Predicting Physician Assistant Program Matriculation Among Diverse Applicants: The Influences of Underrepresented Minority Status, Age, and Gender.

Abstract

Health professions schools can foster a diverse medical workforce by ensuring equal educational access for students of varied backgrounds. This study examined how physician assistant (PA) applicants' demographic characteristics and prior academic history affected likelihood of PA program matriculation. The authors used national application data from the 2015-2016 PA application cycle to investigate associations between applicants' underrepresented minority (URM) status, age, and gender, and likelihood of matriculating into a PA program. Effects were examined alone and after adjusting for other demographics and potential confounders (number of applications submitted, patient care hours, academic achievement). The authors tested whether odds of matriculation differed among demographic subgroups with and without current Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) scores. In univariate models, likelihood of matriculation was lower among URM, older, and male applicants. In fully adjusted models, the URM effect became nonsignificant and the gender effect reversed, while older applicants remained less likely to matriculate. URM and age, but not gender, effects differed by GRE status; only URMs and older applicants without current GRE scores were less likely to matriculate than non-URMs and younger applicants. Findings that URMs, older individuals, and men had lower matriculation odds changed when controlling for academic achievement and GRE status, indicating the importance of these components in the admissions process. URM and age findings were contingent on GRE status such that odds of matriculation decreased among URM and older applicants without GRE scores, suggesting that standardized test requirements may be a barrier to PA workforce diversity.