Medical School Admissions Program Helps Disadvantaged Students Realize Dream - 1, 2

Of the 81 undergraduates selected to participate in the inaugural year of the program in 2003, 39 students (or 48 percent) are currently enrolled in medical schools (and one student enrolled in dental school). And of the 69 added to the program the following year, 45 students (or 65 percent) have been accepted to medical school and plan to enroll in the fall of 2007.

Moreover, by reaching students from diverse backgrounds, JAMP is fueling a student body at Texas' medical institutions that more closely reflects that of the general population.

 

Seventy percent of the program participants are minorities, and minorities make up 42 percent of those students accepted to medical schools.

"I am now about to enter medical school and I know it's going to be a very busy time in my life, but I will never forget what has been given to me and the support I have received through this program," said Renee de la Torre, who graduated from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and now is attending medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio. "I fully intend to give back to the program that has helped me and some of my peers so greatly," she added.

Although the intent was to launch the program with 128 students, state funding issues limited the first pool of candidates to 81. That biennium, $4 million was set aside in state funding for the program.

Additional budget constraints prompted consecutive decreases in state funding to the program in 2004 (to $3.5 million) and in 2005 (to $3.3 million), resulting in cuts to the number of slots available to students in those years. In each of those years, 69 additional students were added to the program.

"Perhaps the greatest aspect of this program is that the program is reaching students from disadvantaged socio-economic status that might never have had an opportunity to go to medical school – and it's reaching them in all corners of the state," said Budge Mabry, who oversees the JAMP effort for The University of Texas System.

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