Total enrollment in U.S. MD-granting medical schools exceeded 100,000 students for the first time in the 2025-26 academic year, according to data released Tuesday by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
AAMC
"The growing number of applicants to medical school reflects the continued strong interest in medicine as a career," said Dr. David J. Skorton, president and CEO of the AAMC. "Training the next generation of physicians has always been, and will remain, a core mission of academic medicine."
The surge in applications comes at a critical time for healthcare workforce planning, as the nation faces projected physician shortages in both primary care and specialty fields. Medical educators have worked for years to expand enrollment capacity, and the crossing of the 100,000-student threshold represents a significant benchmark in those efforts.
First-year enrollment rose 1.2% from 2024-25 to 2025-26. Among the entering class, 8.4% identified as Black or African American, 11.5% as Hispanic or Latino, 0.9% as American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.4% as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. However, the AAMC cautioned that its updated methodology for collecting race and ethnicity data—including the addition of a Middle Eastern or North African category—makes year-over-year comparisons impossible.
The new data collection framework was implemented to provide a more comprehensive picture of medical student diversity, but the methodological shift complicates efforts to track progress on diversity initiatives that many medical schools have prioritized in recent years.
Women continued to dominate medical school pipelines for the seventh consecutive year, comprising 57.2% of applicants, 55% of matriculants, and 55% of total enrollment. Women matriculants increased 1.2%, the largest gain since 2021-22. Male matriculants, however, grew at a faster rate for the third straight year, a pattern that could signal shifting dynamics in medical school gender representation.
The sustained majority of women in medical education marks a dramatic transformation from earlier decades when men dominated the profession. Medical schools and teaching hospitals have increasingly focused on addressing workplace culture and training environments to support the growing number of women physicians.
The data revealed concerning trends in socioeconomic diversity, however. The proportion of applicants and matriculants whose parents held less than a bachelor's degree or worked in service, clerical, skilled, or unskilled occupations declined by one percentage point compared to 2024-25, continuing a four-year downward trajectory. First-generation college graduate representation among matriculants also fell 0.3 percentage points.
The persistent decline in socioeconomic diversity raises questions about access and affordability in medical education, despite widespread efforts to reduce barriers for students from working-class and low-income backgrounds. Many medical schools have implemented programs to support economically disadvantaged students, but the data suggest these initiatives may not be keeping pace with the overall growth in applications and enrollment.
Entering students demonstrated strong academic preparation, with a median undergraduate GPA of 3.87, higher than recent entering classes. The increasingly competitive academic profile of matriculants reflects both the growing applicant pool and the continued selectivity of medical school admissions.
The class included 163 military veterans and students ranging from 18 to 60 years old, with 2.6% over age 30. The age diversity suggests medical schools are successfully attracting career changers and non-traditional students alongside recent college graduates.
Matriculants collectively performed more than 16.8 million community service hours prior to enrollment, averaging 717 hours per student. Experts add that the robust commitment to service reflects medical schools' emphasis on selecting applicants who demonstrate dedication to serving communities and addressing health disparities.
