Combating attrition

Among students interested in a STEM field at the start of their bachelor’s degree, black students had the highest rates of leaving post-secondary enrollment without a degree (29.3 percent), and the highest rates of switching to a non-STEM field major (36 percent). This, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Education that analyzed STEM attrition rates between 2003 and 2009.

These figures are considerably higher than those among white students (19.8 percent and 28.1 percent, respectively). Hispanic students also had higher attrition rates (23.1 percent and 26.4 percent, respectively) than whites. This raises the question: How can we combat the discrepancy in attrition rates among black pre-meds? What is causing black students to switch at a higher rate?

Aside from academic difficulty, one of the most crucial aspects of the journey to medicine is feeling isolated. It’s a constant strain. The pre-med phase in particular does not foster collaboration. It is as if there’s an academic competition where your best chance of winning the golden prize of a medical school acceptance letter is to avoid altruism at all costs. As a minority or person of color, that puts you at a further disadvantage.

For minority students, the higher you go, the fewer people you see around you who look like you. Thus, there are fewer individuals with similar experiences who can help you stay motivated and supported throughout the process. I wholeheartedly know that one of the major reasons I successfully endured the long and strenuous, yet rewarding, journey to medical school was that I found people who looked like me on the journey with me.

Although scarce, especially as upperclassmen, going through the motions with other pre-medical students of color allowed me to make it through sanely and stay motivated. Even now, other medical students of color continue to offer support to me.

SEE ALSO: One Medical Student’s Mission to Erase the Stigma of Depression

One notable approach to increasing retention rates among pre-med students is one used by the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Recognized by the National Science Foundation and The New York Times as a national model, they have gained attention for their program’s success regarding funneling and retaining minority students in the STEM field. Although their main focus is science and engineering doctoral students, their model can be used as a platform for establishing medically related programs in the future. The model is built on “the premise that, among like-minded students who work closely together, positive energy is contagious. By assembling such a high concentration of high-achieving students in a tightly knit learning community, students continually inspire one another to do more and better.”

Among many things, their model clearly attenuates the isolated feeling in STEM or medical fields for undergraduate minorities.