Average Number of Applicants

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Hey everyone,
I am new to this board and frankly, a little humbled by the insane amount of interview invites. Congrats to you all. I am actually planning on applying the next cycle to MSTP and MD/PhD programs. I was just curious, do any of you know the average amount of people that apply MD/PhD each year?
The reason I ask is that I have a buddy who is in a MSTP program, and he told me that in general, MSTP apps have declined over the past few years at his school. The quality of the applicants are top-notch, but there seem to be fewer and fewer. He told me that one problem was that with fewer applicants, a lot of smaller programs don't fill their slots b/c they lose students to bigger programs like WashU and Hopkins. As a result, he feels that some applicants get screwed b/c they are denied an interview to some MSTP programs, only to see that those same programs only fill half their slots every year. It seems to me that if people are willing to put in the eight years of work, they should be able to find a home somewhere. Any thoughts?

 

[Sonya]

washU is one of the largest, it has 25/yr.

U Chicago has i think 12.

Univ. of Ill @ chicago has like 4.

Does this give you an idea? these are the number of matriculants.
Eight years is big commitment, but they don't have to pay tuition.

It's a trade off. Yes, i think schools should admit if they think someone is good enough.. rather than let seats go empty. but, the fact they are willing to put 8 yrs isn't enough.

But, i think it is legitmate for a school to let a seat go empty rather than take someone unqualified.

 

[marq_bme]

from a school like washu's perspective..they accept all capable applicants. using that same logic...schools probably accept candidates that are capable of handling the dual degree program at their particular school. Therefore, unless schools are not interviewing all those capable and qualified for their MSTP program, they are simply choosing to interview & accept qualified candidates. schools shouldn't accept unqualified candidates simply because the slot is there--this is why MSTP class sizes vary from year to year--otherwise they would either HAVE to take a few less qualified candidates or cut a few qualified candidates to meet their quota for that year.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

When I applied, there were about 300 applicants for 6 spots at Hopkins.