Health

14 HEALTH • Fall 2018 Students flocking to UMass, other medical schools \\ By Grant Welker ENROLLMENT SPIKING Orthopedics isn't alone. The medical school — the only public one in Massachusetts and one of just four in the state — had nearly 4,000 applications for 161 seats this fall. That's 25 applicants for each stu- dent who will actually get in. That number of seats has increased by nearly one-third in just four years. UMass isn't just attracting more students, but brighter students. The average grade-point average for incoming students this fall is 3.7, and MCAT scores were in the 90th per- centile nationally. "It's not an issue of any lack of tal- ent," UMass Medical School Dean Terence Flotte said of the flood of students looking to study medicine in Worcester. Enrollment at UMass Medical School's School of Medicine — its largest school, and where enrollment is easiest to measure — has risen 30 W hen officials at the UMass Medical School compiled forms for those seeking five orthopedic residents seats, the pile of applications indicated just how many are seeking to work with bones and joints. Around 650 students applied for just those five spots. "That's the competitiveness of the program," said Dr. David Ayers, the chair of the department of orthopedics at UMass Medical School. "We may still have a physician deficit, but we're trying to do our part to help fill the physician workforce" Terence Flotte, UMass Medical School Dean UMass Medical School has grown both at its Worcester campus and with a new site in Springfield and collaboration on Cape Cod P H O T O / G R A N T W E L K E R

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