An assessment of a premedical program in terms of its ability to serve black Americans.

If special programs to increase the number of blacks gaining entry into health professional schools can identify whom they best serve, changes in either the selection process or the curriculum can increase their effectiveness. As one part of an evaluation of the effectiveness of the various components of the prehealth professions program at Xavier University of Louisiana (XU), black freshmen entering the university from 1981 to 1983 in the university's premedical program were tracked to determine who gained entry into medical and related mainline health professional schools upon graduation.The analyses indicate that high-ability black freshmen entering Xavier are more than twice as likely to gain admission into medical school than are their black counterparts nationally, and that this difference is statistically significant beyond the 99 percent level. Fifty-seven percent of high-ability black freshmen (those with American College Testing [ACT] composite scores of 24 or above, the top 2 percent of blacks nationally) who entered XU's biology or chemistry programs during the period under study gained entry into medical school upon graduation, whereas a study by the Educational Testing Service indicates that only 24 percent of similar blacks nationally gain entry into any graduate or professional school.The present study suggests that XU's premedical program serves those blacks who are not in the high-ability group (those whose ACT scores are below 24) at least as well (relative to the national average) as it does the top students. It therefore seems reasonable to assume that XU's premedical program is successful because it increases the probability that students gain admission into health professional schools rather than because of any preselection of students. These results are similar to those obtained from a comparable analysis of XU's prepharmacy program, the other component of prehealth at Xavier.

Predictors of MCAT scores for black Americans.

If minority students likely to score low on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) can be identified in advance, they can be advised to take existing preparatory programs, or programs can be developed to meet their needs. Correlation coefficients for a number of available independent variables with MCAT scores were determined for a population of premedical students at Xavier University of Louisiana. American College Testing (ACT) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores were found to have similar ability to predict MCAT scores, with a correlation coefficient of 0.64 between ACT composite and MCAT total scores. Correlations of sophomore year grade point average (GPA) with MCAT scores were only slightly weaker. Use of subtest scores for the ACT and SAT, grades in science courses, and Nelson-Denny Reading Test scores did not improve prediction to any real extent, either when used alone or in multiple linear regression analysis. In contrast to some previous studies, predictions for black men were as good as those for black women. Use of only ACT composite and sophomore year GPA together gave correlations only slightly weaker than predictions using a full range of variables; data from ACT composite and sophomore year GPA can be used for calculating predictive equations on many available micro-computers. These procedures may not be applicable to minority students at majority institutions.