<p>I haven't even gotten to freshman year at Cornell yet (I was accepted ED), but I was bored and looked up the acceptance rate to Weill Medical College to get an idea of how likely it'd be that I'd be a Cornell student for 8 years. The acceptance rate was only a little more than 1%, and no doubt falling. Anyone else scared by that?</p>
<p>I don't know where you got that acceptance rate from but Weill's acceptance rate is a lot higher than 1%. It's 4%.</p>
<p>Is 4% about average among med schools?</p>
<p>Ughh, no, 4% isn't the average among med schools. I have no idea where you got that from. Only a few med schools ever get that low, and 50% of med school applicants get into med schools anyways.</p>
<p>Actually, out of the top 65 medical schools, only 10 have acceptance rates over 10% (with around 7-8 of those being public schools). This is from data that is 2 years old. Acceptance rates are even lower now since applications have risen significantly. It's not a good time to be a med school applicant.</p>
<p>Edit: The average acceptance rate of the top 65 medical schools (US News only ranks the top 1/2 of all allopathic schools) is 7.5%.</p>
<p>It seems like everyone knows there will be a large demand for physicians in the near future, yet med schools haven't really increased the number of students in their class, except for Tulane for its own need, why the disconnect?</p>
<p>It does suck to be an applicant right now, last year there were around 42,000, back in 2003, there were only 33,000 applicants according to New York Times.</p>
<p>Medical schools are increasing their class sizes, it's just not keeping up with the increase in applicant number. Class size is increasing by an average of 2% while the number of applicants is increasing by approx. 6-7% each year. </p>
<p>Medical schools often times can't afford to train more doctors. It is very expensive to train physicians. I've heard that it costs $1 million to train each med student. That's why it's almost impossible to flunk med school. They will do everything they can to make sure you get your MD because they can't afford for you to drop out. At the same time, medical schools are small. It's usually just a single building with a couple of lecture halls and labs. They just don't have the space to accomodate extra people.</p>
<p>The physician shortage will primarily be in primary care and geriatrics, which most US med students don't want to go to anyway. Most likely, this need will be fulfilled by foreign medical graduates.</p>
<p>4%? The Weil Medical College website said 1000 people applied for 101 spots last year.</p>
<p>Weill typically receives around 6000 applications, interviews 700 or so, accepts 230 or so, and enrolls 101. That's where the 4% comes from. </p>
<p>Medical</a> Education at Weill Medical College of Cornell University | About Us</p>
<p>I don't know where your numbers came from but the math definitely is not right.</p>
<p>Medical</a> Education at Weill Medical College of Cornell University | About Us</p>
<p>Even more concrete numbers:</p>
<p>5853 applications
753 interviews
101 matriculants</p>
<p>The only thing missing is the number accepted. According to US News, 2 years ago, they accepted around 230.</p>