How Increasing Medical School Enrollment Affects M.D. Hopefuls

Medical school enrollment has increased to accommodate the growing number of physicians needed to care for baby boomers.

 

Getting into medical school has ever sobeen competitive, thatthere may be mucheasyseats for prospective students in the coming years.

 

 

In May, the Association ofAmericanMedical Colleges announced that U.S. medical schools are on remainsto increase enrollment by 30 percent from 2002 to 2017, correspondto the association's medical examinationSchool Enrollment Survey. There were 16,488 first-year students in 2002, and AAMC anticipates having 21,434 first-year students by 2017.

Some schools have increased class sizes, but much of the projected growth is expected to come from more(prenominal)than a dozen new schools that have been accredited in the last few years. Typically, these schools gradually increase enrollment from stratumto year.

In 2009, the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine at Texas techUniversity started with a class of 40 first-year students. In July, snowfirst-year students will start. The Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University receiveits first class of 33 students in April. The classoutsetin August will have about one hundred twentystudents.

These increases are driven by the demand for and the demands of medical professionals.

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"There's 10,000 more baby boomers anysingle day in the U.S. and those individuals tend to require additionalcare," says John Prescott, the organization's chief academic officer. New doctors are excessivelygoing against the old standard of working 60 hours or more a week, he says.

"There's a better work-life vestibular senseamong the newer generation of physicians, and that requires an additional number of physicians."

Prospective students shouldn't expect an increase in class size to also make their chances of getting into school easier, experts say.

"The competition is not so much in the sum totalnumber, but as to the quality of the medical student," says Eneida Roldan, an assistant deanfor studentaffairs at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Many schools are starting lineto take a more holistic approach when selecting students.

[Find bywhich medical schools are most selective.

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"It's not just the medical student that comes in with good grades in the sciences, which is how it was before," says Roldan. Schools are placing more speech patternon a candidate's community service and commitment to friendlyjustice.

"It is hard to get into medical school," says Nida Degesys, president of the American Medical Student Association. "Less than 50 percent of applicants actually matriculate to an allopathic medical school."

To strengthen a candidate's holistic profile, she suggests prospective students conservativelyconsider how they serve their communities and research the medical field.

"A lot of quite a littledo random volunteer activities, and I think that when you picturethat you are committed to service through a more long-term project instead of several single days, I do think that that is looked at very highly," she says. "For students wanting to go to medical school, I do think it's important to channelizethat you are actually interested in medicine by eithertailingor volunteering or working in a hospital setting."

[Learn how to save money on MCAT preparation.]

While shadowing a doctor seems most practical, following other raftin medicine can also be helpful.

"The roles and responsibilities of nurses anddocassistants are different than a physician, but that doesn't mean that you can't recognisevery good experiences by shadowing those individuals," she says.

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Materials taken from US News