Ritual and Authority in Premedical Advisory Committee Evaluation Processes

In this article I examine how premedical committees function to assert power and authority over applicants to medical school, looking at the historical roots of premedical committee processes in the late 1960’s. The main historical document used here is a report entitled “The Buck Hill Falls Conference on Medical Education and the College-Medical-School Interface.” This report shows how premedical committees were seen as a means of social control against the forces of change gripping American society in the late 1960’s. I examine how elements of ritual pervade premedical committee evaluation processes. Premedical committee processes at various schools take a wide variety of forms, but share many features with other rites of passage. Finally, I raise questions on whether our contemporary circumstances fifty-three years later in the year 2021 while we are experiencing the COVID-19 global pandemic warrant abandoning premedical committee evaluations in order to reduce barriers for applicants and support greater diversity within the medical profession.