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Medical School Applications Increase PLoS Goes Online: Will It Spark a Revolution in Scientific Publishing? A Word from the President: Project Medical Education ViewPoint: Crossing Boundaries with International Medical Education "Portraits of Medical Education"
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Medical School Applications IncreaseAfter a six-year decline, applications to U.S. medical schools are on the rise, according to the latest AAMC data. A total of 34,785 individuals applied to attend medical school in the 2003-2004 school year, a 3.4 percent increase over last year's applicant pool of 33,625. Fueling the increase was the number of women applicants. For the first time since the AAMC began keeping gender records, women made up the majority of medical school applicants (51 percent). This year, 17,672 women applied - a 6.7 percent increase over last year's total. Among the applicant pool were 26,160 individuals applying for the first time to medical school, an increase of 5 percent over last year - more evidence that the previous decline has ended. This rebound is likely to continue next year based on the number of applications submitted to AAMC's American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). To date, applications submitted are up approximately 5 percent compared to this time last year. Currently, 117 medical school programs participate in AMCAS. Two factors are credited with the turnaround in medical school applications according to Robert Jones, Ph.D., AAMC's associate vice president for faculty and institutional studies. A lagging economy, such as the current one, often prompts a larger number of individuals to return to school. In addition, the number of college-age students has increased. The sharp decline of males applying to medical schools, a trend that started in 1997, leveled off this year. Male applicants totaled 17,113, about the same as last year's figure of 17,069. Even though the number of black applicants rose by 4.8 percent this year, mostly due to a 9.6 percent increase in black female applicants, the number of black individuals who actually entered medical school dropped by 6.1 percent to 1,056. The number of Hispanic applicants also grew by less than 2 percent (2,483 applications for this year), while Hispanic matriculants fell by nearly 4 percent to 1,089. "These latest figures are both good and bad news for the medical profession. The decrease in minorities indicates that we in academic medicine have our work cut out for us as we strive to build a more diverse physician workforce," says AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D. "At the same time, the increase in total and first-time applicants is a good sign that the practice of medicine is still an attractive profession to the current generation of young people." - Whitney L.J. Howell |
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