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  • Are efforts to attract graduate applicants to UK medical schools effective in increasing the participation of under-represented socioeconomic groups? A national cohort study

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Are efforts to attract graduate applicants to UK medical schools effective in increasing the participation of under-represented socioeconomic groups? A national cohort study
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  • Published on: 29 May 2018
    COMMENT: Are efforts to attract graduate applicants to UK medical schools effective in increasing the participation of under-represented socioeconomic groups? A national cohort study.

    Dear Editor,

    I have read the article entitled “Are efforts to attract graduate applicants to UK medical schools effective in increasing the participation of under-represented socioeconomic groups? A national cohort study” by B Kumwenda et al, published in BMJ Open 2018 Vol 8(2): e018946 and would like to make some contributions.

    The article was pertinent in considering the socioeconomic backgrounds of graduate applicants to medical schools in the UK: as referenced by the article, it is widely recognised that there is a lack of diversity in terms of socioeconomic background of medical students1.

    As a graduate-entry medical student myself, I was interested to note that the study only considered ‘a subset of graduate applicants’ who had sat the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT). The study briefly mentioned the Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT), but I believe a key limitation in this study’s usefulness is in terms of only considering applicants who have taken the UKCAT. This could be particularly relevant when considering graduate applicants and their socioeconomic backgrounds: the GAMSAT is a considerable barrier to applying for GEM. It currently costs £262-£312 (including both early and late registrations) for UK applicants to register for the GAMSAT2, compared to £65-£87 to sit the UKCAT3. It is interesting to note that the UKCAT Consortium currently offer a bursary scheme, offering bursaries to cover the full test fee, for ca...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.