According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the number of medical school applications barely rose this year, up just 0.1 percent. The Association of American Medical Colleges is concerned that there will be a shortage of 124,000 to 159,000 physicians by 2025, due to a trend of early retirement for many baby-boomer doctors, an aging population, and the potential upsurge of insured patients if health-care reform legislation passes. First-year enrollments increased by only two percent this year, half of this increase attributable to the inaugural classes of four new med schools: Commonwealth Medical College, Texas Tech University, the University of Central Florida, and Florida International University. Virginia Tech will also open up a school next year, in addition to three other new schools.
Not only is there a need for an increase in med school admissions, but for an increase in positions post-graduation as well. Although the number of Medicare-financed positions is frozen, there is costly legislation that could increase this number by 15 percent, or about 15,000 slots.
Nevertheless, application numbers could very well be up next year—nearly three percent more people took the Medical College Admission Test this year than in the same period last year.
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