Across the nation, more and more students are fighting their way through organic chemistry and MCAT testing to apply for medical school.
For the first time in six years, the Association of American Medical Colleges reported a rise in the number of medical school applicants nationwide. Almost 35,000 people applied for entry into American medical schools for the 2003-2004 school year -- a rise of 3.4 percent.
In line with the national trend, the University's School of Medicine saw its first increase in applicants since 1996.
The school's 14 percent increase in applicants is over four times the national statistic.
According to Beth Bailey, assistant dean of admissions for the school of medicine, the school received 3,577 applications for the 2003-2004 academic year, and 140 students were admitted.
Bailey said it would be impossible to pin down specific reasons for the increase, but said some connect the rise to the recent economic downturn and the effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The increase in medical school applicants looks likely to continue.
"At the moment, we are running about 400 applicants ahead of where we were this time last year," Bailey said.
For current premedical undergraduates, rising numbers of applicants means increased competition.
Glenn Cummings, director of pre-professional advising for University Career Services, said it now is more important than ever for medical school aspirants to look at the average MCAT score and average GPA of University students who were accepted to medical school last year.
These numbers will help give applicants a realistic impression of their chances at medical school acceptance, Cummings said.
Jae Lee, a fourth-year premedical student and president of the national premedical honor society, Alpha Epsilon Delta, said while competition will increase, he does not think it is going to be too much harder to get into medical school.
"I'm not more worried that application numbers have gone up a little -- naturally I'm worried just as every other applicant is," Lee said.
Another hallmark reported by the AAMC is the percentage of female applicants.
A Nov. 4 AAMC press release said 17,672 of those applying to enter medical school in 2003 were women. This marks the first time women have represented a majority of applicants.
While women did not make up a majority of 2003-2004 University medical school applicants, the number of women applying did increase -- from 1,596 for 2002 to 1,755 for 2003.
Emily Bethards, chair of Women in Medicine Initiatives, a CIO formed to encourage women's interest in medicine, said she is inspired by the increase.
"I think it's wonderful," Bethards said. "I think the main reason is these women have role models in the field showing them that it can be done."
Although Bethards said female role models do exist, she noted that medicine remains a male dominated field because only 13 percent of surgeons and nine percent of department chairs are women.
Bethards said she hopes these low percentages will be challenged as the numbers of applicants increases.
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