The Yale School of Medicine’s admissions data were released Thursday, indicating the school is continuing its trend of admitting more women than men.
The School of Medicine, which sent out admissions decisions Tuesday, admitted 176 of its 3,698 applicants, totaling a rate of 4.8 percent, according to Richard Silverman, the school’s director of admissions. More than 59 percent of the admitted students, 104 out of 176, are women. Last year saw 53 percent of acceptances go to women, although the fall 2005 entering class included 58 women and 42 men.
Silverman said about 30 percent of the accepted applicants are from underrepresented minority groups. The incoming class is expected to be 100 students, Silverman said.
The School of Medicine received 10 fewer applications to the class of 2010 than it did last year, when Yale received a record 3,708 applications. Applications increased nationwide 4.6 percent this year.
Nationwide, more women than men have applied to medical schools in recent years, according to statistics from the Association of American Medical Colleges. But this year saw men regain a slight edge in application numbers nationally, constituting approximately 50.2 percent of 37,364 total applicants.
Silverman said the ratio of men to women in Yale’s next incoming class could even out later, but specific statistics will not be available until mid-May, when prospective students decide where to matriculate.
“Up until May 15, the world of medical admissions is very fluid,” he said.
Of the 151 Yale students and alumni who applied to their alma mater for medical school, 32 were accepted, Silverman said.
Edward Miller, director of the health professions advisory program at Undergraduate Career Services, said the number of applications from Yale students to medical schools is on the rise. Miller said 168 students and alumni applied to medical schools through the program this year, but 252 individuals — mostly current students, since alumni tend to wait until later in the spring or summer — have already registered for the next application cycle. Miller said he expects around 220 to 225 Elis to complete the process next year.
The fluctuations in application numbers should continue for the foreseeable future, Miller predicted. More students are taking one or two, or even more, years off after graduation before applying to medical schools, he said, and about 52 percent of medical school applicants to Yale this year were alumni rather than current students.
Almost 60 percent of Yale’s medical school class did not enter directly after graduating college, Silverman said. Some applied during their senior year but deferred their acceptance to pursue fellowships — including Rhodes and Marshall scholarships — and teaching, research and public service, including the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. Silverman said the Medical School now automatically grants a deferral to any accepted student who is accepted to the Teach for America program. The benefits of taking at least one year off are many, he said.
“Students who defer enrollment or postpone applying until a year or two after college often come to medical school better prepared — with a clearer vision of their careers and a better sense of their commitment to medicine,” Silverman said.
Among the 100 expected matriculants, 10 will enroll in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, program director Dr. James Jamieson said. He said the program received 325 applications this year, down about 13 percent from last year’s 374, but he said the applicant pool for the lengthy combined degree program that trains physician-scientists is shrinking nationwide. Though fewer people applied, the program interviewed 100 applicants, up from last year’s 75. Jamieson said the higher proportion of interviews was due to the quality of the total pool. Fifty percent of the incoming M.D./Ph.D. class is female, he said.
Miller said he has noticed more science majors, particularly those who combined a science major with a non-science one, among those applying to medical school, but Silverman reported little increase. The 100 students in the Class of 2009 include 79 science majors. He said all applicants must show a strong science background in order to be admitted.
Silverman said statistics about the distribution of majors among the admitted class are currently unavailable.