This is a wonderful time of year. Students are returning to campus. Our own children or siblings or ourselves may be beginning a new educational journey, and the University of Utah Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (UHEDI) office is no different. UHEDI sponsors many programs that have returning students, but today’s article will focus on Health Sciences LEAP (HS-LEAP). This year is a banner year in that we are increasing the cohort of Health Sciences LEAP students. In addition, we are also celebrating the accomplishments of this outstanding group of students. In May 2022, we celebrated the 24 students that completed HS-LEAP during the pandemic. A full third of them, eight, will be attending master's, Ph.D., or M.D. programs at schools of medicine across this country. This is a major accomplishment, but they are not unique in their accomplishments. A recent study, published in 2020 highlights these accomplishments. Major findings are explored here.
HS-LEAP students reflect greater race, ethnic, and gender diversity than non HS-LEAP University of Utah students, as illustrated in Table 1.
Table 1: University of Utah Undergraduate Student and HS-LEAP Student Demographics
| Demographics | Non-HS-LEAP | HS-LEAP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | |
| Asian* | 2,559 | 6 | 114 | 28 |
| Black or African American | 506 | 1 | 30 | 7 |
| White, Non-Latinx** | 29,319 | 72 | 30 | 7 |
| International | 1,653 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
| Latinx | 4,130 | 10 | 167 | 41 |
| Multiple race/ethnicity | 1,436 | 4 | 17 | 4 |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 197 | 0 | 10 | 2 |
| Pacific Islander | 246 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Unknown | 734 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
| Women | 20,113 | 49 | 305 | 75 |
| Men | 20,667 | 51 | 103 | 25 |
| Total | 40,780 | 408 | ||
Abbreviation: HS-LEAP, Health Sciences Learning, Engagement, Achievement and Progress program.
* Mostly underrepresented, southeast Asian or refugee
** First generation or rural students
HS-LEAP has always recognized that the value of the individual student is far beyond their individual ACT score. In fact, we have largely ignored those scores, and our HS-LEAP cohorts have lower ACT scores than most University of Utah students, as illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Non-HS-LEAP and HS-LEAP Participant Stratification by ACT Score
Population Distribution by ACTAggregating 2005-2017 first-time freshmen cohorts. 
Abbreviation: HS-LEAP, Health Sciences Learning, Engagement, Achievement and Progress program. |
Because talent is not limited to ACT scores, HS-LEAP students graduate sooner, have higher fall-to-fall retention rates, and have higher GPA’s than their non-HS-LEAP counterparts, as illustrated in Table 2.
Table 2: GPA, Fall-to-Fall Retention, and 6-Year Graduation Rate by ACT Cohort
| GPA | Fall-to-Fall Retention Rate | 6-Year Graduation Rate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HS-LEAP | Non-HS-LEAP | Variance | HS-LEAP | Non-HS-LEAP | Variance | HS-LEAP | Non-HS-LEAP | Variance | |
| ACT <21 | 2.919 | 2.603 | 0.316** | 84.3% | 68.4% | 0.159** | 48.6% | 40.0% | 0.086* |
| ACT 22-24 | 3.258 | 2.825 | 0.434** | 92.5% | 70.0% | 0.225* | 58.1% | 46.6% | 0.117* |
| ACT 25-27 | 3.528 | 3.011 | 0.517** | 93.0% | 73.2% | 0.198** | 71.8% | 51.4% | 0.204* |
| ACT 28+ | 3.750 | 3.359 | 0.391** | 94.6% | 75.7% | 0.189** | 70.6% | 62.2% | 0.084* |
Abbreviation: HS-LEAP, Health Sciences Learning, Engagement, Achievement and Progress program.
All rates unadjusted for allowable exclusions and include both full-time and part-time first-time freshmen and will, therefore, differ from officially reported rates.
* Significance level, P=.05
** Significance level, P=.01
GPA reported on 4-point scale.
Most importantly, HS-LEAP students do not stop at undergraduate education, and their graduate school matriculation is illustrated in Table 3.
Table 3: Graduate Degrees Obtained by HS-LEAP Participants and HS-LEAP Completers
| Graduate Field of Study | % HS-LEAP Completers | n (n=27) |
% HS-LEAP Participants | n (n=23) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MD | 22 | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| PharmD | 26 | 7 | 13 | 3 |
| DDS | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| DPT | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MSW | 4 | 1 | 13 | 3 |
| PA-C | 0 | 0 | 17 | 4 |
| Chiropractor | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| MS, health promotion | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MPH | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| MS, psychology | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| PhD, neurology | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MS, health systems | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| MEd | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| JD | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MBA | 7 | 2 | 13 | 3 |
| MS, engineering | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MS, mathematics | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MS, student affairs | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| MS, information systems | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| MS, human resources | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| MS, postsecondary administration | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| MS, urban planning | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| MA, American literature | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
Abbreviation: HS-LEAP, Health Sciences Learning, Engagement, Achievement and Progress program.
The bottom line is this: HS-LEAP works, and it is associated with very successful students. We are honored to know them and to be a small part of their education. And with this, we welcome our newest class of HS-LEAP students and welcome all our returning students. May this year bring great experiences and continued success.
Bliss C, Wood N, Martineau M, Hawes KB, López AM, Rodríguez JE. Exceeding Expectations: Students Underrepresented in Medicine at University of Utah Health. Fam Med. 2020;52(8):570-575. https://doi.org/10.22454/FamMed.2020.137698.