Hershey, Pa. -- With a record number of student applications, the largest graduating class in its history and its highest-ever residency match rate, Penn State College of Medicine further cemented its role as a medical school of choice over the past year.
Harold L. Paz, senior vice president for health affairs, dean of Penn State College of Medicine and Medical Center chief executive officer, announced on June 21 that the College of Medicine experienced a 14 percent increase in medical school applications this year with more than 6,800 applicants for the 145 available openings for the college's class of 2011. In the previous year, the College received nearly 6,000 applicants for the same number of available seats. Nationally, one in six applicants to medical school applies to Penn State College of Medicine.
"The continued and growing interest of aspiring doctors in our College of Medicine is tremendous, but it is only part of the story," said Paz. "Our ability to see an increase in applicants, while maintaining excellence in the overall applicant pool, speaks volumes about the quality of our programs and quality of the students we are attracting."
The standard grade point average (GPA) for Penn State College of Medicine applicants in 2006 was 3.66, while the GPA for applicants this year was 3.68. The average score for the Medical College Applicant Test (MCAT), the medical school entrance exam, for 2006 applicants to the College of Medicine was 28.81. This year, the average MCAT score was 30.07.
In May, the College of Medicine graduated its largest-ever class of students. The college awarded 127 doctor of medicine (M.D.) degrees. Another 43 students earned master of science (M.S.) and doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees, bringing the total number of graduates to 170. The class included Hoda Bostani, a 21-year-old M.D. recipient who became the youngest graduate in the college's history.
In March, the college's fourth-year medical students participated in the National Residency Match Program, a private, not-for-profit corporation established in 1952, to coordinate the "matching" of graduating medical school students with accredited residency programs. Approximately 16,000 U.S. medical school students participated in the residency match this year, with an average of 90 percent of students matching into residencies. The organization's match rate, 96 percent, was higher than the national average and was the highest match rate in the organization's history. The Medical Center also enjoyed success in retaining aspiring doctors. More than one-third (35 percent) of College of Medicine medical graduates chose to stay in Pennsylvania to complete their residencies, while 20 percent matched into residency programs at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
"It is rewarding to see that many of our graduates chose to stay in Pennsylvania, because it means we are helping to meet a growing need," said Paz. "As Pennsylvania's population continues to grow older, many of our current doctors are approaching retirement age. To meet the future health care needs of our Commonwealth, we must ensure that we are producing a new generation of doctors to fill the void. At Penn State, it is clear we are fulfilling that obligation through our increased class size, the continued quality of our students and our success in retaining aspiring physicians."
Paz points out, however, that student debt is an ongoing challenge for many medical students, with 63 percent of all medical school graduates facing individual student debt of $150,000 or more. The average debt for Penn State College of Medicine graduates is more than $140,000.
"We must do all we can to prevent medical school from becoming an option for only the wealthiest of students," said Paz. "If we are to meet future health-care needs, we also cannot risk having students choose more lucrative specialties over areas of need such as family medicine simply because of a need to pay off substantial student loans."