Unexpected Dip

Fewer apply to med school

"I wanted for a very long time to I become a doctor," says Michael Weber. "It was my goal when I was very young." But after only two quarters in the pre-med program at Ohio State University, Weber, 20, discouraged by the emphasis on specialization, the hard work and the prospect of more of the same for years to come, switched to the humanities. Weber is just one of a growing number of would-be physicians who are voluntarily dropping out of the medical school admissions sweepstakes. This year the number of applicants to the 122 U.S. medical schools, which began leveling off in 1974, has abruptly dropped 10% --down to 37,000, from last year's 41,000.

Reason for the falloff: becoming a physician, the dropouts are saying, is just not worth the effort.

Intimidating to aspiring doctors is the cost of medical education. Says Charles Fentress, of the Association of American Medical Colleges (A.A.M.C.): "Government loans and scholarships are drying up, and the soaring cost of medical school has to be a deterrent." Tuition at Georgetown University School of Medicine has risen to a staggering $12,500 a year, the highest in the nation. At other schools, says the A.A.M.C., tuition and fees run from $2,200 to $9,150 a year. Add to that the cost of room, board and books, and the burden becomes even more formidable.

Explains Father Joseph Walters, pre-med adviser at Notre Dame: "Students face borrowing $50,000 to finance medical school. Later, with the high cost of malpractice insurance, they would need an income of $5,000 a month to start a practice and pay back the debt. The opportunities of earning $60,000 a year right out of med school are rarely there."

Students also chafe at the idea of investing five to ten years in training. Says Weber: "I wanted to be self-reliant and established sooner in life than a medical career would allow." Some students also fear that increasing Government control will restrict the freedom and financial rewards of a medical career. At the same time, the outlook in other careers is brightening. Business and engineering are two fields now attracting many would-be physicians.

Competition, too, has taken its toll.

With better guidance from pre-med counselors, students are more accurately assessing their chances of getting into medical school. Ethan Schuman, 23, a senior with a 3.5 average (on a scale of 4) at Boston's Northeastern University, wanted to be a doctor but decided not to apply. "The word among students is that you need at least a 3.8 average before they look at you. I guess I was simply not ready to take the gamble of spending four years in college and then not making it into graduate school. The good part is that I am missing the hassle." While welcoming more realistic appraisals, Yale medical school's admissions chairman, Thomas Lentz, nevertheless is worried: "Young people are beginning to feel that their chances are so small that it's just not worth it. As a result, we may be losing people who would make good physicians."

Dr. Martha Garland, director of the premedical program at Ohio State University, sees still another reason for declining applicants. In 1971 60% of O.S.U. pre-meds completed their sophomore year studies in that area. By 1975 only 25.5% of the pre-med students kept the major through the second year. The drop-out rate, Dr. Garland contends, results from worsening high school preparation in the physical sciences and lack of intellectual discipline. Says she: "They come to college expecting to do brilliantly and end up with Cs in chemistry. In the past, many pre-meds would pull themselves to gether, overcome the rigorous basic science work and go on to become good doctors. Now they just drop out. The whole curve is drifting downward."

Medical school officials are not yet alarmed; they point out that even with the dropoff, there are places in med schools for only about 44% of those who apply. In fact, Lentz feels that in some ways the trend might be beneficial. Says he: "A decline might relieve some of the competition and anxiety." But, he admits, "if it continues over a period of years, there would be room for concern." -

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