Med school looks to admit more low-income students
Some grads might return to poorer areas to practise, director says
SASKATOON The University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine hopes to start reserving spots for students who come from less fortunate socio-economic backgrounds.
As is the case at medical colleges across Canada and the U.S., medical students in Saskatoon come from families that are wealthier than the general population.
Dr. Barry Ziola, director of admissions for the college, said the school wants to change that trend.
“We know people are more likely to go back and practise in areas they’re from or have a better understanding of,” Ziola said. “We’re hoping that we will create a cadre of physicians eventually that will have that area of interest, or understand the health better of those areas, or go back to a rural area, or want to care for patients in the urban inner city.”
A 2002 study that looked at characteristics of first-year medical students in Canada found 54 per cent came from families with annual household incomes that exceeded $80,000. At the time, only 20 per cent of families in Canada were making that much. A more recent study in 2012 that looked at eastern Canadian medical schools found 17 per cent of students came from households that made at least $150,000 a year. Across the country, only three per cent of families were meeting that threshold.
A proposal to be presented to the University Council next week asks the university to start reserving six of its 100 medical school seats for Saskatchewan students from households that bring in less than $80,000 a year. If approved, five of those reserved seats would come from the 10 seats currently set aside for out-of-province students.
All medical school applicants would first be considered under the regular admissions process, but those who were not accepted and came from a household with an annual income of less than $80,000 would be reconsidered under a diversity and social accountability admissions program.
The program would not apply to aboriginal students, who, if not accepted through the regular admissions process, are reconsidered through an aboriginal admissions program. Ten seats are reserved for aboriginal students each year.
Under the proposed diversity and social accountability admissions program, low-income applicants would still be ranked based on their grades, interview performance and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores, but their applications would be bolstered by their responses to a questionnaire asking if they are single parents, were raised by single parents, are refugees or the children of refugees, spent time in foster care, came from communities of fewer than 4,000 people, or have parents who did not go to university.
Ziola said students he’s talked to have been “very supportive” of the proposed change.
People who were interviewed for medical school this year were surveyed to see if they would qualify under the diversity and social accountability admissions program; 30 of the 80 interviewees who responded to the survey said they would be eligible.
“There’s a need out there and there continues to be a need. I’m convinced of it,” Ziola said.
Being accepted under the diversity and social accountability admissions process would not come with guaranteed bursaries or scholarships, although Ziola said that could change.
“In the financial constraints of the college and province, finding money will be hard, but that is a logical next step,” he said.