Yes, you read that correctly; students currently enrolled in medical school are involved in selecting students for future med school classes. In fact, according to the reference I used for this post, “most medical schools involve their own students in admissions, but their roles vary….They often serve as interviewers or vote on admissions committees.” Students are given the opportunity to apply to join the admissions committee. I think that’s a big step and a huge responsibility for people without previous experience.
To do this, students are paired with a faculty member. Students don’t participate in the initial screening of applicants. That is left to experienced faculty who read the applications then select candidates for interviews. The interviews are done jointly by faculty and students, the feeling being that students can relate more to applicants and are closer to their level.
The selection of students for medical schools is one of the more important processes in modern society because you want smart, qualified, well-rounded people who are hard workers and responsible citizens. The reference doesn’t state this, but students chosen to do interviews and evaluations should have a level of maturity well-above the average to their peers and younger applicants. Their task is eliminating potential racial discrimination in the admissions process and to evaluate academic merit, personal traits, and other characteristics that might lead them to be good doctors. They have to be able to communicate with people effectively.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) says over 54,600 people applied for the 23,400 positions available. That’s a 5.3% increase over last year and the largest number of applicants ever. 23,400 is the largest number of students ever chosen making it the largest first year class on record.
Med school applicants rely on two major academic measures to have their application evaluated. Academic grades, also known as the GPA (grade point average)—the average of the grades earned semester after semester—and the Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT, the equivalent of the SAT for pre-med students. Do well on these and the applicant will get a long look and probably an interview. In 2025, applicants had a mean GPA of 3.81 out of 4, and a mean MCAT SCORE OF 512.1.
The MCAT score has been shown to be an excellent indicator/predictor or early med school success and adding in the GPA projects good results on licensing exams.
A student heavily involved in community service activities including a focus on service projects and improving healthcare equity has a better chance of being recognized as the kind of person right for the medical profession. Other desired characteristics are empathy, a teamwork attitude, and the ability to listen and be influential are just as weighty as thinking, reasoning, and professionalism. But the overall baseline ability needed to practice medicine well is intellectual capability and the ability to reason.
What this discussion comes down to is the humanitarian and demographic make up of today’s medical school classes differs significantly from when I began medical school in 1965. In our class of 204, there were 6 blacks, 25 women, one Saudi Arabian, one Mennonite, and 2 who could be described as farmers. The remaining 169 were white men just like me and a third, or more, of them were Jewish.
The students who began med school in 2025 were 57.2% women, ranged in age from 17 to 53, and were 52.1% white, 29.3% Asian, 12.5% Hispanic, and 10.5% black. Their career plans, as of the start of training showed 97% were interested in patient care, 80.4% in teaching, and 49.5% in medical research.
As for a practice setting, 45% preferred an urban or suburban location, 2.3% a rural setting, and 52.7% expressed no preference.
As I have said before, we have a shortage of physicians, yes, but more importantly we have a significant maldistribution of physicians that no one has done anything about. But what can you do about. A doctor can practice wherever he wants once he fulfills obligations he/she owes to others. There is nothing that forces a doctor to locate where there’s a need. The new physician tends to favor more popular places so some areas are over-served, while poor and rural areas are underserved.
The important thing, however, is that admissions committees select the best students who will become competent doctors, and who will use their education to provide quality healthcare services to the patients they serve. The future of health care depends on it.
References: Abbott B. Med School Admissions: How One Student Reviewer Rates Applicants
medscape.com 2026 October 28.
www.Google.com/article/data-on-2026-med-school-acceptances.
