I'm not ‘fake rural’: Rural student negotiation of identity and place in medical school

Abstract

This article addresses the accessibility of medical education for rural students, focusing on the intersection of rurality and socioeconomic privilege. We present findings from a study of rural background medical students from four Australian medical schools, which explored their experiences of admissions processes and their ongoing socialisation. Participants characterised admissions pathways as complex, requiring social capital to navigate. Though most participants expressed pride in their rural identity and spoke favourably of rural lifestyles, they readily shared their frustrations about the restricted opportunities available to rural students. Analysing their accounts through an intersectional lens illustrates the way the stigma and disadvantage of a rural geographic background are exacerbated by intersecting oppressions and mitigated by certain privileges. For some students, an authentic rural identity arose from intersections of class and locality; they referred to others who had come from a more privileged background with a weaker connection to a rural community as ‘fake rural’. These findings offer valuable insights to research on medical education and rural sociologies, as they can contribute to the creation of more effective and informed widening participation measures.