At college campuses nationwide, the newest students are starting class, but I’m not among them. Many medical schools rejected my application, and when I asked why, several told me that my service in our nation’s armed forces didn’t matter, and that I should have spent more time proving my commitment to “diversity” and “equity.”
I served in the United States Army from 2012 to 2017. During my service, I intended to apply to the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, the military’s medical school, but health-related issues and a service-related disability cut my career short. After being honorably discharged, I set my sights on attending a civilian medical school to become a pathologist.
I never assumed I would be a shoo-in, nor do I believe veterans like me have some “right” to acceptance. Still, I thought my chances were strong because of my degrees in different fields, years of work history as a medical technologist in numerous hospitals, and other experiences. Plus, I thought my veteran status could help, given medical schools’ universal preference for diversity. In the 2022-2023 school year, only 154 matriculants were military veterans out of 22,712 in total. If varied experiences and backgrounds are what medical schools want, I figured I had a lot to offer.
Turns out, the medical schools don’t agree.
Take my experience with the Morehouse School of Medicine, a historically black college in Atlanta. I’m white, but it has a good reputation and is the closest medical school to my home. After my application was rejected, I requested reapplicant counseling, which helps you learn how to improve your chances in subsequent applications. In May, an admissions counselor told me that my MCAT score wasn’t high enough, even though I scored in line with the average Morehouse matriculant. I couldn’t get an answer as to why that wasn’t good enough. The counselor did tell me that I made a mistake by not discussing “equity” in my essay. Apparently, as a white man, I needed to show a special dedication to serving non-white patients.
The counselor also told me that my military service didn’t qualify as volunteering, even though we have an all-volunteer military. An associate dean of admissions at Georgia’s Mercer University School of Medicine said the same thing, disrespectfully equating my military service to a cashier’s job. I found myself wondering: What kind of volunteering do medical schools want? I found the answer in my reapplicant counseling session for the University of Alabama’s Heersink School of Medicine.
Once again, the admissions counselor dismissed the idea that military service constitutes volunteering. Instead, she said, I needed to volunteer at a “free clinic in a barrio” or an “inner-city soup kitchen.” When I asked why those kinds of volunteering were better, the counselor told me I needed to prove my “cultural competence.”
I can’t imagine a member of another race being told they have to demonstrate cultural competence. In addition, it’s insulting to assume that volunteering is the best way to gain such competence. I served alongside a highly diverse group of soldiers, learning valuable lessons about different races, religions, and traditions. I’m also married to a Kenyan woman, have three biracial kids, and have traveled to East Africa many times.
What makes volunteering in a barrio or the inner city somehow superior to my numerous personal experiences? The answer is the same reason the Morehouse counselor wanted me to mention “equity.” It proves your devotion to the diversity-industrial complex.
It’s possible I was beaten out by more qualified applicants at these and other schools. There’s always someone better than you in life. However, after what I encountered at many medical schools, I’m not confident that the quality of my application was the deciding factor. If I had overtly capitulated to the DEI worldview, I bet I’d be starting medical school this fall. (Ditto, if I was non-white.)
The Supreme Court may have banned affirmative action, but the medical advocacy group Do No Harm has shown that medical schools are finding numerous ways to make admissions decisions based on race. Since medical schools are openly disrespectful to the sacrifices of disabled veterans like me, what makes anyone think they won’t continue to unfairly and illegally elevate race?
I plan to apply to more medical schools this year, but I’m not optimistic about my chances. My ability to use the education benefits I earned through service to my country is controlled by race-obsessed administrators. In today’s politicized world of “diversity” and “equity,” I fear there’s no room for a disabled white male who joined the Army to defend his country instead of padding his resume by going to the barrio or the inner city and then boasting about it.
Matthew Winans is a veteran of the United States Army.
Reprinted with Permission from The Daily Signal – By Matthew Winans
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Thank you for your service. I very much appreciate it even if some people (IE, the med school higher-ups) do not. Also, DEI should actually be called discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination and is just a scam perpetrated by the pro-affirmative action crowd in an attempt to get around the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling.
Mr. Winans, thank you for your service to our nation. Your article is very disheartening to me. These DEI programs need to DIE as they are Marxism by another name. I hope you can find a school that will see your potential and not your skin color or veteran status.
Thank you for your service “brother”, Anyone who has volunteered to defend the very freedoms these “socialist dictators” who hide behind the constitution is a hero. These DEI programs are nothing more than reverse discrimination and unconstitutional. As a fellow vet (22 years active duty and 18 years with the Dept of The AF) I have been in many situation these “counselors” cannot fathom. Diversity? The military is the best place for our men and women to practice the fine art of working together with all races, creeds and colors, to form lasting friendships with all peoples and to foster workplace acceptance. The ignorance of these officials is astounding. Unfortunately, they won’t change until many more lawsuits and court cases force their kind out. Good luck to you and I hope to hear soon that you were able to beat this “broke/woke” system of racism.
