Applications from medical schools are on the rise as the coronavirus outbreak causes young people to reconsider the healthcare professions.
Applications have increased 18 percent nationwide in medical schools nationwide, compared to the same period last year, according to the American Association of Medical Schools.
It has been called the “Fauci effect,” and scholars attribute the increase to the visibility of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“You see health workers on TV and it’s obviously taking its toll, but I think it also underscores how important they are and the impact they have,” Rahi Patel, a young man at the University of Minnesota in pre-track medicine , he told CBS Minnesota. “I’ve always wanted to be a part of it.”
In addition to the visibility of science and medicine, there are other factors at play. Quarantine has given more people the considerable time it takes to fill out medical school applications. The economic toll of the pandemic, which has cost its jobs close to ten million people, is also causing some to look for a well-paid career, medical school deans say.
“All the many problems related to the pandemic have motivated young people to make decisions about their careers and to commit to applying to medical school,” Dimple Patel, associate dean of income for the United States, told CBS Minnesota. the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. (It is not related to Rahi Patel, the young college student).
Dimple Patel said applications for medical schools are up 40% on the Twin Cities campus and 77% on the Duluth campus. Tests of the app he reads mention the pandemic and equity issues in health and social justice, he said.
At the University of California, Davis, medical school, applications have increased by 40%. Within months of the application season, about 10,000 students have applied for just 130 places in the program, according to CBS Sacramento.
Nursing programs also report increases. Applications at the University of Virginia increase by more than a quarter for their nursing programs, according to The Daily Progress.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison, like others, has had a record number of applicants from medical schools. Dr. Mary McSweeney, assistant dean of the medical school, attributed the increase to a sense of national purpose.
“After 9/11, there was a huge increase in the number of young people going into the military. And now we see a doctor, Fauci nationwide, and [Dr. Jeff] Pothof more locally, two doctors who are inspiring the next generation of young people to come and be part of the solution, “he told Channel 3000, a CBS affiliate in Madison.
The university’s medical school has received 6,400 applications for 176 places this year, Dr. Sweeney said.
More applicants doesn’t mean more doctors: Dr. Sweeney noted that the school will not be able to accept more students into the class. However, the added interest allows the school to really consider the motivations of the candidates, Dr. Sweeney said.