Women Are Now a Majority of Entering Medical Students Nationwide

A new report by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates women have comprised nearly half of U.S. medical student applicants for the past 15 years, according to the Washington Post . The percentage of male applicants was slightly higher last year, but since 2015, male applicants declined nationally while female applicants increased. In 2017, women constituted 54 percent of entering students at the Howard University College of Medicine and 53 percent at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Meanwhile, women made up 48 percent of entering students at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, but Dean for Medical Education Stephen Ray Mitchell says women claimed a majority for the first time in 2002 and classes since then "generally run about 53 percent women." Medical proponents see the increase in women entering medical schools as a result of growing emphasis on pipeline programs encouraging girls to pursue math and science from the time they are in grade school. "Many of these programs show that women are just as talented and capable in the sciences," says the AAMC's Geoffrey Young. "We are pleased to see this increasing diversity in what has been a white male-dominated profession." The AAMC hopes the growing ranks of women, along with more underrepresented racial minorities, will help fill an expected shortfall of physicians needed to serve the senior U.S. population.