Measuring participation in UK medical schools: Social class data are problematic to interpret

EDITOR—Seyan et al use the standardised admissions ratio to measure widening participation in medical schools.1 This ratio is difficult to interpret, although it is an interesting concept. The validity of the measure of social class as used by the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is poor. UCAS uses brief, typically one word, students' descriptions of parental occupation to assign social …