BMJ 2000;320:82-85 ( 8 January )

Papers

Difficulties with anonymous shortlisting of medical school applications and its effects on candidates with non-European names: prospective cohort study

Andrew B Lumb, sub dean for admissions,  Andy Vail, senior medical statistician. 

School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Worsley Medical and Dental Building, Leeds LS2 9NL

Correspondence to A B Lumb: medal{at}leeds.ac.uk

Objective: To assess the feasibility of anonymous shortlisting of applications for medical school and its effect on those with non-European names.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Setting: Leeds school of medicine, United Kingdom.
Subjects: 2047 applications for 1998 entry from the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Intervention: Deletion of all references to name and nationality from the application form.
Main outcome measures: Scoring by two admissions tutors at shortlisting.
Results: Deleting names was cumbersome as some were repeated up to 15 times. Anonymising application forms was ineffective as one admissions tutor was able to identify nearly 50% of candidates classed as being from an ethnic minority group. Although scores were lower for applicants with non-European names, anonymity did not improve scores. Applicants with non-European names who were identified as such by tutors were significantly less likely to drop marks in one particular non-academic area (the career insight component) than their European counterparts.
Conclusions: There was no evidence of benefit to candidates with non-European names of attempting to blind assessment. Anonymising application forms cannot be recommended.


Key messages

  • It is cumbersome to anonymise the current Universities and Colleges Admissions Service form as a candidate's name may appear up to 15 times

  • Anonymised application forms may still be identified as being from candidates from ethnic minority groups

  • More thorough anonymising of application forms, such as deletion of cultural activities, would edit out some personal attributes and may disadvantage these candidates

  • Anonymous assessment of applications cannot be recommended




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