Medical school enrollment numbers continue to rise

Four new institutions helped lead to a 2% increase—to 18,390 from 18,036—in enrollment at U.S. medical schools this fall, according to figures released by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The four new medical schools are Commonwealth Medical College, Scranton, Pa.; Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Miami; Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, El Paso; and the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando. In addition, 12 existing schools expanded their 2009 class size by 7% or more, a news release said. With the exception of a 1.6% increase last year, enrollment increases have been 2% or higher since 2005.

The first-year class is made up of 9,573 men and 8,817 women for a 52.1%-47.9% split. There are 12,045 white students (up from 11,928 in 2008); 4,114 Asian students (up from 3,941); 1,412 Latino students (down from 1,416); and 1,312 black students (up from 1,293).

Total medical school applications were up only 0.1% to 42,269 from 42,231; and included 22,014 men and 20,252 women to equal the 52.1-47.9 split found in first-year students.

AAMC President and CEO Darrell Kirch, however, warned that without an increase in the number graduate medical training or residency slots, there could be a “bottleneck” in the new physician pipeline that could result in a shortage of between 124,000 and 159,000 physicians by 2025.

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