Minority Enrollment Increases at University of California Medical Schools in 2002
The percentage of first-year American-Indian, African-American and Hispanic students at University of California medical schools increased to 16.5% this year from 11.9% in 2001, the Sacramento Bee reports. Minority enrollment rose at all five UC medical schools -- Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego and Berkeley. School officials said the increase is related to better recruitment, strong graduate outreach programs and lower housing costs in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, the Bee reports. UC officials "have been concerned" about the low minority enrollment since 1996, when voters approved Proposition 209, which prevents state schools from considering race in admissions. Before 1996, minority student enrollment in UC medical schools was "consistently greater" than 20%, according to the Bee. Michael Drake, UC's vice president for health affairs, said, "We are greatly encouraged to see the positive trend in enrollment of underrepresented minorities. These results indicate that our efforts to increase the attractiveness of our programs to an ever-widening pool of applicants are beginning to show success" (Hardy, Sacramento Bee, 10/10).
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