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Survey Shows Jewish Students Must File Many Applications to Enter U.S. Medical Schools

March 4, 1948
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A Jewish student has to file ten times as many applications as a white Protestant in order to be admitted to an American medical school, while Catholics and those of Italian ancestry file twice and five times as ##y applications per student as Protestants, according to a survey released today in the American Jewish Congress.

The survey, conducted by the Congress, in cooperation with the Physicians committee Against Discrimination, was based on replies to a questionnaire distributed more than 3,500 practising physicians in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. ##a results covered trends in admission practices over a 25-year period.

The survey revealed that while white Protestants had to file an average of ##ly 1.6 applications for each acceptance received, Jewish students had to file an ###erage of 13.8 applications, Catholics 3.1, and those of Italian ancestry 7.5. An application filed by a Protestant student has a 61.5 percent chance of acceptance, percent, and a Catholic, 31.8 percent.The need for filing multiple applications, the survey showed, places a greater financial burden on minority group members seeking admission to medical schools. During 1935-1939, the average Protestant student spent $19 filing the necessary applications to enter medical school, while the expenses of Catholic and Jewish students averaged $27.57 and $45.93, respectively. After 1939, the figures for Protestant students remained substantially the same, while those for Catholic and Jewish applicants rose to $38.33 and $80.00; respectively.

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