The Association of American Medical Colleges recently released new data on applicants and matriculants at U.S. medical schools for 2016.
In 2016, there were 53,042 students who applied to medical schools. Of these, 4,988, or 9.4 percent, identified themselves as Black or African American. The number of Blacks applying to medical school in 2016 was up 7.2 percent from a year ago. Since 2013, the number of Blacks applying to medical school has increased by 29.3 percent.
This year 21,020 students entered medical school for the first time. Of these, 1,771 identified themselves as Black or African American. Thus, Blacks made up 8.4 percent of new entrants to U.S. medical schools. Just three years ago in 2013, there were just 1,396 Black who entered medical school. Therefore, over the three-year period the number of new entrants to medical schools who identified as Black or African American increased by 26.9 percent. In 2013, Blacks were 7.0 percent of all new entrants to medical schools.
