Med School Applicant Numbers Climbing at UC and Across Nation

CINCINNATI-The number of applicants to the UC College of Medicine has reached its highest point in 15 years and is outpacing national increases.

Applicants to the first-year medical school class entering the College of Medicine in the Fall of 2012 totaled 4,334, the highest it’s been since 1996 when 4,787 people applied to the college. 

Nationally, 32,654 people applied to begin medical school in 2011, an increase of 2.6 percent from 2010, and the number of first time applications reached a record high according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The number of applicants to UC increased by 8.8 percent this year, which is 360 more applicants than last year.

"The rise in applications to medical school is due not only to the increased number of college graduates, but the surge in students graduating with science and science-related degrees," says Stephen Manuel, PhD, assistant dean in the College of Medicine’s office of admissions.

While there has been an increase in the number of medical schools and the enrollment among medical schools, this growth is not keeping pace with the number of students who would like to attend medical school.  According to data from the American Association of Medical Colleges, over the last 10 years, the number of seats in U.S. medical schools has increased by approximately 10 percent, but the number of applications to medical school has risen by 25 percent.

At the UC College of Medicine, the number of in-state applicants remains essentially flat – 1,116 this year and 1,120 in 2010 – and out-of-state applicants jumped from 2,864 last year to 3,228 this year.

"Our growth area is out-of-state applicants because in the south, the number of college graduates has increased; thus, more college graduates are applying to medical schools and this increases our overall yield of the out-of-state applicants.” 

For Ohio students applying to the medical school, the numbers are in their favor because our incoming class is typically 65 percent in state; however, for those students applying as an out-of-state student, the competition continues to grow, says Manuel.