For the first time, total enrollment in U.S. MD-granting medical schools reached over 100,000 students in the 2025-26 academic year, according to data released today by the AAMC.
The data also show that the total number of medical school applicants rose 5.3%, reversing a three-year decline. Other than a one-year increase in 2021-22 during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the largest gain since 2015-16. First-time applicants comprised 76.5% of all medical school applicants, an 8.4% increase.
“The growing number of applicants to medical school reflects the continued strong interest in medicine as a career,” said David J. Skorton, MD, AAMC president and CEO. “Training the next generation of physicians has always been, and will remain, a core mission of academic medicine.”
About this year’s applicants and enrollees
The number of first-year enrollees (matriculants) in U.S. MD-granting medical schools rose 1.2% from 2024-25 to the 2025-26 academic year. Among groups historically underrepresented in medicine, 0.9% of matriculants identified as American Indian or Alaska Native, 8.4% identified as Black or African American, 11.5% identified as Hispanic or Latino, and 0.4% identified as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
The AAMC updated the methodology to collect race and ethnicity data on applicants and students in 2025-26, including the addition of a new category for Middle Eastern or North African (MENA). Due to the changes in methodology, data on racial and ethnic group representation for the 2025-26 academic year is not comparable to data from previous years.
Gender:
- For the seventh year in a row, women made up the majority of applicants, matriculants, and total enrollment.
- In 2025-26, women comprised 57.2% of applicants, 55.0% of matriculants, and 55.0% of total enrollment.
- Women matriculants rose 1.2%, the largest increase since 2021-22.
- For the third year in a row, the increase in matriculants was larger for men than for women.
Socioeconomic Backgrounds:
- The proportion of both applicants and matriculants with a parent whose highest level of education was less than a bachelor’s degree or any degree with an occupation categorized as “service, clerical, skilled, and unskilled” (based on the federal Standard Occupational Classification scheme) declined 1 percentage point compared to 2024-25. It was the fourth year in a row of declines among both groups.
- The proportion of first-generation applicants remained constant, and the representation of matriculants from this group declined 0.3 percentage points over 2024-25.
Additional facts about the 2025-26 entering medical school class:
- Medical school matriculants have very strong academic credentials, with a median undergraduate GPA of 3.87, even higher than for recent entering classes.
- 163 matriculants are military veterans.
- Matriculants range in age from 18 to 60 years old (including 2.6% who are over age 30).
- The 2025 entering class demonstrated a robust commitment to service. Prior to medical school, matriculants cumulatively performed over 16.8 million community service hours, an average of 717 hours per student.
View the summary data tables and the full data tables.
*Note to editors:
The race and ethnicity data includes individuals who identified in one or more race/ethnicity categories. For example, “Black or African American” includes individuals who identified only as Black or African American, as well as those who identified as Black or African American and at least one other race/ethnicity category.