from The Health Care Blog, via AlterNet:
Why Aren't More Students Applying to Medical School?
By Maggie Maher, The Health Care Blog. Posted January 15, 2008.
Here's one more way Canada's health care system outshines the United States'. Did you know that there are only two applicants for every place in U.S. medical schools?
In Canada, surprisingly, close to four students apply for each opening. The training in the two countries is very similar; indeed, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) accredits medical schools in both countries. And, in the U.S., at the high-end, physicians can hope to earn far more than Canadian doctors.
Why then do so few Americans apply to medical school?
The answer is that we have priced a medical education well beyond the reach of most middle-class students. In 2004, tuition and fees at a public medical school averaged $16,153. Students who attended a private school paid $32,588 according to a 2005 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The author, Dr. Gail Morrison, Vice Dean for Education at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, tacks on $20,000 to $25,000 a year for living expenses, books and equipment to calculate that the total cost of four years of medical education comes to a heady $140,000 for public schools and $225,000 for private schools. I'd add that, in many American cities, students would be hard-pressed to cover rent, food, clothing, utilities and transportation for $20,000 a year -- let alone books and equipment.
This helps explain why 60 percent of all medical students come from the wealthiest one-fifth of all U.S. families. Another 20 percent come from families lucky enough to be on the fourth step of a five step ladder. ......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/73774/
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