Blacks Lose Ground in Medical School Applications and New Enrollments

The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that for the first time since 2002, the number of applicants to medical school has declined. In percentage terms the decrease was very small, only two tenths of one percent.

But the number of black applicants has declined at a greater rate. In 2007 there were 3,471 black applicants to U.S. medical schools. This year there were 3,342, a decline of 3.7 percent.

While the number of applicants was down, the number of black students entering medical school this year was slightly higher than a year ago. In 2008, 1,293 black students began medical training in the United States. This was up from 1,281 students a year ago, an increase of less than 1 percent.

But the black gains lagged the increase for all new students matriculating at U.S. medical schools. For students of all races in 2008 there was a 1.6 percent increase of new entrants into medical school.

Copyright © 2008. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.