Are Disadvantaged and Underrepresented Minority Applicants More Likely to Apply to the Program in Medical Education-Health Equity?

Purpose To determine whether underrepresented minority (URM) students and students from disadvantaged backgrounds were more likely to apply to a combined MD-master's degree program designed to train physician leaders in providing care to underserved communities. Method University of California, San Diego (UCSD), School of Medicine applications from the 2008-2010 incoming classes were analyzed. American Medical College Application Service and UCSD secondary application data were used to build a logistic regression model to determine which characteristics were most associated with applying to the MD-master's degree Program in Medical Education-Health Equity (PRIME-HEq). Results Of the total UCSD applications reviewed from disadvantaged students, 61.5% also applied to PRIME-HEq (319/519) compared with 23.5% of nondisadvantaged students (917/3,895, chi(2) = 326.665, P <= .001). Of URM student applications, 55.6% also applied to PRIME-HEq (358/644) compared with 23.3% of non-URM students (878/3,770, chi(2) = 284.654, P <= .001). Results of a backward stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that disadvantaged status was the greatest predictor of applying to PRIME-HEq (odds ratio = 3.15; 95% confidence interval = 2.50-3.966; P <= .001). Conclusions URM students and students from disadvantaged backgrounds were more likely to be interested in a curriculum designed to train them to work with underserved communities. These results suggest that PRIME-HEq, or similarly focused programs, may influence URM and disadvantaged students' application decisions.