As the U.S. faces a growing doctor shortage, medical schools are struggling to meet demand and reflect the nation’s racial diversity, with shortfalls even more severe among underrepresented minorities. These efforts face new obstacles with the Trump administration’s cuts to medical research funding and federal policies that make diversity efforts more difficult to sustain.
According to 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data, Hispanic or Latino people represent 19.5% of the U.S. population, but Association of American Medical Colleges data from the same year shows that only 6.5% of doctors come from that demographic; Black people make up 13.7% of the population, but 5.2% of doctors; and Native Americans and Alaska Natives are 1.3% of the U.S. population, but just .3% of doctors.
While the total number of first-year medical school enrollees rose 0.8% in the 2024-2025 academic year, AAMC data indicates a decline in enrollment from groups historically underrepresented in medicine. Black or African American students made up 7% of total matriculants in 2024-2025, down from 10% in 2023-2024; matriculants of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin comprised 5.9% of total matriculants in 2024-2025, down from 12.7% the previous year; and Native American or Alaska Native students made up .15% of total matriculants in 2024-2025, down from 1.1% in 2023-2024.
Why Diversity in Medicine Matters
Racial concordance — Black patients being treated by Black doctors, for example — can improve trust, quality of care and health outcomes, experts say. More doctors from underrepresented racial minorities can help address health care gaps for those populations.
Patients of color have better outcomes with doctors who share their language or culture, says Dr. Tracy Kedian, associate dean of admissions at the T.H. Chan School of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts. In Worcester, where about 25% of residents are Hispanic or Latino, her Spanish-speaking patients value direct communication in their native language.
Speaking Spanish with her patients “broke down one barrier for me,” Kedian says. “They were able to trust me. If I had to talk with them about difficult changes or medications with side effects or tests to do, they were much more likely to be accepting of treatment programs and medical workups than if I had been someone who really didn’t relate to their background at all.”
“The driving force behind all of this is making sure that we produce the best physicians who can take the best care of patients,” she adds. “There are so many people out there who have the academic qualifications to go to medical school, but obviously there’s so much more to becoming a physician than grades.”
[READ: NIH Cuts to University Research Funding: What to Know]
Why and Where Access Barriers Exist
Experts say underrepresented minorities face numerous barriers to medical school admission, including:
— Limited exposure to careers in medicine.
— Poor advising and greater discouragement from academic advisers, compared with white students.
— Lack of familiarity with the medical school application process.
— Fewer opportunities for medical volunteerism, clinical shadowing, extracurricular activities, mentorship and internships.
— Lack of diversity in medical school admissions committees and faculty.
— Financial obstacles, including the high cost of medical school along with undergraduate debt.
— Parental income and educational background.
— Inability to pay for Medical College Admission Test prep classes or the exam.
— Poor academic preparation for college.
Experts say emphasis on undergraduate GPA and MCAT scores creates another barrier for underrepresented minorities, and reassessing their weight in admissions could help diversify med school classes.
While there’s long been a correlation between high MCAT scores and medical school success, some research indicates that most students with midrange scores also succeed, but are often overlooked in admissions.
“An applicant can score in the 70th percentile on the MCAT and those students are just as likely to be successful, academically and in other ways, as someone who gets in the 95th percentile,” Kedian says. “MCATs are very important, but the way an admissions team and an institution interprets those results can allow for people from a broader range of backgrounds to have access to medical school.”
On average, Asian and white students apply to medical school with higher GPAs and MCAT scores compared to Black and Hispanic or Latino applicants, and research shows strong correlation between high MCAT scores and high parental income.
Some organizations, such as AAMC, offer free MCAT prep resources.
[Read: Ways Medical School Applicants Can Show Diversity Beyond Race, Ethnicity]
Newer Barriers to Medical School Diversity
Barriers to medical school for minority students have grown, especially after the 2023 Supreme Court ruling banning race-based admissions. As federal diversity efforts are rolled back, medical schools are reconsidering or removing diversity essay prompts, raising concerns about equitable representation in medicine.
“In the wake of the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision on the consideration of race in admissions and state-level policies ending funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, medical schools are operating in a new environment,” Dr. David A. Acosta, AAMC chief diversity and inclusion officer, wrote in an AAMC press release in January. “In order to continue to recruit and matriculate strong classes, it is critical that schools support pathways programs and use effective race-neutral admissions practices and tools, such as holistic review. The AAMC and our member medical schools remain committed to increasing the number of students from historically underrepresented groups.”
How Med Schools Are Breaking Access Barriers
Some schools offer accelerated pathway programs that create faster routes from a bachelor’s degree to a medical degree or early exposure for K-12 students.
These programs “intend to clear the pathway to medicine and science by ensuring that students have the necessary knowledge, skills and experiences that improve their access to medical and or graduate school,” Norma Poll-Hunter, senior director for the AAMC Human Capital Portfolio, wrote in an email.
The College of Medicine at Drexel University in Pennsylvania, for example, offers a one-year master’s pathway into the M.D. program for students who’ve faced hardship or health care disparities. Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree and MCAT score, and submit an essay. Those admitted receive conditional acceptance to the medical school if they meet academic and professional standards.
Some pathway programs de-emphasize or waive the MCAT and aim to improve health outcomes by recruiting diverse students, particularly those underrepresented in medicine, economically disadvantaged or first-generation college graduates.
For example, UMass Chan’s pre-medical pathway program draws talented students from financially and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds by offering coaching, academic help and test preparation, Kedian says. Many lack resources at home or access to a rigorous science education, so the program provides support and early exposure to the medical field.
[Read: What It Means to Be a Disadvantaged Medical School Applicant.]
The cost of medical school — over $70,000 annually at some private institutions — is a major barrier, especially for students from underrepresented backgrounds. Public school costs, although often lower than private schools, can also deter some, Kedian says. Full-time in-state students at UMass Chan pay $40,366 a year, per U.S. News data, and medical school usually takes four years.
Some schools offer financial aid to reduce costs. The amount is often higher at private schools, thanks to larger endowments, Kedian says.
As a public school, UMass Chan offers the Learning Contract, which writes off $5,568 in tuition for students who complete four years of service time practicing primary care in Massachusetts or as a specialty physician in a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area, she says.
Recent National Institutes of Health funding cuts have caused UMass Chan to scale back not only on research but also some financial aid, she says. But some schools can still ease the burden through scholarships.
The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, for example, offers 15 scholarships and two funds “to support students whose gender, race, ethnic, cultural and/or national background contribute to the diversity of the student body,” according to its website.
Others, like the School of Medicine at University of New Mexico, offer lower in-state tuition — $15,328 — in addition to pathway programs to ease the transition to medical school. Aimed at addressing the state’s doctor shortage, it’s open to New Mexico high school graduates and members of local tribes or pueblos.
For many students, exposure is crucial to believing a career in medicine is achievable, Kedian says.
“There’s a saying that if you can’t see it, you can’t be it,” she says. “So we bring those students who are really promising but have less advantage to the campus and make them part of our community and expose them to medical students and opportunities that help them say, ‘I could be a successful physician, too.’ When your physician workforce comes from the community, provided they’re qualified, they’ll do a better job of taking care of the community.”
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How Medical Schools Are Improving Access for Underrepresented Minorities originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 05/06/25: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
