So you're interested in becoming a medical doctor? If you haven't yet applied to med school, then you will (hopefully) find Medical School Admission Dot Com very helpful.
The number of first-year students enrolling at the nation's medical schools in the fall of 2014 grew to a record 20,343. However, so too did the number of applicants which grew to 49,480.That's a 13% increase in the number of applicants in just the last 3 years!
As recently as 2002, the number of students applying to and enrolling in American medical schools appeared to be in a freefall, having dipped sharply, from highs in the mid-1990s, amid concerns about a glut of physicians. But with at least some experts now predicting a significant shortfall of doctors in the years ahead, medical schools are expanding their enrollments and students are flooding the institutions with applications to fill the seats, according to an annual look at medical school admissions by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
The AAMC called for a 30 percent increase in medical school enrollments by 2015 through expanded enrollments at existing schools and the creation of new ones. However, that level of growth wasn't quite attained and the AAMC had the foresight in May 2012 to issue a revised forecast for a 29.6% increase in enrollment by the 2016-2017 academic season.
AAMC officials have been gratified not just by the enrollment growth, but also that it has resulted in a medical student body that is both more academically accomplished and more ethnically and racially diverse. Fewer than 45 percent of 2014 applicants to American medical schools were admitted, a figure that has declined steadily. Admitted first-year students in 2014 had an average MCAT score of 31.4 and average college grade point average of 3.69. That translates into a 0.3 MCAT score increase and 0.02 GPA increase in just the past three years. And it is a meaningful increase over the respective averages of 29.7 and 3.60 for the entering class of 2000.
As a result, an already competitive admissions process appears to be becoming even more competitive. But don't fear. We have information on many different aspects of the admission process including both the AMCAS and the MCAT that can help you along the way.
What We Think You Should Know
Med school is not easy to get through, and the profession itself is definitely not for everyone. Think long and hard about becoming a doctor before you commit yourself to this career track. Being a doctor means making huge sacrifices, first in medical school and then later in your internship and residency. Long shifts will be the norm not just during your training but throughout your career. Even when you're not working directly with patients, you will be spending a significant amount of time as a doctor reading and staying current in new medical techniques and research. The people who excel in medicine are those who are happy spending every waking moment thinking about it and those are precisely the kind of people that medical schools are looking for.
People are only half-joking when they describe a medical career as a "jealous lover" who takes over the practitioner's life. Studies have found that doctors tend to have a very high divorce rate and, ironically, a relatively short life expectancy. That situation seems to be changing somewhat, precisely because the younger doctors coming into the profession now insist on more work-life balance than their elders were willing to accept. Still, medicine is far more than a job. It takes as much dedication to thrive in a medical career as it does to get into medical school and to excel in medical training.
This website will give you assistance in your application process as you apply to med programs, but we want to make sure you are aware of the downside and have given proper thought and consideration to these points. If you have not, you could end up unhappy with your choice of career path and you will have taken an opportunity to attend med school from someone else who has the devotion to the "jealous lover" and the dedication to become a good doctor.
Still Want to Be a Doctor?
Good! Read on and we wish you the best of luck with your medical school applications!
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