Examining the Barriers and Opportunities to Black Students along the Pre-Med Track

Abstract

For this project, I have engaged in research on one of the biggest impediments to diversifying medicine and eliminating health disparities: the pipeline problem. Black students in the medical professional pipeline face barriers and a lack of opportunities that prohibit their advancement to medical school. In my project, I focus my analysis on Black students’ efforts to successfully matriculate into medical school and how undergraduate institutions play a pivotal role in the process of becoming a physician. To engage in this project, I draw upon several disciplines, because the “pre-med” experience is unique and multifaceted, spanning the disciplines of public health, medicine, sociology, and education. After I did a thorough and synthetic literature review, I conducted qualitative research through interviews with pre-med students to identify resources and constraints that impact attrition, and the extent to which it is racialized. I focus on the inconsistencies between what is said needs to be done to increase the number of Black students matriculating into medical school and whether there is something being done. I find that there are four main areas of barriers: inequalities in college advising, inequalities in access to resources, and pre-med social support inequalities. Based on my findings, I conclude the paper with a few research-informed policy recommendations to address the gaps in pipelines to becoming a physician for Black students in medicine.