Med School Enrollment Inches Up

First-year medical enrollments are up 2 percent over last year, the Association of American Medical Colleges announced Tuesday. Half of that increase comes from the start of operations of four new medical schools, and half from increased enrollments at older institutions. Twelve medical schools -- responding to projections of a doctor shortage -- increased their class size by 7 percent or more for those entering this fall. Data released by the AAMC also show that:

• Male applicants (22,014) outnumbered female applicants (20,252) in 2009.
• The percentage of male enrollees also topped female enrollees in the 2009 entering class, 52 to 48 percent.
• The number of black applicants increased to 3,482 (up 4 percent over 2008), and this year's entering class had the largest number of black students (1,312, an increase of 7 percent).
• Latino applicant numbers dropped to 3,061, a 1 percent decrease from 2008; the enrollees in this group also declined slightly to 1,412 from 1,416 last year.