(HealthDay)—In 2013, a record number of students applied to and enrolled in medical schools, according to a report published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
In 2013 there was a 6.1 percent increase in the total number of applicants to medical schools, to 48,014. There was also a 5.8 percent increase in the number of first-time applicants, to 35,727. The number of students enrolled in their first year of medical school increased by 2.8 percent from 2012 and reached 20,055.
The growth in medical school enrollment was partly due to the creation of new medical schools, with four new schools accounting for about half of the increase. Existing medical schools expanded class sizes, with 14 medical schools increasing class sizes by more than 10 percent. The diversity of applicants and those enrolling in medical schools was relatively stable, but the number of first-time female applications increased by 6.9 percent and there was a continued increase in the number of Hispanics/Latinos attending medical school.
"We are very glad that more students than ever want to become physicians," Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., AAMC president and chief executive Officer, said in a statement. "However, unless Congress lifts the 16-year-old cap on federal support for residency training, we will still face a shortfall of physicians across dozens of specialties."
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