Black under-Representation in Medical Schools

To the Editor: The analysis of black under-representation in medical schools presented in the November 24, 1977 issue of the Journal was certainly thought provoking. However, an analysis of the economic variables that determine the nature of the medical-school applicant pool might have been more enlightening. It is my strong suspicion that black under-representation largely reflects the under-representation of poor people in general, and that even within the black medical community, the economic determinants are such that upper-middle-class blacks are disproportionately represented. If so, to focus attention on the racial issue is to obscure the problem and its solution. What.