University of Virginia Library

Med School Initiates New
Wider Admissions Program

An experimental program designed to
identify capable would-be doctors who
might never be accepted for medical
school under regular admissions criteria
will begin at the University School of
Medicine in June.

The program, for up to 30 students
who have completed at least three years
of college, will feature an eight-week
course in a single organ system. Satisfactory
performance in the course can be
submitted as support of a student's
application to a medical school, to
supplement the usual criteria such as
standardized test scores and recommendations.

The students will be highly promising
individuals, especially in terms of personal
attributes and motivation, who
would be considered academic risks by
the nation's medical schools because of
such factors as low aptitude test scores or
inadequate educational experiences, according
to Dr. Thomas Hunter, chancellor
for medical affairs at the University.

Summer Program

Satisfactory completion of the summer
program would be accepted by
medical schools as additional evidence
that the students might be able to succeed in a
medical course, but would not mean automatic
admission. How well the students do, once
enrolled in a medical school, would provide the
ultimate evaluation of the summer program.

Preference will be given students from
Virginia and the Southern Appalachian area.
Special recruitment efforts are being directed to
colleges in Virginia and Southern Appalachia
including those with predominantly Negro
enrollments as well as those with almost all
white students.

In addition to the course being tuition free,
funds from a special Office of Economic
Opportunity grant through the Association of
American Medical Colleges will be available to
help pay living and travel expenses, along with a
$400 allowance to replace possible summer
earnings, for up to 10 students. Students not
qualifying for financial aid would be responsible
for all of their own expenses.

OEO Money

Nearly $13,000 of the program will be
funded through the OEO money, while the
University will provide a volunteer faculty,
classroom facilities and equipment.

The AAMC received some $300,000 in OEO
money to be used to increase educational
opportunities in medicine and other health
professions for Negro American Indians,
Mexican Americans, disadvantaged whites and
others who have traditionally been unable to
meet normal admissions requirements.

The course will be taught by the volunteer
faculty from the University's regular medical
faculty with concentration on the cardiovascular
system in health and disease. Instruction
areas will include anatomy, physiology, pathology,
microbiology, pharmacology, diagnosis
and treatment. Students will have lectures,
seminars, laboratory exercises and clinical
sessions. Regular medical students will serve as
tutor-counselors.

A similar program was held at the
University's School of Law last summer under
the auspices of the Council on Legal Education
Opportunity (CLEO). Of the 40 students
enrolled in that program, nine entered the
University's law school in September while 27
went to other law schools.

Not designed as a transition program, the
medical school course does not represent any
effort to offset deficiencies in the students'
previous education.