By Stacy Weiner, October 22, 2020
As applications spike during COVID-19, candidates are asking how to make their applications stand out, while admissions officers are taking steps to handle the influx.
At Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, applications for admission to the class of 2025 are up more than 35% compared to the same time last year. At Boston University School of Medicine, they’ve risen by 26%. And at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, admissions officers have seen applications increase by 27%.
In fact, nearly two dozen medical schools have seen applications jump by at least 25% this year, according to AAMC data.
Final tallies won’t arrive for another month or so — all schools’ application windows must close first — but early numbers are striking. So far, there are more than 7,500 additional applicants nationwide, according to data from the American Medical College Application Service® (AMCAS®), which processes submissions for most U.S. medical schools. That’s an increase of nearly 17%.
Consider some edifying context: In the past decade, the year-over-year increase has averaged less than 3%.
“We’ve been experiencing a leveling off in recent years, so the large increase was quite surprising,” says AAMC Chief Services Officer Gabrielle Campbell. “It’s also inspiring.”
Experts don’t know exactly what’s behind the increase, but they point to several likely factors. Some are rather mundane, including students having more time to focus on applications as college classes moved online. But at least some of this year’s applicants are driven by COVID-19 patients’ terrible suffering and front-line providers’ extraordinary heroism.
“I make an analogy to the time after 9/11, when we saw an increase in those motivated to serve this country militarily,” says Geoffrey Young, PhD, AAMC senior director for student affairs and programs. “This certainly seems like a significant factor this year.”
Even in a usual cycle, applying to medical school is no simple matter. Candidates spend many months preparing for the MCAT® exam, writing essays, and collecting recommendations. Applying for entry in 2021 meant completing the AMCAS application in the spring or summer of 2020, followed by individual schools’ required secondary applications. Once applications are completed, applicants anxiously await interview invitations, which could extend into the spring of 2021.