Racial EQUALITY not equity is colorblind and not bound by a cultural entrance test. The left have come full circle and have become what they themselves hated and reviled in the 1950’s and ’60s, Racist and exclusive.
I am appalled at the treatment of our military veterans by this administration.Of course, I may have some bias; I have been a LPN for the last 33 years, my father served his career inAir Force. He went in a slick sleeve directly after high school. He then earned his commission in 1967 and proudly served his country until he retired in 1989, as a Lt. Colonel. Our armed services are the best of the best and personify DEI. Some of the best healthcare providers that I worked with, and for, served in our military. As a black woman, this treatment of our veterans really burns my biscuits. We must do better for VETERANS, our nation, and our future.
vote trump to end the DEI diversity BS. RETURN the USA TO competent merit qualified common sense
Praise for you Matthew — for several reasons — starting with your good character, your honorable service in the United States Army , your determination to do what is right , and your diligence in standing up for Principle. I sincerely believe that by writing what you presented here you have contributed something of great importance to making. needed improvements in the medical education field . I am 74, and have been a toolmaker for about 50 years now. Had interest in the field of medical illustration ,still do, but things did not develop as planned. Thought you may appreciate this Work Ethic for Toolmakers that I wrote several years. ago — “A Work Ethic for Toolmakers — Making tools that are necessary to accomplish mechanical tasks; to advance and increase knowledge by building things that are needed and thereby improving the economy; in the support of public safety and the defense of freedom through the encouragement of craftsmanship and good citizenship; contributing to the betterment of life through development of mental and physical skills by designing, making and using tools for good purposes.” I reckon you will be able to achieve good things Matthew – in the spirit of. Faith, Family and Freedom . With respect .
Don’t give up.
Gee, I wonder if Mercy Ships or Doctors without Borders would allow you to “volunteer.” I suspect no medical school could discount that!!! I don’t think you have to be a physician to volunteer…Dana Perino volunteered for several years for a 2 week stint every summer with Mercy Ships. Also, it might be helpful to contact your Senator or Representative to see if they could hook you up with someone at Walter Reed who could give you some advice?
This is bullsh*t! I can imagine the uproar if they told a black applicant that they needed more white inclusiveness. This country is being ruined by “diversity hires” instead of willing, dedicated men and women.
We are all equal under the law and our Constitution, in accordance with our Declaration of Indepence. When schools and universities are catering to special interests, they need to be sued. Your previous schooling and Service record should have been taken into account when deciding if you were eligible. To me this smells of socialistic values within our higher education system. They are nearly all given federal grants and now they are dictating who might be eligible.
Mr. Winans –
First, thank you for your service. I do hope that you are able to achieve admission to a medical school in some future attempt. But do please understand, what is going on in this nation now with DEI is effectively Affirmative Action on steroids. If you are white, you are persona non grata and basically out of consideration for many occupations and schools. The current criteria for admission to medical schools for “special” people, if carried over into grading curves in classes for those who can’t pass because they should never have been admitted, and certification criteria for graduates of medical schools who should never have graduated, will give this nation mostly completely unqualified physicians in 10-15 years who will likely kill far more patients than they save. That is what we are facing if this insanity is not soon brought to an end.
The Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation is the first tribally affiliated medical school in the United States. The school is located in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the capital of the Cherokee Nation.
I have found through Rumble, etc many physicians who are now serving in the reservations as physicians. A doctor from California turned in her medical license and is now a physician with the tribes. Their world is a lot different. I think it might be a good idea to check this out. Praying for your success and I believe that by putting this in Jesus’ hands He will put you where he wants you!
Thank you and God Bless you for your service. So sorry this is happening with the very country and people you protected with your life. It certainly is a mess.
The DEI crowd (in reality communists, Marxists, progressives, socialists, liberals, leftists, and Democrats in general) is showing again fhe virulent hypocrisy and injustice of its toxic ideology. When it’s to their political advange, they violate the principles they claim to believe in, thus proving that in fact they are more similar to smiling sociopaths than to the ethical and moral persons they pretend to be. Too bad these communist “useful idiots” are part of the American political landsscape. I say one disabled American veteran is worth more than a thousand of these righteous liars waving the DEI flag.
Another classic reason why Affirmative Action should be banned everywhere, and start getting career experience and merit the sole criterion!
