Diversity and Inclusion Master Plan

begs two questions: What are the factors preventing URM students from applying and why are a disproportioned number them not being accepted into SUNY? In other words, what part of the pipeline is leaking for URMs?

35.0%

White, Non Hispanic

27.80%

30.10% 29.6%

Asian or Pacific Islander

14.4%

Non resident Alien

21.70%

7.3%

Percentage of Applicant Pool

Unknown

11.90%

6.9%

Two or More Races

10.70%

Percentage of Applicant's Accepted

3.7%

Black, Non Hispanic

13.50%

2.7%

Hispanic

23.90%

0.0% 0.3%

American Indian or Alaska Native

0.1%

Native Hawaiian

33.30%

0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00%

Figure 6. Percentage of Applicants and Acceptances by Race at SUNY Optometry

These questions are certainly complex since the number of unduplicated applications nationwide is increasing at a very slow pace. A study by Carnegie showed that from 2002-2009, optometry had the smallest percent increase in unduplicated applicants compared to dental, medical, osteopathic, physical assistant, and podiatry schools. Since then, the applicant pool for optometry schools has not significantly increased. Optometry is an overwhelmingly white profession, which may negatively impact URMs’ perception of the profession, discouraging interest, while in reality optometry is very much within their reach. Finally, in general, optometry’s visibility is sometimes lacking when compared to other health professions. As far as why applicants are not converting into enrolled students, based on the data presented below, acceptance and enrollment seems to be an issue of readiness and preparedness for a highly competitive admissions process. Applicants to optometry schools in the United States are required to take the Optometry Admissions Test. Thus, the demographics of test takers are a reliable indicator of the profile of applicants. In 2014, of the 3,797 test takers, 3.6% were Black and 2.6% were Hispanics, compared to 49.2% White and 30.1% Asian 6 . Table 5 indicates a drop in numbers of Black and Hispanic test takers from 2010 to 2014; however, this needs to be interpreted with caution since it is difficult to establish the interaction between URMs and the multi-ethnic category (number of multiethnic students has increased greatly in the past 5 years). National OAT Data

6 Optometry Admissions Test Program. (2016). Optometry Admissions Test (OAT) Examinee General Information Report: 2010-2014 Data.

P age | 15