by Joanne Finnegan | Dec 11, 2019
10:10am
Female medical
students have hit a milestone.
They now comprise the
majority of enrolled U.S. medical students for the first time, according to the Association of
American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
The 2019 data (PDF) released Tuesday
build on the milestone reached in 2017 when women comprised the majority of first-year medical
students, the AAMC said.
Now, in 2019, women
comprise 50.5% of all medical school students, the data showed. That number has
been increasing in recent years from 46.9% in 2015 to 49.5% in 2018.
For the first time ever,
in 2019, women comprise the majority of total medical school enrollment
(growing from 47% in 2015 to 50.5% in 2019). https://t.co/L5KySrZ8oj pic.twitter.com/FKkuSUzo3L
— AAMC
(@AAMCtoday) December 10, 2019
The data also showed
modest gains by U.S. medical schools in attracting and enrolling more
racially and ethnically diverse students, the AAMC said, although these groups
are still underrepresented in the physician workforce.
“The steady gains in
the medical school enrollment of women are a very positive trend, and we are
delighted to see this progress,” said David Skorton, M.D., AAMC president and
CEO, in an announcement.
“However, the modest
increases in enrollment among underrepresented groups are simply not enough. We
cannot accept this as the status quo and must do more to educate and train a
more diverse physician workforce to care for a more diverse America,” he said.
While the statistics
are encouraging for women, study after study shows female physicians still
earn less—sometimes a lot less—than their male counterparts. That salary gap
extends to racial pay disparity in
medicine. Studies show
that a racial imbalance in wages has been a pervasive issue that exists among
physicians in the same medical specialty.
This year also saw a
record number of applicants to medical schools, which was up by 1.1% from 2018
to 2019. Some 53,371 people applied to medical school, and the number of new
enrollees grew by 1.1% to 21,869. Across applicants and matriculants, the
number of women increased while the number of men declined, the AAMC said.
Medical schools saw
small increases in minority students. The AAMC released the
following statistics:
·
Applicants who are
Hispanic, Latino or of Spanish origin increased 5.1% to 5,858, and matriculants
from this group grew 6.3% to 2,466.
·
The number of black or
African American applicants rose 0.6% to 5,193, and matriculants increased by
3.2% to 1,916. Among black or African American men, applicants and matriculants
increased 0.5%, and the total enrollment of black or African American men rose
3.7% to 3,189.
·
American Indian or
Alaska Native applicants grew by 4.8% to 586, and matriculants rose 5.5% to
230.
The growth in the
number of medical school applicants shows interest in a career in medicine
remains high, important as the nation faces a shortage of physicians that the
AAMC projects could reach 122,000 doctors by 2030.
To help address the
shortage, medical schools have expanded class sizes, 20 new schools have opened
in the past decade and the total number of enrolled medical students has grown
by 33% since 2002, the AAMC said.
The organization once
again called for Congress to increase the number of federally funded residency
training positions to produce more doctors to meet the needs of a growing and
aging population. The AAMC supports bipartisan legislation that
would add 15,000 residency slots over five years to ensure all patients
have access to the care they need.
Enrollment in medical
schools remained competitive. Medical school students in 2019 had an average
undergraduate grade point average of 3.78. Enrollees range in age from 15 to
53, and 131 are military veterans. Additionally, this year’s entering class
demonstrates a strong commitment to service, cumulatively performing more than
14 million community service hours.
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