Economy forces some medical schools to shrink classes

In June 2006, the AAMC responded by undertaking an effort to expand medical school enrollments by 30% nationwide by 2015 (after initially suggesting 15% growth). To meet the goal, U.S. medical schools would need to enroll 21,434 first year students in 2015 — nearly 5,000 more than they did in 2002, when first-year enrollments totaled 16,488.
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By last fall, enrollments had grown 11.5% over 2002 levels, with 18,390 students in the entering class. Close to 200 of those seats were in medical schools that opened in 2009: Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, Pa.; Florida International University College of Medicine in Miami; Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center’s Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso; and the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando.
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But economic realities are clearly having an effect on just how quickly medical schools are being created and expanding. And even in good economic times, it might be a stretch to add 3,000 seats in half a dozen years.