Here’s what enrollment looks like at five Philly-area medical schools

Applications to Philadelphia-area medical school declined in 2024 for the third consecutive year, returning to pre-pandemic levels, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

AAMC, a nonprofit that represents accredited medical schools in the United States and Canada, is keeping a close eye on racial and ethnic diversity after a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision restricted schools from considering race of applicants.

Nationally, applications were up among students who identify as Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish — groups that have historically been underrepresented in medicine. Still, the number of students from those groups who enrolled in medical school in 2024 dropped.

First-time enrollment among Black or African American students declined 11.6% nationally, marking the third consecutive year of declining enrollment.

First-time enrollment among Latino, Hispanic, or Spanish students declined 10.8% nationally.

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AAMC’s latest data set, released earlier this month, does not provide race data by school. But its data on overall enrollment and applications offers a window into the Philadelphia area’s five medical schools at University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University, Temple University, Drexel University, and Rowan University.

Here’s what we know:

In 2021, nearly 56,500 students applied to the Philadelphia area’s five medical schools, a 14% increase from 2019, when 48,400 students applied to the region’s medical schools.

Just under 50,000 students applied to the five medical schools in 2024, down 1.5% from the year before. That’s on track with a national 1.2% decline in applications across the country.

Enrollment class sizes remained steady in 2024. The five schools had a total of 1,062 first-time enrollees last year, just five fewer than the year before.

Since 2017, enrollment is up 7% at the region’s medical schools, largely due to an increase in average enrollment at Drexel, Temple, and Cooper Rowan.

Women are helping drive enrollment growth at Philadelphia-area medical schools.

A total of 593 women enrolled in Philadelphia medical schools in 2024, up 25% from 473 women in 2017.

Women accounted for about 56% of first-time enrollees in 2024, compared to about 47% of the class in 2017.