@Hanna: Yes, but the competition for OOS students from IL is intense. With scholarships (and sometimes even without), the IA flagships, IN flagships, MSU, and Minny can all say the same and they may be more preferred by IL kids (over Mizzou) now.
The knock against Mizzou from Illinois kids is that it is not a Big 10 school. However, while it is a long drive, there are direct flights between Columbia and Chicago.
The medical school has been dealing with its diversity issue since 2000. It’s just that they are facing the third and potentially final chance that the LCME (the medical school accrediting body) is going to give them.
Why is race a factor in accreditation? That is just ridiculous.
“Like Hanna, I think this is the perfect time to go to Mizzou. No forced triples, plenty of room in classes, an administration bowing to every request.”
With registration dropping, so are the number of classes they are offering. Some requirements are now offered once a year instead of each semester. It’s not a problem (yet?) for some of the more popular majors, but it is definitely affecting some. (Earlier I posted about a relative having to petition to be allowed to graduate because two required classes weren’t being offered anymore.
Of all forms of affirmative action, medical school admissions are the easiest to justify. Without them, there would be “doctor deserts” both in poor urban areas and poor rural areas. When I visit clinics on the south side of Chicago, the vast majority of doctors and medical personnel are of the same race as the surrounding community. Without maintaining slots at medical and nursing schools for the minorities that live in these areas, it would be more difficult for the local population to get professional medical care.
The same goes for rural areas. Public medical schools will give preference from candidates from rural areas with the understanding or at least hope that they will move back and serve these communities instead cashing in while living in the wealthy suburbs.
Which majors are being shortchanged or cut?
Aren’t some medically-underserved rural areas dependent on foreign medical graduates because US medical graduates (of any race/ethnicity or rural/urban background) are burdened with so much debt that they cannot afford to practice in areas where people are more likely to have neither money nor (good) medical insurance to pay their physicians?
^yes, 25% doctors in medical deserts are graduates of foreign medical schools - and still there are medical deserts. In order to alleviate the issue of medical deserts, especially in rural areas, some med schools have set up “rural medicine” programs which provide the student with a fellowship during their studies in exchange for practicing in a rural area of the state. Tennessee and Kentucky have set up sorta-doctor qualifications for rural areas because they couldn’t find doctors for some areas (and, presumably, didn’t want to increase the number of foreign graduates).
Soon Mizzou can start advertising its “LAC-like” education.
Regarding medical schools, why doesn’t the US churn out more medical school graduates rather than relying on doctors trained overseas? It seems like lots of well-qualified students can’t get a medical school slot in the US. Does it cost too much to train a doctor in the US?
That’s a part of it along with the issue of sufficient vital internships/residencies for Med school graduates.
The cap on the latter is strictly regulated so unless the regulatory body responsible suddenly decides to increase the numbers of residencies beyond the current number, med schools aren’t likely to increase their student bodies.
Incidentally, this is one key reason why doing med school in the Caribbean can be such a gamble even though some may find it’s their seemingly only option due to low-for-med school GPAs and lowish MCAT scores. .
One major issue most have is that most end up getting shut out of internship/residency places because graduates of AMA accredited med schools in the states have first priority on them. Know of a few acquaintances who are dealing with this very issue right now.
Medical school accreditation is partially administered by the physicians’ union (AMA), which may have an incentive to keep the number of new physicians down to protect jobs and income for current physicians. It is also quite expensive to start up and operate a medical school.
Medical residency programs are also a limiting factor in physician production. They can be constrained both by funding (much of which is from the national government) and specialist committees which may have incentive to limit the number of new physicians in their specialties.
More medical school students almost always lead to higher operating deficit for the university. For a medium size medical school where annual enrollment is say around 100 students, its annual operating deficit is typically between $10 million and $20 million. At Dartmouth, this figure is $53.5 million: http://www.vnews.com/Dartmouth-College-s-Quest-for-Financial-Solid-Ground-Will-Affect-Whole-Upper-Valley-6899562. For almost all major universities, the medical school is a “cost” center.
I didn’t realize med schools “cost”, I imagined on the contrary that they brought in big money. 
However, another issue is that working in rural areas may not allow doctors to pay their med school loans. Students need incentives to move to very rural areas or work in inner-city clinics (shorter hours while still being on a career track, loans reimbursement…)
It’d be good if we knew what Mizzou programs are being cut or which classes are harder to get.
^ The hospitals bring in money, but evidently medical education is expensive? I’m actually curious for insight in to that. Med school students are a drain on resources. Residents don’t get paid a lot and work long hours (though maybe they aren’t of much value?)
@MYOS1634 - My family member is in the music department. They aren’t cutting majors and programs, just classes - including required ones. Students may find that a class they’d planned to take Spring Semester is suddenly not available, as they’re reducing the number of courses offered to cut costs.
^Thanks. It makes sense . They try to 'make do’withiut cutting majors.
Again, some posters are a virtual font of misinformation about medical schools and physician training.
Here is an article explaining why, even if medical schools increase the number of student slots, the next link in the training chain, residency program slots, are, for all intents and purposes, capped.
From the article, funding for GME training comes primarily from Medicare. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 capped the number of residency slots the federal government funds. Anything beyond that is paid for by the hospitals where residents train. While it is POSSIBLE to increase the number of residents, to do so hospitals must fund the entire cost of those training positions. The article also discusses possible solutions and delves into the present problem of too many med school graduates for the number of residency slots.
@eastcoascrazy: OK, but why does it cost so much to train a resident?
“evidently medical education is expensive? I’m actually curious for insight in to that”
The student/faculty ratio is very low at medical schools, say 1 or even lower at some schools. At elite undergraduate programs, this ratio is like 5 or 6. At state flagship undergraduate programs, this ratio is like 15-20.
Medical school faculty also cost far more than undergraduate, say humanities, faculty.
Fixed, facility costs (lab, expensive machines, etc.) are also much higher for medical schools.