodations (often already granted through their universities), disabled students have to pay $1-2000 for a separate psychoeducational assessment?
@EthicalStudents
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Did you know that to obtain accommodations (often already granted through their universities), disabled students have to pay $1-2000 for a separate psychoeducational assessment?
@EthicalStudents
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Black students are being forced to take the MCAT despite federal occupation of some cities, or having their tests cancelled last minute... repeatedly.
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MCAT test takers and their family members are testing positive for COVID-19 soon after MCAT, implying infectiousness at testing centers.
@EthicalStudents
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@EthicalStudents
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So I guess the MCAT didn't fail...it is doing exactly what it was designed to do: keep medicine for only the White, male, high-income, able bodies folks* among us.
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*I apologize for not being able to speak more about queer applicants, I didn't find anything in the archives I searched. I'll do a more extensive one another time*
/fin
/fin