Matthew welcome to the white race in a DEI world. The current administration has nothing with the white race. Why? Because we can think and have an opinion. And as long as you don’t follow their criteria for being a citizen of this country you are treading water. You won’t get a foot on the ground. If you ask me it is racism in reverse. We all have to suffer for what our white forefathers did. Then and only then will ole Joe and Kameltoe be satisfied with the status quo. They arrest us or we are black listed by the FBI if we have different opinions than the school board about the curriculum we want our children to follow. Ole Joe said the government could raise the children better than the parents. Not teaching them anything but indoctrinating them into their view of the world. Half of the citizens have been declared domestic terrorists. Why? Because we have a different opinion on how the country should be run. That is why you didn’t get anywhere in the current dem world if you are not DEI and have given half your soul to the cause you are overlooked as so much dust. I wish you success. Don’t give up. Then they have won. Speak up. Go on news stations and tell your story. We have been too quiet till now. But with this story here it will go around the country. I for one will share this with my friends and even those who think like the dems. One of these days these people have to get what is going on in this country. We the majority will not kowtow to the 1% minority any longer.
Ohio Congressman Brad Wenstrup may be able to help…he has a website that you can email him through. Even if you are not an Ohioan, I suspect he would be able to give you some advice. He is in the military, and is a physician.
“Diversity, ” for the Marxists, doesn’t apply to diversity of thought and belief. If you are sane (therefore conservative) they don’t want you. After all, how could you be a doctor if you don’t know that there are over 50 “genders?.
Thank you, Matthew, for your service to our country. I appreciate your dedicated care for our service members and their families. I think it is time for you to get a lawyer and find a news channel who will care enough to tell the truth and not make it a “poor me” story. Veterans are not respected these days. It shows on my state driver’s license just renewed. The word VETERAN was previously noted on the license. Today one must use a magnifying glass to see the minute word veteran placed in a small circle. Please keep all of us posted on your steps and eventual success for admission into college. You definitely deserve better.
Mr. Matthew Winans, you need to contact, Judicial Watch. They have successfully sued Institutions and States that practice discrimination that violates your civil and constitutional rights. You served honorably in the United States Army, and to have this blatant anti-white male racist doctrine as a justifiable excuse is unacceptable.
Please contact them.
Greetings from Texas. Have you applied to the new medical school at the University of Houston? They have a couple of years under their belt now.
Perhaps you would appreciate living in the South where life is more pleasant than how you have been treated to date!!
What a mess this world has become. Thank you so very much for your service.
call tour congressman
“Diversity” is nothing but the latest buzzword being used to justify discrimination, favoring some group or groups over others. Like so much of today’s leftist rhetoric, it is divisive, a means of driving wedges into our society in an effort to divide and conquer. Obama excelled at it, Biden continued it, and Harris will if she can. The last thing any leftist wants is a peaceful, homogenous society free from strife, because that society can’t be exploited for political power.
This issue is even many white veterans in the Veterans Administration. It has become extremely “woke” and many of the administrative positions and low skill technicians are filled by DEI employees. Many of the non medical positions are still administered under COVID-19 protocols and employees working from home are lack self discipline skills to function effectively, efficiently and professionally as needed and in turn causes a problematic issues with assisting veterans.
The attitude is one of subjection and the veteran is subjugated as a ward instead of a member who earned the benefit of the Country’s promise to take take of its veterans especially those harmed by their combat and service.
The Veteran Administration is not an entitlement akin to social services of handouts from governments rather it is a promise and benefit that is earned and justly belongs to the veterans.
A true time and motion study will demonstrate that there is a severe lack of professionalism and work ethic and very poor supervision. A major corporation would not tolerate this and fire this type of employees and its supervision.
When observed the activity of these employees remind you of the backyard homemakers talking over fences, gossiping about the neighborhood and controversy in a self contained visiting system of a closed shop with a complete personality of each own that becomes silent when approached by outsiders. It is a system within the system that is supposed to serve the veteran.
Matthew, I think this is disgusting and maybe you need a platform. Have you ever thought about Doctor Phil? Just saying!!
I think you could sue for disability discrimination the fine is $75 thousand if the school has never been sued before – it doubles if they have been sued to 150K on the second offence. PS that fine goes to the Lawyer not you if they go to court + court fees. Most disability Lawyers get them to settle out of court for 10% of the fine + something for you.
Out of court cases do not make the fines doubled – only when they go to court. Look for a strait white lawyer working for DOJ,
PS Florida and CA has several ADA Lawyers that almost never loose.
This is disgusting, disappointing, and embarrassing. Thank You for what you have done. You have been dishonored. We who have read your story ,still believe in you!
Thank you for your service to our country! Sorry that there are so many narrow minded people! Too many colleges have gone woke and need change or be defunded .You would make a great doctor!
If the schools that reject a veteran get any funding from the government then their funding should be pulled. In fact all Government should be pulled from so called public schools. They charge way to much to be called public.
The Civil Rights claimed that they just wanted an opportunity for all to have a level playing field and that qualifications were what mattered most, this was in 1964 and apparently was just a mask to bring us to the present condition. The medical profession is a charade, it promotes fools disguised as “doctors” who distribute lies and pharmaceutical drugs.
