Getting into medical school easier when fewer compete

The number of students hoping to get into U.S. medical schools fell for the fifth year straight, while the number of positions remained constant.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. Sept. 23/30, 2002.

Half of all 2001 applicants to U.S. medical schools were accepted -- the best ratio for physician wanna-bes in the last five years.

The number of applicants fell 6% compared with 2000 and 9.5% compared with 1999, according to data collected by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and published in the Sept. 4 medical education theme issue of JAMA.

Public perceptions of decreasing physician autonomy and rising medical school debt may be motivating this trend.

But while the number of applicants sank, data show the number accepted has remained near 17,000 for the past 20 years.

The demographics of the medical student population haven't changed much either. For the academic year 2001-2002, the number of women and minorities was similar to the number in 1999-2000, with women making up 45.7% of medical students and minorities 12.6%.

Student test scores on the medical school entrance exam were stable as well, though it's possible this may change if the number of applicants continues to trend lower.

"While most medical schools receive many times the number of applications as they have positions, the characteristics of the applicant pool and of new entrants should be monitored," the authors stated. "This is especially the case for public medical schools, in which the majority of entrants typically are from the state in which the school is located, indicating that the pool of potential applicants may be limited." [...]