MUSC, national med school applications down
by Cindy AbolePublic Relations
Despite medicine owning a stake in today's era of new technology and pharmaceutical advances, medical schools everywhere are slowly losing ground when it comes to attracting and training America's next generation of physicians.
Like many of its institutional counterparts, MUSC has seen a gradual dip in medical school applications. Although the College of Medicine's mission to recruit hasn't changed, its strategy has shifted to being more resourceful.
“Our mission has always been to go out and recruit South Carolina's brightest and best students,” said Wanda Taylor, director of admissions, College of Medicine. “Our only challenge is that the field of qualified talent is shrinking. It's difficult when everyone is drawing from the same pool of talent— students with diverse backgrounds who show a strong interest in science.”
What Taylor and COM Admissions Committee co-chairman Paul B. Underwood, M.D., are describing is something typical to today's medical school candidates. Today's brightest graduates are being lured into equally profitable professions besides medicine.
“The explosion of high paying jobs in the computer and technology industries is certainly affecting our applicant pool,” said Rosalie Crouch, Ph.D., vice president of academic affairs and provost. “However, this maybe viewed as removing applicants from the pool who are not truly interested in medicine, even though they have the academic credentials.”
Joye
Hanna, tour coordinator, Enrollment Services, conducts tours throughout
campus for potential MUSC students.
The College of Medicine works in collaboration with the Office of Diversity to help recruit eligible minorities to better reflect the diverse university campus and the state's population.
Taylor and the diversity staff must be innovative in recruiting qualified students—even minority students at an early age. Today, more college admissions staffs are finding their way into elementary and middle school classrooms in an attempt to talk to teachers, advisors and students. This approach has been successful in allowing students to understand what a career in medicine is all about, said Taylor.
“Medicine is basically all about helping others in need,” said Underwood. “Ultimately, students discover what attracts them to medicine and they don't want anything else.”
Last year, the College of Medicine received 1,944 medical school applications, with 443 coming from in-state students. Of that number, only 135 applicants are actually admitted. For the past three years, College of Medicine statistics show a gradual decrease in overall medical school applications. The college reported a drop of 340 total medical school applications from 2,393 in 1998 to 2,053 applications in 1999. For fall 2000, 65 less applications were received than the previous year. The numbers are even lower for male and minority applicants.
The College of Medicine continues to recruit the best students from South Carolina colleges and universities. The 26-member admission committee is composed of faculty, students and staff. The eight medical students are selected by the COM's Student Council and are actively involved in all committee activities. This diverse set of students serves as an important link for applicants by answering questions and providing guidance and general knowledge about campus life.
“What's great about this is that the admissions committee students are selected by their peers,” Taylor said. “They can be totally honest with each applicant about campus life. We don't advise or instruct them about what to say.”
About half of Medicine's fall 2000 applicant pool is composed of biology majors followed by chemistry, psychology and engineering graduates. The remaining applicant group includes liberal art majors with diverse backgrounds ranging from English and foreign language to ballet, said Taylor.
As a member of the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS), MUSC and their counterparts select their first-year medical school candidates based on a combination of criteria including undergraduate GPA, MCAT performance and personal interviews.
In reality, the AMCAS application is used as a preliminary method for applicant screening by the admissions committee. After review, applicants who meet the academic criteria established by the admissions committee receive and complete a secondary application and are required to pay a $55 processing fee. Each applicant is given three personal interviews—one with a member of the admissions committee, one with an MUSC faculty member and one with an outside practicing physician. Although the selection process begins as early as September, final decisions for all applicants are completed by the admissions committee in mid-March.
As part of their recruiting efforts, the College of Medicine works directly with statewide college and university advisors as part of their recruiting efforts. Today, much of the communication is conducted via e-mail, correspondence or by phone. However Taylor, Underwood and medical students continue to visit campuses around the state. The groups conduct special presentations and work jointly with other MUSC colleges including Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Nursing, Dental Medicine and Pharmacy in some of these recruitment efforts.
“These days, we try to do things as efficiently as possible,” said Taylor.
“Although we've experienced a slight decline, we still have an adequate
number of highly talented students who are committed to pursuing careers
in medicine. The quality of our applicant pool continues to be very strong.”