SIMULATED MINORITY ADMISSIONS EXERCISE AT LOUISIANA STATE-UNIVERSITY SCHOOL-OF-MEDICINE - AN EVALUATION

The Louisiana State University (LSU) School of Medicine-New Orleans ha s been active in recruiting minority students to create a diverse medi cal student body. Recognizing the need to explore ways to assess minor ity applicants, over the past 10 years, LSU has offered Simulated Mino rity Admissions Exercise (SMAE) workshops to its admission committee m embers. Participants in six of LSU's SMAE workshops were asked to resp ond anonymously to an evaluation form immediately following the worksh op. Sixty of the 64 participants responded. The overall evaluation of the workshops was positive. More than 80% of participants indicated th at due to their participation in SMAE, they knew how to locate and ass ess application data particularly relevant to minority applicants. The results suggest that identifying variables that enhance minority stud ent admission and retention is desirable.