Medical school applications predicted to start rising again

With more students signing up to take the MCATs, the six-year decline in applicants may end.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. Nov. 18, 2002.

During the economic boom of the '90s, the number of applicants to medical schools tumbled as young people were drawn to jobs in the high-tech industry.

Now, the tables have turned and experts are predicting an increase in applicants to U.S. medical schools, thanks, in part, to the misfortune that has hit the former applicant-stealing industry. If early indications hold, medical colleges could see applicants for 2003 jump 4% to 6% compared with last year, ending a six-year streak of shrinking numbers.

"It's speculative, but it's reasonable to attribute some of the [projected medical school applicant] turnaround to the business cycle," said Jordan J. Cohen, MD, president of the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. "A lot of students are finishing college, and they look around and see the economic winds are blowing harshly.

"That, and the negative effect of bashing of medicine in the early '90s is receding, I hope," he said. "Students are seeing medicine as an exciting career opportunity, again, and appropriately so."

Applications to U.S. medical schools for 2002 fell 3.9% from the previous year. However, the Medical College Admission Test program administered 57,573 examinations this year, an increase of 5.6% over last year.

In addition, applications processed to date through AAMC's American Medical College Application Service are up 6% compared with this time last year. [...]