Med School Applications Up

The number of applicants to thenation's medical schools edged up for thesecond consecutive year, according to theAssociation of American Medical Colleges.The nearly 36,000 prospective medicalstudents who applied to attend medicalschool in the 2004 to 2005 schoolyear represented a 2.7% increase over lastyear. For the second year in a row, femaleapplicants (18,015) outnumbered theirmale counterparts by a slight margin.Applications from men jumped by 4%,however, which is the first substantial gainin 4 years. The number of black andHispanic applicants increased by 2.3%and 2.5%, respectively. These statistics onminority applicants have been eagerlyanticipated; this is the first survey conductedafter the June 2003 US SupremeCourt ruling on affirmative action.