The pass rate for male applicants exceeded that for women at about 77 percent of medical schools across the nation this year, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.
The survey was conducted following revelations that Tokyo Medical University deliberately reduced the number of successful female and other applicants. Eighty-one universities nationwide with medical schools were asked about such things as their numbers of male and female applicants, and how many of each gender ultimately passed their exams.
Among the 76 universities that responded to the survey, 59 schools, or 77.6 percent, said the pass rate for male examinees was higher than that for female examinees this year. The acceptance rate for male applicants across all of the universities was 8 percent, 1.9 percentage points higher than the acceptance rate for women. All the universities that submitted responses, other than Tokyo Medical University, denied manipulating test scores based on gender.
The Yomiuri surveyed the 81 universities earlier this month, excluding Tokyo Women's Medical University, about issues including their applicant screening methods, numbers of male and female applicants, and numbers of successful male and female applicants over the past five years, as well as whether test scores were manipulated based on gender or other factors.
The University of Tokyo, Teikyo University, the University of Toyama and Fukushima Medical University did not include a breakdown by gender, while Kitasato University did not answer the survey, which was conducted via questionnaire and other methods.
The survey found that 73,770 men and 41,269 women applied to the medical departments of medical schools this spring, with 5,898 men and 2,517 women going on to enroll.
The difference in male and female pass rates was largest at Tokyo Medical University, which manipulated scores for the short essay section of the second stage of its entrance exam to restrict the enrollment of female examinees and male examinees who had failed the exam at least three times. The pass rates of male and female examinees were 3.48 and 1.07 percent, respectively, with men passing at a rate three times higher than that of women.
The University of Yamanashi reported the second-largest disparity, with its pass rate for men at 8.5 percent and for women at 3.23 percent. The pass rate for women was lower than for men in each of the past five years.
"We appropriately screen applicants based on test results and other data," a University of Yamanashi official said.
At St. Marianna University School of Medicine, the pass rate for men this academic year was 5.07 percent, 2.5 times that of women at 2.07 percent. Last academic year, the pass rate for women was 5.18 percent, which was higher than the rate of 4.58 percent for men.
"We fairly score both male and female examinees, and the male-to-female ratio differs every year," an official of the university said.
Over the past five years, the pass rates for female examinees were all lower than those for male examinees at 19 public universities and eight private universities. From fiscal 2014 to 2018, the average pass rate of female examinees was 11.24 percent at public universities and 3.97 percent at private universities, both lower than those of male examinees at 13.6 percent and 4.88 percent.
According to the fiscal 2017 School Basic Survey conducted by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, 12.18 percent of female applicants to all engineering departments across the nation eventually enrolled, higher than the 11.98 percent for men. Similar figures were observed among male and female applicants to science departments.
Among humanities' departments, 13.33 percent of female applicants to faculties of law and political science would go on to enroll, higher than the 12.5 percent figure for men.
Following the scandal involving Tokyo Medical University, the education ministry conducted an emergency survey of universities across the country to learn the true circumstances pertaining to medical school entrance exams.
"As it is said that women generally possess high academic abilities, there's something strange about the higher pass rates for men at many medical schools. The universities must explain the reasons for the difference in pass rates between men and women. Many people need female doctors. All universities should ensure transparency in entrance exams based on social needs," said Yoshiro Tanaka, a professor of pedagogy at J. F. Oberlin University.
'Unclear' screening criteria
Some universities tend to evaluate female examinees more strictly than men in the second stage of entrance exams, the latest Yomiuri Shimbun survey has found.
The second stage of entrance exams involves such evaluations as interviews, the writing of short essays and aptitude tests. During interviews, universities ask questions from various perspectives based on their educational policies, such as reasons for applying and moral values, to see whether an applicant has the aptitude to be a doctor.
The survey compared the male and female percentages of successful examinees among those who passed the first-stage tests this year at 26 private universities that disclosed their breakdowns by gender. The Yomiuri found that the pass rate of female applicants was lower than that of men at 13 universities.
Of these 13, the difference in pass rates between men and women was over 10 percentage points at the four universities of the St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Nihon University, Showa University and Tokyo Medical University. At St. Marianna, the rate of female applicants was 14.71 percent compared to 31.95 percent for male applicants, the largest difference of all universities covered by the survey.
Among all private universities, the passing rate was 33.25 percent for men and 31.41 percent for women, with the percentage for women 1.84 percentage points lower than that of men.
"For male and female applicants who have the same deviation values, the pass rates should be the same," said Akira Takebayashi, president of Promedicus, a cram school specializing in entrance exams for medical schools.
"It's especially difficult to determine how different universities evaluate applicants in interviews. They should disclose the screening criteria for interviews and other tests so applicants can take them with a sense of security."
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