Increasing the pool of minority providers.

The University of Arkansas has trained African-American medical students for 46 years. Today the school continues to place a high premium on recruiting and retaining minority medical students. Recruitment efforts involve comprehensive programs to target junior high schools in African-American communities throughout Arkansas, and initiatives to attract African-American faculty and residents. Through such retention-oriented activities as lenient first-year grade requirements, study groups, and a board-preparation course, African-American students have scored above the national average on Part I of the National Medical Board Examination despite matriculating in medical school with below-average scores on the Medical College Admission Test.