US medical school racial admissions investigations

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) determined that several prestigious medical schools engaged in unlawful admissions practices by prioritizing racial diversity over merit, violating the 2023 Supreme Court ruling against race-conscious admissions. The DOJ specifically identified George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Services for using essay questions to elicit racial information to circumvent bans on race-based advantages. The investigation found that Black applicants had a higher probability of being selected for interviews and received disproportionately higher scores than comparable Asian applicants, while White and Asian students with higher MCAT scores were sometimes rejected to admit Black and Hispanic applicants with weaker credentials. Similar determinations were made regarding UCLA, Yale, and the University of California, San Diego, with investigations continuing at 15 additional schools.

Following these findings, data from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH) regarding the 2025 admission cycle revealed similar racial and ethnic disparities. Internal data indicated that Black and Hispanic applicants had nearly four times the odds of admission compared to Asian applicants when comparing candidates with identical MCAT scores and grade point averages.

A university spokesperson, John Lucas, defended the process as a “holistic” review that complies with the law, suggesting disparities might stem from factors such as essays or life experiences rather than race alone. Lucas maintained that admission standards “fully comply with the law” and asserted that “no student is admitted on the basis of their race/ethnicity/identity.” He noted that the dataset does not account for specific pathways, such as the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine, which utilize different criteria.