The number of medical assistant applicants to U.S. medical schools has risen by 3.4 percent this year after declining for six straight years, according to a recent survey conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
AAMC also found that women constitute over half of the nation-wide applicant pool for the first time in history and that minority applications to U.S. medical schools have also risen this year.
“The recent increase is largely due to an increase in women applicants,” said Robert F. Jones, vice president for Medical School Services and Studies for AAMC. “[Women] now represent 54 percent of all baccalaureate degrees awarded, and medical schools have been attracting a stable percentage of these college graduates, so you just have to do the math.”
The study also found that in the 2003-04 academic year, almost 35,000 individuals applied to U.S. medical schools — a 3.4 percent jump from last year’s 33,625 applications. The number of female applicants jumped nearly seven percent this year to 17,672 applicants, while the number of male applicants remained steady at 17,113 — similar to last year’s figure of 17,069.
Jones thinks the applicant increase will better the medical society as a whole.
“The increases in women applicants and women students is making the physician population more diverse gender-wise,” he said. “That diversity is important for medicine to meet the challenges it faces so that, in partnership with other health care professionals, it can meet the health care needs of the population.”
Lucy Wall, the assistant dean of academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, said that although the UW Medical School has seen a decline in the past six years, applications to the UW school have been fairly consistent in both male and female applications.
“In general, this year’s class started at 56 percent female, and we’ve been at 50 percent [female] for the last five years,” Wall said. “This is not new for us; however, we are speculating to be ahead of the curve nationally.”
Even though the number of minority applicants to U.S. medical schools has increased this year, the number of accepted minority applicants who actually enroll is decreasing. The number of Hispanic applicants grew by nearly two percent this year, to 2,483, but the number of Hispanic applicants who enrolled in U.S. medical schools declined by about four percent, to 1,089. Similarly, African American applicants increased by nearly five percent, to 2,736, while the number actually enrolled fell by six percent to 1,056.
Wall believes certain Supreme Court rulings might have bearing on recent enrollments.
The Hopwood Case, in which the Supreme Court upheld the ruling of The 5th Circuit Court, stated that diversity is not a compelling interest and cannot lawfully be used as a plus factor in college admissions processes.
“After the Hopwood Case ruling in 1996, minority enrollment visibly declined,” Wall said.
Wall added that the UW Medical School does not operate under the Hopwood ruling, but under the Bakke Case judgment, in which the Supreme Court ruled in 1978 that race could lawfully be considered in the college admissions process.
“Applicants here are looked at as a whole individual. [Regardless] of gender and age, we’re interested in an applicant’s background and experiences,” Wall said.
Wall stated that the UW Medical School is not planning on changing admissions factors or school criteria due to the survey results.
“The admissions process and criteria we base it on has been pretty stable for the last couple of years,” Wall said. “We need people with an interest and a commitment to service in healthcare — it touches us all personally.”
