6,236 apply to FIU medical school

University of Miami is growing its incoming medical school class each year, the university reports, while Florida International University’s medical school is registering a decrease in applications for the upcoming class.

Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine had an 8% decrease in applications this year, according to Cristina Arabatzis, director of admissions and recruitment for the office of student affairs of the College of Medicine.

The university received 6,236 applications for 2023. Its deadline was Dec. 1. “This is a decrease from the previous year, which had 6,750 applications,” said Ms. Arabatzis, in an email.

FIU graduated 118 medical students last spring and in 2023 expects to enroll 120.

In contrast, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is not releasing information about the class of 2023 until May, but a spokesperson said that the class grows each year “as well as the number of applications, and we plan to continue this trajectory.”

According to UM Miller School of Medicine’s annual report for 2021-2022, in 2022’s academic year 96% of medical students matched into their specialties. Forty-one students matched into internal medicine, 16 students matched into general surgery, 14 students matched into pediatrics and another 14 into obstetrics and gynecology, 13 students matched into psychiatry and 12 into emergency medicine. Of the 185 medical students graduating in 2022, 109 were female and 76 were male.

After UM launched its NextGenMD curriculum, an accelerated pathway program that focuses on small-group learning and early introduction to clinical skills, seven students began in November. The report states that their planned residency programs are anesthesiology, pediatrics, internal medicine, psychiatry, and pathology.

In 2022, the school received 11,017 applicants to medicine and 354 students were accepted.

“Our country is facing a significant physician shortage,” said Dr. Latha Chandran, executive dean for education and policy at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “As one of the largest medical school programs in the country, we believe it’s our responsibility to address this need.”

Over the past decade, applications to the Miller School have more than doubled and the school continues to increase the number of students accepted, she said. “Although our class size is growing, our NextGenMD curriculum is appealing to students applying to medical school. We expect some increase in applications and we continuously evaluate and improve our medical education infrastructure to provide an exceptional experience for our students.”