Applications to Med School Continuing to Rise Sharply

In the last few years, applications for admission to the Medical School have taken a tremendous leap. As the number of applicants has increased so has the number of problems.

This year the Medical School received 1666 applications for admission and selected a class of 140 students composed of 116 men and 24 women. By contrast, in 1965, it received 1002 applications and admitted 119-109 men and ten women.

Dr. Perry J. Culver, dean of Admissions, attributed the jump in applicants to the post-war baby boom, a nationwide job squeeze, and a tremendous need for people in the health care profession.

Boom Boom

"Over the years, we have found a close correlation between the rise in applications and the birth rates 21 years earlier," Culver said.

"Then also, you have a great many people who realize that job opportunities all over are being cut back due to a lack of funds. Scientists, electronics people and others are just not finding an opportunity to work, and so they are applying to the Med School," he said.

"Lastly, in 1961, the country began to scream for doctors and other kinds of medical workers," he added.

Culver also cited a growing social consciousness on the part of Americans. "The current social concern is a tremendous influence on people to try and help someone. Medicine provides a direct fulfillment of that desire," he said.

Another major development in Med School admissions is the Minority Group Recruitment Program, under the direction of Alvin F. Poussaint,associate dean for Student Affairs, which was begun in 1968. The program sends out recruitment teams composed of a Med School Faculty member and one or two students to draw minority group applicants. The program is having some difficulty reaching qualified applicants early enough so that they can make the Med School deadline, said Elizabeth Nielsen, an administrative assistant in the recruitment program.

"You'd be surprised to know how many people think they just don't have a chance at Harvard, because they think we're not interested in them," Nielsen said.

Upper Limits

In the foreseeable future, at least, the Med School student level is likely to remain around 140, an administrative assistant to Dean Culver said. The Med School has reached the upper limits of what its present resources can handle.

The major needs now confronting the Med School are more space, more staff, and more money.

Of these, space is the most pressing problem, especially for pre-clinical training, where any new facilities would have to be built near the ones already existing.

Expansion

The Medical School, located near Roxbury, does not want to expand into this area, according to Herbert Shaw, Director of the Med School News Office, since many families would be displaced.

"Any building we would do would be in the Quad area, and it would not be done in areas used for other purposes such as housing. We would probably use something like land now occupied by a parking lot," Shaw said.