INDIANAPOLIS — Across the nation, medical school applications are skyrocketing. Just this month, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) noted applications for the class of 2021 are already up 18% compared to last year.
At Indiana University School of Medicine, in-state applications are up 47% and out of state, up 20%. The school received a total of 7,386 total applications for the incoming class.
“This is a phenomenon that we wouldn’t have lived through unless we had had the pandemic," IU Associate Dean of MD Admissions, Taihung Duong, said. "I am so much confident by the fact that young people rise to the occasion whenever there is a crisis in our country."
IU Medical School has the largest class of medical students in the country. Despite a drastic increase in those applications, that class size remains the same at 365.
“I think sometimes young people are maybe underestimated by the older generation and this goes to show that the young generation, whenever a crisis happens, that we’re ready to respond and we want to continue to go out and change the world,” said Colton Junod, who is a part of IU School of Medicine’s class of 2022.
Duong pointed to four reasons behind the increase. First, online school allowing more time to work on applications. Second, the interview process moving virtually. Also, the uncertainty in the economy pushing applicants to want a stable profession. Finally, the one that has many talking, is coined “the Fauci effect."
“I think it’s more than the Fauci effect. They saw so many selfless people out there, they wanted to join the profession,” Duong said.
The AAMC reported 2020 reached a 20-year high for applications, but it doesn’t necessarily mean there will be more doctors in the near future.
Organizations like the AAMC want to see federally funded residency caps lifted or it said the country could be short of as many as 139,000 physicians by 2033.
