why is it so hard to get into medical school?

[C. Ronaldo]

this may seem like a stupid question, and perhaps it is. but i read in a magazine that there is going to be a massive physician shortage in the US in the near future. i also know that it is incredibly hard to get into medical school and luck, not competency plays a large part. as the population is increasing and along with it the shortage of doctors needed in the future, it seems it should be getting a tad bit easier to get into medical school because the system needs so many more doctors. however, it seems that people say it is getting harder each year to get into medical school. are places getting fewer, or are more people applying? what gives?

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[Scarletbegonias]

it's hard to get into medical school because there's more qualified candidates than there are spots in medical school classes

 

[Hallm_7]

While the demand for physicians is going up the supply is not. The rate at which US medical schools grauate physicians hasn't kept up with the rate of physicians demanded by society, so we have a shortage. Even though there may be a larger demand, there are not that many more spots in US medical schools, so for someone trying to get in it will still be just as difficult today as it was 10 years ago for the most part. I say for the most part because there are slightly more MD and DO graduates every year now, but not many. Florida State (I think) recently opened an MD school and there have been 3 or 4 DO schools open up in the last few years, but this still hasn't kept up with the increased demand. The AAMC or AMA (I don't remember which) made recommendations to increase the number of seats in American medical schools, but that is still at least 5-10 years down the road I would say.

It is interesting to note that over the last 10 years there has been a decline in the numbers of MD applicants to American medical schools. The last couple years there has been a slight uptick, but there are still far fewer applicants now than in 1995. Despite the decrease in numbers of applicants the average MCAT score and GPA has remained the same or even increased by many accounts, so while the percentage of applicants getting in has increased the requirements have increased slightly. Sorry I didn't cite any references for these, but they should be pretty easy to find if you want actual numbers.

 

[bidster]

are places getting fewer, or are more people applying?

It's not that the places are getting fewer. The reason it's not so easy to expand the number of seats available in medical schools is resource availability. Medical education is expensive for schools to support--yeah, their sob story doesn't seem that convincing when you consider the student perspective, but it's true. And for some schools to exceed their class quota by one can overtip strict budgets set forth by states and universities. And a lot of schools also only have so much physical educational and hospital space in which to stash students as well.

Interestingly, for my thesis, I'm in the middle of perusing some reading to expand my lit review, and I came upon the statistic that prior to 1900, a rejection at a medical school (well, given that you fit a certain gender and race, you know which ones) was almost unheard of.** Ohhh how the times change.

(**cited in Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr. Long but really engaging )

 

[masterMood]

the ama and aamc are special interests that lobby the american government to limit the number of physicians entering the work force. Basically the ama and ammc are the most powerful unions in the world and support the physicians that are working in the first place. If more physicians were to enter the workforce, the salaries of the physicians would decrease, so these special interest groups are trying to stop the wages of physicians to decrease any further.

 

[ForbiddenComma]

That article must have been that USNews cover story a few months back. They say the AMA is recommending increasing yearly class size by 15% or so, which is huge since the AMA has a vested interest in keeping the number of physicians low (and thus the demand-per-physician high).

The number of med school spots per year is highly regulated, by AMA, AAMC and by the feds who control the number of residency spots via medicare. I don't know if DO schools are covered by these regs, but I know that the caribbean schools aren't... that's why they exist in the first place.

The AMA is finally realizing that there are too few docs, especially primary-care docs, for this aging population. They also see that non-doctor alternatives, such as PAs and most of all nurse practitioners are now picking up the slack and represent a long-term threat to the viability of primary-care MD practice. After all, why should that hospital hire an FP at 150k/yr when they can hire a NP to do the same work for only 60?

 

[masterMood]

and thus the AMA will fight to prevent NPs, PAs, etc so they can maintain their status as NEEDED specialties in the hospital. It would be pretty hard to dissuade the government from giving more priviliges to other professionals when the AMA is so darn well-funded and powerful as it is

 

[Hallm_7]

http://www.aamc.org/workforce/start.htm

Position Statement
The AAMC has revised its position on the physician workforce. Concerned that demand for physicians will outstrip supply in the future, the AAMC supports a 15 percent increase in U.S. medical school enrollment by 2015. Assuming that schools respond to the recommendation, the result would be an increase of about 2,500 M.D. graduates per year. Read the AAMC's workforce position statement (PDF - 4 pages, 85KB).


It's also interesting to note that doctors on average are working less than they did 10-15 years ago for several reasons, but one reason being that there are more women in medicine now. Women tend to retire earlier, take time off for children, and limit their hours more for their children. So not only are there fewer physicians than needed, they also work fewer hours than before.

I don't view the AMA as a union per se, because if they were doctors would have already been on strike because of stagnant wages and having to deal with insurance companies and medicare/medicaid for reimbursement. I view them more as an advocacy group that work more on the legistlative aspects of medicine.

 

[Ross434]

this may seem like a stupid question, and perhaps it is. but i read in a magazine that there is going to be a massive physician shortage in the US in the near future. i also know that it is incredibly hard to get into medical school and luck, not competency plays a large part. as the population is increasing and along with it the shortage of doctors needed in the future, it seems it should be getting a tad bit easier to get into medical school because the system needs so many more doctors. however, it seems that people say it is getting harder each year to get into medical school. are places getting fewer, or are more people applying? what gives?

Powerful forces conspire against you (literally!!). - The establishment has a huge interest in maintaining monopoly control over the supply of doctors, and thus making more money.

 

[Code Brown]

i also know that it is incredibly hard to get into medical school and luck, not competency plays a large part.

Competency definitetly plays a role in getting in, not luck. However, luck plays a role of where you will end up going.

 

[xadmin]

I don't think it is hard to get into medical school. I am unstellar in almost everyway and still got accepted into top 25 programs.

 

[45408]

I don't think it is hard to get into medical school. I am unstellar in almost everyway and still got accepted into top 25 programs.

Explain.


OP - It's hard to get into medical school because people are willing to do a lot in order to get in, meaning that you have to do even more if you want to actually be accepted.

 

[Blue Scrub]

anything elite and super competitive to get into will be hard....music, sports, professional schools, you name it...