Impact Evaluation of the RWJF Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP)

The Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) is a free, six-week residential science enrichment program offered to rising college sophomores and juniors of minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged background who are interested in attending medical or dental school. The program is offered in 12 sites across the nation. Three sites offer only the program’s medical component, whereas the others offer both the medical and dental components. The immediate goal of the program is to help students become more competitive applicants to medical and dental schools, with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of successful applicants from underrepresented groups and eventually diversifying the medical and dental labor force. This study describes program implementation across sites and employs a quasi-experimental design through propensity score matching methods to assess the impact of SMDEP on key student outcomes such as college graduation and matriculation in medical or dental school.

A journal article presenting key findings, conclusions, and policy implications is currently under review.