Allopathic medical schools increased enrollment by 352 students or 2.1% for the 2005-06 beginning academic year. the Assn of American Medical Colleges recomment that schools boost their enrollment by 15% to offset an anticipated shortage in physicians. Until this fall, enrollment had been fairly static for the last 20 years. This year there are 17,004 first year students at allopathic schools.
We can expect schools to add more slots over time and that new medical schools will also be built in the near future.
What about residency?
Of course this means that residency slots should also be raised. Currently there is a Medicare spending cap on GME to that resident positions are not tied to med school graduation rates. Also of note is that approximately 25% of the 101,801 residents are made up of IMGs.
Looks like a good time to be a pre-med!