Participation in college laboratory research apprenticeships among students considering careers in medicine

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the prevalence of college laboratory research apprenticeship (CLRA) participation among students considering medical careers and to examine the relationship between CLRA participation and medical-school acceptance among students who applied to medical school. METHODS: We used multivariate logistic regression to identify predictors of: 1) CLRA participation in a national cohort of 2001–2006 Pre-Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) Questionnaire (PMQ) respondents and 2) among those PMQ respondents who subsequently applied to medical school, medical-school acceptance by June 2013, reporting adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). RESULTS: Of 213,497 PMQ respondents in the study sample (81.2% of all 262,813 PMQ respondents in 2001–2006), 72,797 (34.1%) reported CLRA participation. Each of under-represented minorities in medicine (URM) race/ethnicity (vs. white, aOR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.01–1.06), Asian/Pacific Islander race/ethnicity (vs. white, aOR: 1.20; 95% CI: 1.17–1.22), and high school summer laboratory research apprenticeship (HSLRA) participation (aOR: 3.95; 95% CI: 3.84–4.07) predicted a greater likelihood of CLRA participation. Of the 213,497 PMQ respondents in the study sample, 144,473 (67.7%) had applied to medical school and 87,368 (60.5% of 144,473 medical-school applicants) had been accepted to medical school. Each of female gender (vs. male, aOR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.16–1.22), URM race/ethnicity (vs. white, aOR: 3.91; 95% CI: 3.75–4.08), HSLRA participation (aOR: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.03–1.19), CLRA participation (aOR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.09–1.15), college summer academic enrichment program participation (aOR: 1.26; 95% CI: 1.21–1.31), and higher MCAT score (per point increase, aOR: 1.31; 95% CI: 1.30–1.31) predicted a greater likelihood of medical-school acceptance. CONCLUSIONS: About one-third of all PMQ respondents had participated in CLRAs prior to taking the MCAT, and such participation was one of the several variables identified that were independently associated with medical-school acceptance.