Women Outnumber Men Applying To Medical School

For the second consecutive year, women applicants to U.S. medical schools outnumbered men applicants, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Women made up more than 50 percent of applicants.

The total number of applicants to U.S. medical schools for the 2004-05 school year was 35,727. This figure was 3 percent higher than for the 2003-04 school year.

Entering their first year of medical school this fall were 16,638 students. Of those, slightly less than half—8,229—were women. The class saw an increase in the percentage of black and Hispanic students over last year's entering class: a 2.5 percent increase for blacks and about 8 percent for Hispanics. The number of black students who matriculated in the fall was 1,086 and Hispanic students, 1,174.

Jordan Cohen, M.D., president of the AAMC, which represents all 125 U.S. medical schools, said he was encouraged by the increase in minority enrollees. This was the first admissions cycle since a Supreme Court decision in June 2003 upheld affirmative action in university admissions.

“We interpret [the numbers] to reflect the fact that the decision really clarified the lawfulness and appropriateness of using affirmative action measures,” said Cohen in a press release. ▪