Medical School Accepts 114 From 1,296 Total Applicants

The Medical School has accepted 114 of this year's 1296 applicants, Kendall Emerson, Jr., Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Medicine announced yesterday. The number of applicants represents a negligible drop of 34 from last year's total.

Included in the total of students admitted are 42 members of the Class of 1954. One hundred and eighty-four seniors applied. Figures announced yesterday also show that only ten of Yale's 60 applicants were accepted, while less than four of Cornell's 52 desiring admission will be in next term's first year class.

The low ratio between the number that applied and the number accepted is atypical of the national picture. Of 14,651 seniors from the entire nation who sought admission to medical schools last year, 7,703 were accepted. The final figures for this year are not known yet, but Emerson estimated that there will be a slight drop in the number of applicants, while the admissions total will remain the same.

Greater Enthusiasm

Emerson added that the slightly decreased number of applicants is indicative of a gradual leveling off of interest after the unusually great enthusiasm for study in medicine following World War II. He noted that interest in medicine is still 50 percent greater than it was in the pre-war period.

Asked to explain the School's criteria for admission, Emerson said yesterday that the ultimate decision is based on the admissions board's opinion of the prospective student's character and overall suitability for medicine. The Medical School admissions aptitude test and the student's academic grades, he added, serve only as a means to eliminate questionable applicants.

It makes little difference to the admissions board what the student's field of concentration is, Emerson also noted. The figures show that the Medical School admitted 13.8 percent of its applicants majoring in non-science fields in comparison with 8.8 percent of those studying the natural sciences. These percentages conclusively show, Emerson said, that it is unfair to claim that a student has no chance for admission if he has majored in the arts.