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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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Medical education and training
Research
Are efforts to attract graduate applicants to UK medical schools effective in increasing the participation of under-represented socioeconomic groups? A national cohort study
  1. Ben Kumwenda1,
  2. Jennifer Cleland1,
  3. Rachel Greatrix2,
  4. Rhoda Katharine MacKenzie1,
  5. Gordon Prescott3
  1. 1 Centre for Healthcare Education Research and Innovation, Institute of Education for Medical and Dental Sciences, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
  2. 2 UKCAT Consortium, Nottingham, UK
  3. 3 Medical Statistics Team, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
  1. Correspondence to Ben Kumwenda; r01bk15{at}abdn.ac.uk

Abstract

Introduction Attracting graduates was recommended as a means of diversifying the UK medical student population. Graduates now make up nearly a quarter of the total medical student population. Research to date has focused on comparing the sociodemographic characteristics of applicants to and/or students on traditional and graduate entry programmes (GEMs), yet GEMs account for only 40% of the graduate medical student population. Thus, we aimed to compare the sociodemographic characteristic and outcomes of graduates and non-graduate applicants across a range of programmes.

Methods This was an observational study of 117 214 applicants to medicine who took the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) from 2006 to 2014 and who applied to medical school through Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). We included applicant demographics, UKCAT total score and offers in our analysis. Applicants were assigned as graduates or non-graduates on the basis of their highest qualification. Multiple logistic regression was used to predict the odds of receiving an offer, after adjusting for confounders.

Results Irrespective of graduate or non-graduate status, most applicants were from the highest socioeconomic groups and were from a white ethnic background. Receiving an offer was related to gender and ethnicity in both graduates and non-graduates. After adjusting for UKCAT score, the OR of an offer for graduates versus non-graduates was approximately 0.5 (OR=0.48, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.49).

Discussion Our findings indicate that the aim of diversifying the medical student population on socioeconomic grounds by attracting graduates has been only marginally successful. Graduate applicants from widening access backgrounds are less likely than others to be offered a place at medical school. Different approaches must be considered if medicine is to attract and select more socially diverse applicants.

  • medical school admissions
  • graduates
  • ukcat
  • widening access
  • statistical analysis

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018946

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors RKMcK led the funding bid which was cowritten by JC and GP and reviewed by RG. RG advised on the nature of the data. BK managed the data and planned and carried out the data analysis under the supervision of GP. JC guided the first draft of the introduction and discussion sections of this paper. BK and GP wrote the first drafts of the methods and results sections. JC edited the drafts. All authors reviewed and agreed the final draft of the paper.

    • Funding This study is part of Ben Kumwenda’s doctoral programme of research funded by the UKCAT Research Panel, of which JC is a member and RG the Administrator.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available as the datasets are held in safe haven.