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That’s one of the conclusions reached by a group of medical school admissions deans who recently gathered at the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College.
The workshop, spearheaded by Michael McGrath at the Center of Inquiry, was designed to begin a comprehensive discussion on the relationship between liberal arts education and medical education.
"What we discovered during our time together was that medical schools really do want liberally educated, well-rounded, empathetic people," says McGrath, who spent 30 years as professor of chemistry and pre-medical advisor at the College of the Holy Cross. "That might surprise some people who might think you need to be a straight A scientist. The reality is that doctors must understand ethics and be able to relate to patients and their families in the broadest possible sense."
Admissions deans who attended the program at Wabash College included Gerry Foster of Harvard, Beth Bailey of Virginia, Andy Frantz from Columbia, Liliana Montano at Cornell, Harold Friedman of Dartmouth, Lloyd Michael of Baylor, Sylvia Robertson from the University of Chicago, Keat Sanford of Connecticut, Karen Baxter of Indiana, Joe Pisano of Tulane, Carol Elam of Kentucky, Clarice Fooks from the University of Cincinnati, John Hansen of Rochester, Albert Kirby of Case Western Reserve, Chris Leadem of Arizona, Myles Sheehan of Loyola, and Robert Sabalis, of the Association of American Medical Colleges Office of Student Programs.
Wabash College chemistry professor Scott Feller participated in the conference and said, "I was struck by the tremendous overlap between the things the medical school deans of admission were looking for and the goals of the faculty at Wabash. When the deans talked about the importance of the humanities and the need for students to struggle with important questions about society, I immediately thought of our Cultures and Traditions course. When they emphasized the need to show intellectual curiosity and the ability to explore a problem in depth, I saw the importance of our undergraduate research program in a new light. The topic of ethics came up again and again. From their discussions I was left with the feeling that they wished every college operated under a system like our Gentleman’s Rule."
The conference began by looking at the makeup of the applicant pool and the entering classes at each medical school. The percentage of applicants who came from a liberal arts college varied widely from school to school. However, most of the schools reported that the percentage of liberal arts graduates who were accepted was higher than the percentage of these students in their overall applicant pool. There also was evidence presented that suggested liberal arts graduates were over-represented among students gaining honors in medical school.
According to statistics in the 2000-2001 Medical School Admissions Requirement Book, students who majored in anthropology, economics, English, foreign languages, history, philosophy, political science, and psychobiology were accepted into medical schools at a higher percentage than the applicant pool in general (50.5% vs. 47.3%).
Other topics of the workshop included an intensive discussion of the qualities—both intellectual and personal—that medical schools desire in entering medical students. All of the participants agreed that medicine itself is a liberal art, and the best preparation for medicine was as broad an education as possible beyond the minimum science courses required by all medical schools.
"While a liberal arts education is certainly not the only way to develop these characteristics, they are the sort of intellectual and character traits that liberal arts colleges directly address in their curricula and their overall environment," says McGrath.
"These include things like critical thinking, problem solving, intellectual curiosity, leadership, collaborative learning abilities, ability to accept criticism, altruism, toleration of ambiguity, etc."
Among the findings of the conference were:
• Students should major in their passion and pursue education that prepares them for life and not just medical school;
• Medical schools are looking for students who demonstrate a good mix of interpersonal and academic skills;
• Medical schools want students with the humility to admit what they don’t know and the information processing skills to find out whatever they need to deal with a new problem;
• Medical schools want students with a demonstrated passion for life-long learning since the field changes so fast that last year’s knowledge may already be obsolete
• Medical schools want students who can talk about pressing ethical issues in medicine during an interview;
• Medical schools want students who have had broad educational and life experiences so that they will be comfortable dealing with a culturally diverse patient population; and
• Medical schools want students to be confident in interacting with faculty members.
"This conference also showed that students who graduated from a liberal arts college are accepted at a higher percentage than their representation in the applicant pool of all but one of the schools attending our conference," adds McGrath.
The conference comes against the backdrop of applications to medical school dropping for the sixth year in a row. McGrath said he’s not especially worried about that statistic, because for him, the applicant pool should be more about quality than quantity. Still, he concedes it’s important for the field to continue attracting high-quality applicants who want to be healers.
"I think there’s always a crisis, because we’re always trying to find good people for medical schools," McGrath says. "Being a doctor is more than passing objective tests; if it came to that we’re all in trouble. That’s where the liberal arts experience comes in.
"I think it’s safe to say that all medical school admissions deans are looking for students with intellectual passion and curiosity, regardless of their major."
The Center of Inquiry will continue to develop a systematic methodology to determine elements in a liberal arts education that are most beneficial for students preparing for medical school.
For more information or to participate in the inquiry, please contact Mr. McGrath by email at (mcgrathm@wabash.edu).
The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts is a catalyst for reshaping liberal arts education in the 21st century. Through the work of the Center of Inquiry, the relevance and efficacy of the liberal arts is explored, tested, and promoted. The Center of Inquiry hopes to ensure that the nature and value of a liberal arts education are widely understood, and, as a result, the central place of the liberal arts in American higher education will be reestablished.
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