The movement was based on Marxist deception where it was obvious that they were anti-white racists who wanted the white race to disappear.
Years ago, while at a medical symposium, after several doctors lectured to us, I asked why so many doctors were very woke/liberal. The doctor said, that maybe it’s because they are in school longer than anyone. Teachers, teach this attitude.
Diversity the way the Leftists want & Censorship
You have my deep gratitude for your service. And you have my sincere sympathy for the way you’re being treated at these medical schools. I hope things change for the better very soon.
Thank you again; and best to you in your future.
Not only DAVs, just DA non-black will get very similar treatments.
This is disgusting. How much worse can this country get?
I was Naturalized as a US Citizen during my active military duty in 1987, having actually immigrated into these United States in 1983. I enlisted into the US Army less than a week after I received my Green Card and reported to OSUT in March 1984.
Since then I have learned how bad racism is in the US. In my experience as an Asian Immigrant, having lived in the US for over 40-years (basically, most of my life), I have been the target of much discrimination FROM BLACKS – especially in urban areas. I have also witnessed the amount of racial favoritism they receive at work under the guise of “Affirmative Action”.
I mention this because I think the author made a huge mistake in applying to a mostly Black Medical School because, based on my experience, these are usually run by members of the most racist group in the US. And this is from an Asian Immigrant who lived in the deep South (Georgia and Alabama). The shameful thing about it is, this racism is mostly perpetrated by the ignorant urban blacks. In my experience, the blacks who grew up in Rural and Suburban areas or are well educated are the complete opposite and a real pleasure to work with.
I am sincerely and genuinely sorry that this has happened to you. Your perceptions are correct and true. My white, male son is a physician in a clinical and academic setting. One of his responsibilities is counseling medical students ( vast majority are non- white, ‘ diverse’) who are not doing well, academically. He has been told he is to help them with their emotional issues & pressures. These students were admitted because they are not white, not military veterans. All of this is wrong. I do not want any medical care which is sub- optimal from unqualified individuals. I hope you will not give up on your goal- is there any way you can look at schools which offer doctor of osteopathy degree?
“DEI” is about selecting low-awareness people for “democrat” advocacy and assistance in job-huntinh, for the purpose of pushing higher-awareness people (conservatives) out of consideration for those same jobs. I’ve seen this at two companies where I have worked, and both (including Boeing) have selected candidates with no background for what should have been highly-selective positions.
Thank you for your service. DEI hiring is dumbing down our nation. (Which might be the point) Because of this type of bias, the best candidates are being pushed aside and we are often left with the bottom of the barrel in many professions that require the best to continue in the field.
Reverse discrimination! It’s pathetic. I’m also a disabled veteran. I worked in our government for 10 years. The stress caused me to quit. I’ve seen the effects of affirmative action. I’ve seen it first hand. It’s made this country very weak. I wish you well brother. Far winds and following seas.
My brother also faced this same form of discrimination, just decades before it became DEI. Back then, it was still Affirmative Action. He had also been a lab tech in the Army prior to applying for medical schools. It is ironic that the medical school that finally accepted him and from which he graduated 3+ decades ago, is one of the three mentioned in this article. Following his service in a MASH unit during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, he became a pathologist. Which begs the question now on my mind. I wonder just how many of those who volunteer at soup kitchens in the inner cities were called to perform autopsies at the Pentagon on 9/11. Hmmm. I strongly suspect we have misplaced priorities.
I was deeply saddened after learning this happened Matthew.
then I actually read your story and suddenly I understand why you bravo Zulud your entire career lol
We real AMERICANS really need to make sure that AMERICAS VETERANS,disabled or not need to be taken care of.Our,or your democrats that think that foreign countries and illegal aliens are more important than veterans,well,votes for democrats do NOT trump your quest for votes and total control of AMERICA.AMERICA first and skru u that don’t believe this.We will never,ever become a marxist country,so,democrat leftists all that I can tell you,be careful what you wish for.
I heard an interesting comment from a radio host today. He was asked his opinion about DEI hiring.His answer was classic: He believes in the NFL method of hiring, i.e., the best person for the position.
The nonsense of DEI will bring us back to the times of mistrust of everyone. It’s very easy to question how the next guy got his job i the DEI world.
Whoever said it was right – DEI needs to DIE
This type of discrimination is outrageous. Our country has gone to Heck in a handbag!
In my opinion, friend, you lucked out. The federal approved medical industry is just showing their true colors going DEI. It has been a long time since they put the patient first.
Select a non-Western medicine modality. You might have to change your mind about pathology. Most other options focus on treating real people. And actually healing illnesses. Not “managing” illnesses for the patients lifetime.