Subjective decision making in medical school admissions: Potentials for discrimination

Medical schools place considerable emphasis on admissions interviews in the selection of students. Interviews, with unwritten performance criteria & subjective evaluation, contain the potential for unconscious discrimination against certain groups of applicants. The contribution of interview scores to the total evaluation of 285 M & 56 F applicants for admission in 1977 to one medical school in the US was investigated. Findings reveal that interview scores are counted more heavily for Fs than Ms in arriving at a final ranking for admission. Further, Fs were rated lower in general than Ms on interview evaluations. While the magnitude of the association is small, the combined effects point to a potential for discrimination, however unintended, against F applicants. 3 Tables, 15 References. Modified AA.