PASSION TO HELP
Medical school applications are up in Houston, but why?
Jalyce Taylor wanted to be a servant of others. So, she chose medicine. After graduating from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Taylor recognized how important physicians are in the quest to eliminate health disparities.
Taylor is a first-year medical student at the University of Houston College of Medicine, and her decision to enter the medical field was a decade in the making. But as the coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate people’s consciousness, a growing number of young Americans appear to share her feeling.
More than 7,500 more students applied for medical school in the U.S. last year, an increase of 17 percent, according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. In fact, nearly two dozen medical schools have seen applications jump by at least 25 percent.
Some experts have called this the “Fauci Effect” after Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or the “Pandemic Effect.” The University of California in Sacramento attributed the resurgence in interest in science and medicine to how much the coronavirus pandemic has affected everyone’s daily life.
While AAMC doesn’t know exactly what is behind the increase, two likely factors are: students having more time to focus on applications while being stuck at home; and the nation’s current spotlight on front-line health care workers’ “extraordinary heroism” amid the pandemic, the association reported.
Growing up in Houston, Taylor saw people put off doctor’s appointments because they didn’t have health insurance or transportation. She says the coronavirus has reinforced what she already knew.
“I saw the health disparities I already knew about playing out again during the global pandemic, and that reinforced to me that I’m on the right path,” Taylor said. “I’m going to be able to positively impact communities when I complete medical school and residency.”
Texas medical schools received 700 more applications this year than last — an increase of 33 percent, according to the Texas Health Education Service.
The reasons why
Dr. Latanya Love, interim dean of education at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, is looking forward to how medical school application essays will change over the next few years.
She wonders how applicants will describe why they’re choosing medicine and whether the pandemic or COVID-19 will play a huge factor. But she also wonders who will change their life plans to become doctors.
“They do have to write an essay where we want to hear about their motivations in applying to medical school. It gives us an opportunity to see what their motivation is and what is pushing them toward medicine,” Love said. “Maybe they weren’t going to pursue medicine and as a result of pandemic, they are.”
McGovern Medical School, the largest medical school in the state, enrolls 240 students every year, for a total of about 1,000 students. As a state medical school, it cannot accept more than 10 percent nonTexas residents as students.
Love does not think the pandemic, or Fauci, has had an effect on McGovern Medical School’s 20 percent increase in applications — yet. McGovern received 6,456 applications from the Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service, about 1,500 more than previous years.
Students are skipping gap years between their bachelor’s degree and medical school, Love said, because the pandemic discouraged or stalled traveling. Many applicants have had more time to study for the Medical College Admission Test while staying at home for safety reasons.
Love believes that young adults — millennials and Gen Z — are more passionate about humanity and want to do for others. She said they may have a generational propensity to take care of the weak or vulnerable.
“We will continue to see the trends increase, and it’s an effect from role models like Fauci or just people living through the pandemic and wanting to be in the forefront,” she said. “Health care is a relatively stable job market, and that has been one of the pushes for people to apply to medicine. Unfortunately, people are always sick.”
Brandon Gonzalez, a first-year medical student at UH, has always been science-inclined. He decided to become a doctor in high school after his father died from a heart attack. At that point, he didn’t know what happens before cardiac failure, and it spurred him to major in biomedical science.
While shadowing medical students, Gonzalez found the personal interaction with patients the most rewarding part of his courses; never before had he felt both personal and professional gratification.
The pandemic reignited his passion to help people from every socioeconomic stratum, he said.
“I went to a hospital in late November and I saw one patient in an ICU who was hooked up to four or five machines — that really materializes for me,” said Gonzalez, 26. “I’ve heard and read so many things on the news, but seeing that person made me realize there’s a lot of need. We need more health care professionals.”
New challenges
Coronavirus may have the effect on medical schools that 9/11 had on military recruitment, said Dr. Jesus Vallejo, associate dean for admissions, diversity, equity and multicultural affairs in the School of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.
Baylor saw a 23 percent increase in applications, which he said mirrors the national trend. A drop in gap year traveling gave students more time to apply and virtually interview at schools to which they didn’t imagine they would apply, Vallejo said. Out-of-state applicants increased last year, as well. The interview process has gone virtual at many schools, which means travel costs are down, enabling applicants to apply to more schools and participate in virtual interviews from the comfort of their homes.
That doesn’t mean medical schools are accepting more students. Baylor admits 186 people per class, and that will likely stay the same, Vallejo said.
“It’s a lot to change class size; you need more resources in clinical sciences and other areas, which basically means there are going to be people who won’t get in,” Vallejo said. “But next year, they might apply again.”
UH College of Medicine cannot compare applications or admissions yearover-year since it’s a new school; it received its accreditation in February 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. Dr. Kathryn Horn, associate dean for student affairs for missions and outreach, said students were excited to apply at all.
In-person interviews were shut down after only three weeks, and the process went completely virtual — a learning curve for the admissions office and a challenge for applicants.
“They had to choose a medical school without having stepped foot on campus, a complete new medical school,” Horn said. “But these students were very excited to apply because the social mission resonates with them in the time of COVID and its disproportionate impact on communities of color. They want to serve populations in our community right here in Houston.”
The first UH class is 100 percent Texan, and twothirds are from the Houston area, Horn said. In their applications, students wrote they hoped to serve populations in Houston after their residencies.
Currently, there are 1 million physicians in the U.S., but the AAMC estimates the nation will face a shortage of between 54,100 and 139,000 doctors by 2033.
Texas has a severe primary-care physician shortage, Horn said, and Houston is no different.