SUNY Downstate Medical Center - Iatros Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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that a farmboy from Kansas or an oilman ' s son from Texas might make to the Downstate academic com- munity. Therefore, to what degree can we justify a desire for greater enroHment of students from other parts of the country? Isn ' t lack of geographic diver- sity a small price to pay for all the benefits received as a result of state subsidy? In an age where medicine is increasingly in- volved in social and political affairs, and demands are made on the physician that require a more receptive, aware, and frilly-rounded individual, the function of the medical school must be to provide an environment for continued growth. We should look to the future to see how Downstate ' s cultural, social, and political horizons can be broadened from within its own geographic confines. Reginald Trenthan Master s Degree in engineering Alfred Pennisi came do« n from Upstate Joseph Marino Manhattan College bv wav of Italv

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The argument for wide geographic distrihution, howexer, is not as pertinent as that for diversit ' among indi iduals in general. It is probably true that all of the ariables mentioned have a degree of ar ing representation in Neu ' York Cit ' alone, and that it is not necessary to search far and wide for students with widely divergent backgrounds. Howe er, due to a combination of factors, including prior selection of students, local cultural forces which work to interest particular groups of people in medicine, and Downstates present philosophy con- cerning the selection of students, a somewhat limited type of student finds his way to our school. In all fairness it must be stated that there is some degree of diversity in our student body. In our class alone, 72 different undergraduate schools are represented and these run the gamut from small New England colleges to Ivy League schools, large Midwestern and Western uni ersities, and New York Cit) ' colleges. We also have a small number of transfer students from European and otlier . merican medical schools. We are therefore not without our geographic diversity, but when the distribution is broken down into numbers the problem presents itself .Appro.ximately 60 f of our class is from New York State colleges, with 485 coming from New York Cit schools. If New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the New England states are taken as a unit, this encompasses 86? of our class. Fourteen percent of our class comes from Ivy League schools. In addition, a number of students coming from schools other than those mentioned are originalK ' from the Nortlieast; the reverse is not true. The situation is not simple. Even if greater geographic representation e.xisted, this would not necessarily guarantee greater diversity in the areas already discussed. College is an environment where exposure to various points of view and Hfe styles should take place. Yet medical students in the past, and to a great degree today, conform to a specific mold. They are basically compulsive indi iduals, who have spent a large part of their undergraduate training, whether by choice or neces- sity, competing in a rigorous academic tournament for the ul- timate prize of standing o er a noxious gross anatomy table. This contest demands that the student spend many hours in a laboratory, and if he chooses, poring over his books. Is it therefore possible for a diverse medical school population to exist? More important, is it the responsibility of an admissions committee to be involved with these matters or should the academic medical hierarchy continue to congratulate itself on its (successful?) selection of the stereotype? At Downstate, the desire for a more varied student popula- tion is tempered by the important fact that our school is a member of the State University of New York, and is therefore supported to a great extent by the state. It is unlikely that the legislature in . lbany is that concerned with the contribution Joel Bass Brooklyn College Alan Rote Harvard Colle ge

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Sometimes forgetting is a blessing, e en in the medical profession. Faced with the new problems of internship and residency, we forget the trauma that preceded it all. No matter what our feelings, it is a seller ' s market, and the kicking and clawing is o er for all but the most completely spastic, . pproaching the front doors of medical school was a different business, and the market was far from bullish for many of us. Depending on how eiirh ' we began to pursue our present demanding mistress, our li es danced to her demands. The pre-med realized that failure to breach tlie doors left him outfitted for little else of distinction. He wasn ' t even too sure that whanging away at bio with all the other grubby preemies was any kind of a sure passport to his ambitions. The well rounded guy who decided on medicine late was impressive with his arty background, but then had to agonize over calculus and chem and hope his summer school physics would be acceptable. If not, he might have to rather sheepishly resume his career in anthropology. So, individually we danced to the tune, sized up the schools, and wondered whether we ' d be among the .50 to 60 per cent who didn ' t get in anywhere, let alone the school of our particular dreams. .admissions committees groaned along with us. The horn of plent ' has its hazards; what hundred do you select from a tliousand, what one out of ten bright unbelievable candidates? Despite all the good men you turn away, ou manage to accept a few real ringers. Not even the computer has a sixth sense; but it, at least, isn ' t programmed for ulcers. You sit in judgment solemnly, cogitate, ruminate, pray, and flip a quarter. There are some efforts afoot to make this annual rite of fall less of a dance macabre for all parties. One example is the introduction of a standard ad- mission form. Heretofore, each school had its own version, asking such varied in depth questions as daddy ' s occupation (elitism? fiscal Jim Crow?) or requiring such things as a biography in your very own handwriting (calligraphy? graphology?). If enough schools adopt tlie new form, as has Down- state, the applicant can just slip in a few carbons and type away, reducing his work by about 90 per cent. Another bright light on the admissions scene is a new social consciousness. Project SEEK is operating at Downstate to increase minority admissions to the profession of medicine. The method is to find fresh- men in the neighboring colleges and offer them tu- toring, summer jobs in medical fields, and moral support, with a guaranteed place in the medical Face sheet of the iiiiiform application blank developeti nnder the auspices of the Grouj) on .Student Affairs of the Associa- tion of . nierican Medical Colleges. % .« APPUCATIOX FOR ADMISSION ■ zn. ' - ■ , , „ • ' T . rjii«n .p Un.«.J Sum D a n • » ' ■- - -D »1Q CXtoiSf J,, :; li ' - ' K v g .-» Q «■£ aejm. ■ ■■ °!,%% ' school if their academic standards and interest are maintained. Is this reverse racism? Will black doc- tors go back to the ghetto or flee to the suburbs with w hitey in the end? Even if the final marks go down on the dim side of the ledger, the attempt will have been made, and that is a hopeful sign in itself. Like all of medicine, even the recruitment i rocess has its exciting aspects, along with all the strain and pain. The field must, after all, sustain itself with dynamic new blood in an age when the image of the doctor is threatening to become ever more tar- nished. It must also foster the paramedical sister services so necessary to it. Only in this way can medicine remain vital in a vital new age.