No surprise that medical schools can't attract less privileged applicants

Two years ago, my wife spent $2,000 on medical school application fees and $300 on a plane ticket to her first interview. Shortly after she arrived, she heard a physician wonder aloud why med schools struggle to attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Despite initiatives to improve the diversity of matriculating classes, medical school is increasingly for the children of the rich and well-educated. In 1992, nearly half of medical students had mothers with no college degree. By 2008, that number had declined to just 25 percent. The corresponding numbers for the general population showed a much milder decline, with the share of Americans whose mothers have no college degree falling from 81 percent to 70 percent.