It has already been stated that the U of U has a certain number of students that they accept from each school in the state and that is true. They also feel like they need to have a more diverse class to make up for the overrepresentation of white,
male, LDS physicians practicing in the state than other groups. Then comes the fact that nationwide there are more female medical students than male students. Finally in the last few decades the U has desired to have students with "life experiences" more than most medical schools. That pretty much explains their philosophy and admission practices. If you want a little historical perspective, you can read more below. Sometimes I feel that I could write a book on this, but really what would be the point?

In the 1970s when I applied to medical school, the U of U took more white males and more returned missionaries than they do now. Grades and test taking ability appeared to be a high priority and their students did very well on tests. Some students could get in after being interested in other things for three years and then taking the MCAT at the end of their junior year at BYU, doing well and applying. Those times have changed for the most part.

The U of U let me in but I had excellent grades, good test scores, publications and a tenured MD/PhD professor at Cal Berkeley (I graduated from BYU but spent summers at Cal doing research in biophysics) who wrote that I was the best undergrad student researcher that he had ever had. I was accepted to the U of U Med school, paid $100 to hold a place in the class and promptly wrote them a nice letter thanking them for accepting me but declining once I was accepted at Baylor College of Medicine. Sometime in the med to late 1980s the U of U changed and started prioritizing diversity and "life experiences."

I've had two sons go into medicine. The first went to the U of U, had excellent grades, scored in the 95% on the MCAT, etc and got an interview but not accepted. He was accepted to two other medical schools and now has 13 months left in his ophthalmology residency. The other was outstanding, he had a perfect 4.0 at BYU, highest score possible on the MCAT, 10 publications, great extracurriculars, etc but didn't even apply to the U of U because he wanted to go MD/PhD and the U of U doesn't participate with MSTP funding. He was interviewed at numerous schools including Harvard and Hopkins and accepted at many of them, but amazingly to me, half the schools that he applied to didn't even interview him. Some of that may have been that those schools already had enough students in the area of PhD research that he was interested in. I think that you can't be too upset if some schools don't interview you or your son or daughter, if they are good enough, they will get in someplace.

I do have a relative that didn't have great grades and he didn't have a great MCAT score, but he was a very personable young man and he had started on the BYU football team for three years. He had what the U of U calls "life experiences" and he interviewed well. The U of U accepted him. He is now a terrific physician. Some of you on this board may appreciate how hard it is to start on a good division 1 football team and be a premed student. It is exceedingly hard and an extraordinary accomplishment! I will say that once accepted, the U of U wasn't as kind and generous with him as Baylor was with me and the schools my sons attended were with them.

Also, in case you think that only the U of U does this, I had a classmate that was much brighter than me. He had great grades, a perfect MCAT score, etc and went from BYU to Stanford Med School. He felt that a large portion of his class didn't deserve to be there and only got in because of affirmative action in the name of diversity.