According to an AAMC press release, 20,343 students enrolled in U.S. medical schools for the first time in 2014, an all time high for med school enrollment. There was a record 49,480 total applicants to med school (a 3.1% increase over last year), with first time applicants totaling 36,697 (an increase of 2.7%). Since 2002, U.S. medical schools have seen an application increase of 23.4%, and 17 new med schools have been established.
On these growing numbers, AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D. calls for increased federal support for residency training “to ensure an adequate number of residency training positions for these aspiring doctors so they will be able to care for our growing and aging population.” He continues to explain that only “by lifting the 17-year-old cap on residency training positions imposed under the Balanced Budget Act” will we be able to address the “worsening shortage of both primary and specialty physicians over the next two decades.”
Here are some additional highlights from the AAMC press release:
• Hispanic applications increased 9.7% to 4,386 in 2014; enrollment rose 1.8% to 1,859.
• African American applicants rose 3.2% to 3,990; enrollment increased 1.1% to 1,412.
• American Indian and Alaska Native application volume increased 5.6% to 449 applicants in 2014; enrollment jumped nearly 17% to 202 enrollees in 2014.
• 52% of enrollees this year were males, compared to 48% females, similar to last year.
• Among first time applicants, female applicant volume rose 3.3% compared to an increased first time male applicant volume of 2.1%.
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