Enrollment to Rise in Medical Schools

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) projects that there will be a dramatic increase in the enrollment at U.S. medical schools in the next four years. An analysis of responses from a recent AAMC survey of medical school expansion plans suggests that first-year enrollment by 2012 could grow by as much as 21 percent, or about 3,400 students per year. If that projection holds, first-year enrollment in 2012 would be about 19,900 students.

The survey data indicate that 86 percent of medical schools have recently expanded the number of first-year students or are planning to do so in the next five years. In addition, nine medical schools are either under development or are being discussed, according to the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.

In 2006 the AAMC, in response to data showing a looming shortage of physicians to meet an increasing need for medical care in the United States, called for an increase of 30 percent in first-year enrollment by 2015, which would bring it to about 21,400. ▪