In 2020, Nature Reviews Urology made a pledge to actively work towards improving diversity in our field. As we head into 2021, Black urologists make up only 2% of the US workforce in urology; this lack of representation is detrimental to the field as a whole and to the patients it serves. In this Viewpoint, which follows on from our previous article ‘Supporting Black voices in urology’, 12 medical students who have chosen to enter the field recount their experiences, describing their reasons for entering urology and why they chose particular programmes. As well as illustrating the importance of mentorship and representation, they also offer ideas on how urology programmes can better appeal to Black students, in order to encourage and support under-represented minorities into our specialty in the future.