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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has found that Ohio State University College of Medicine treated applicants differently based on race during its admissions process for students entering in 2023, 2024, and 2025. The findings, announced on October 21, 2026, state that the school discriminated against white and Asian applicants. Federal officials say the school’s practices violated a federal law that bars race-based discrimination in programs that receive federal funding. The department’s findings focus on how the medical school reviewed applications and decided which candidates would be offered a place. Under its admissions system, the school uses what it calls a holistic approach, which considers several parts of an applicant’s background. Reviewers assign points in three areas: personal attributes, past experiences, and academic measures. Applicants can also be required to complete an interview before a final admissions decision is made.
Federal officials said the school’s process did not treat every applicant equally. The department found that Black applicants who went through the screening and interview stages were about 2.8 times as likely to gain admission as Asian applicants with similar qualifications. The findings raise questions about whether applicants with comparable records faced different chances of acceptance because of their race. The investigation also found that the school had another route into its admissions process. Through this pathway, some applicants could be admitted without receiving a screening score or taking part in an interview. The DOJ described this as a separate route that allowed certain candidates to avoid steps required of other applicants.
According to the department’s findings, Black applicants using this pathway during 2024 and 2025 were four times as likely to be admitted as white applicants. No Asian applicants were admitted through this route during those two years, federal officials said. The department stated that these differences formed part of its finding that the school used race in ways prohibited by federal law.
The case involves Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race or color in programs that receive federal financial assistance. Medical schools that accept such funding must follow the law. The findings also rely on a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which restricted the use of race in college admissions. The Supreme Court ruling changed the rules colleges and universities must follow when reviewing applicants. Schools cannot use race as a basis for making admissions decisions in ways that violate the ruling. The agency claims Ohio State’s medical school failed to follow those requirements in the years covered by the review.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the department found that some applicants could bypass parts of the school’s admissions process because of their race. She stated that federally funded schools must apply their admissions rules equally to all candidates. The department said it would continue examining other colleges and universities for similar practices.
The next steps may involve talks between the federal government and the school to address the findings. The DOJ said it would seek an agreement requiring changes to admissions practices when it finds a violation. If those discussions fail to resolve the matter, the department said it may file a lawsuit.
Sources:
Justice Department Finds Ohio State Medical School Discriminates Based on Race in Admissions
DOJ Finds Racial Discrimination at Ohio State Medical School
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