Applications to the University Medical School declined again this year, continuing the slide from a peak of 4,879 applicants in 1996 to a low of 3,700 this fall. Despite the drop, officials said they see a marked increase in the general quality of applicants.
The 125 accredited medical schools in the United States have experienced similar trends. The 37,142 students competing for spots in this year's entering class represented a 21 percent decline from 1996, when a record 46,968 students applied.
But University officials are not alarmed by the fall in numbers.
"Although our applications have declined during the past five years, the quality of our applicants and matriculants has remained at historic highs, so we are not greatly concerned," said Benjamin Sturgill, associate dean of admissions for the Medical School.
Average GPAs and MCAT scores have been on the rise at the University, from 3.57 and 10.34 respectively in 1996 to 3.67 and 10.65 in 2000, Medical School Admissions Director Beth Bailey said.
Medical school officials across the country have proposed a number of reasons for the decline in applicants. Some suggest the decline could be a result of concern over growing medical school debt-burdens, a backlash against affirmative-action efforts or a consequence of a booming economy that has created additional job opportunities for those who would have considered medical school.
Other factors may include a growing concern that managed care has resulted in an income decline and that third parties increasingly have interfered with the decisions doctors make on their patients' behalf.
But Sturgill suggested these changes are simply the result of cyclical changes in the applicant pool. As fewer applicants gain admission to schools because of high numbers of applicants, "word gets around about this difficulty, and this discourages applicants from applying, at which point applications begin to go down," he said. "Applications bottomed out in 1989-90 nationally and here at U.Va.," he added.
Despite a slight increase of 1.9 percent this year in the number of minority applicants nationwide, "applications from underrepresented in medicine minorities has been on the decline, both nationally and at the University," Bailey said.
The University Medical School has experienced a general decline in minority applicants from 579 in 1996 to 407 in 2000, she said.
Through these changes, the University Medical School continues to promote medicine as a career through "our publications and Web site and through our visits to colleges and universities," Sturgill said. To promote the field, the school also sponsors a Day at the Medical Center each year for those interested in a medical career.
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