Expanding enrollment vs. opening up new schools?

[Officer Farva]

So,

I interviewed at a couple of newer MD programs in the past and was skeptical of an unproven track record.

What's stopping medical schools from each agreeing to take on additional 5-20 students each? Surely at schools with low enrollment like Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic, that wouldn't compromise the quality of education.

And at bigger schools, what's an extra 5 students? It seems a lot cheaper than opening up a bunch of new schools. Not to mention, I would value an established name (forget school rank) over an unestablished name.

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[ndafife]

Its not always logistically possible, especially when you get into 3rd and 4th year rotations.

 

[Officer Farva]

Its not always logistically possible, especially when you get into 3rd and 4th year rotations.

I'd like to think if a school can afford millions on patient simulators and virtual dissections, they can figure this one out.

 

[Med Ed]

What's stopping medical schools from each agreeing to take on additional 5-20 students each? Surely at schools with low enrollment like Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic, that wouldn't compromise the quality of education.

Medical schools, particularly public ones, have in fact expanded enrollment significantly over the past 15 years. You simply weren't paying attention.

Historically tuition has not covered the cost of educating a given medical student. Traditional medical schools have relied upon subsidy from the parent institution to function; they are essentially revenue sinks. Still, enrollment has expanded to meet projected workforce needs, despite the fact that each new student brings with him/her space requirements, faculty requirements, administrative requirements, and stretches the clinical training network that much thinner. Incidentally, this enrollment has expanded in the face of tightening clinical revenues, making the financial side that much more unappealing for most institutions.

Contrast this to some of the new tuition-driven schools, which are mostly osteopathic, that rely upon large classes, low resource teaching methods (e.g. lecture), and eye-popping price tags. The downside, of course, is the difficulty in findings decent clinical rotations.

 

[Glandzburg]

Medical students are expensive. It's probably not a huge deal to add a few more seats for lecture during 1st and 2nd year. The issue comes during 3rd and 4th year, when adding 5-20 more students means needing to hire more clinical faculty ($$$$). Your thinking may change once you fully understand what is required to do what you are suggesting (as @ndafife also suggested, and you dismissed).