MESSAGE FROM THE CHANCELLOR

The Uptick in Medical School Applications During the Pandemic, the Higher Education Admissions Scandal and New York Medical College

For the past several years the average annual increase in total medical school applications in the United States has been three percent. As I sit to write this column the increase from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021 is approaching 17 percent. About two dozen U.S. medical schools have seen applications rise by at least 25 percent this year and a few schools have experienced yearto-year increases of 26 percent to 35 percent. In 2020-2021 we estimate that New York Medical College’s (NYMC) School of Medicine (SOM) will receive more than 14,400 applications for 210 entering seats. The medical school is on track to, once again, rank amongst the top ten allopathic medical schools in number of applicants. We also expect to receive about 2,500 applications for 110 seats at the Touro College of Dental Medicine at NYMC. How can we explain the increase in medical school applications? No one knows for sure but almost everyone has a theory. Among the theories making the rounds is that potential applicants are watching the suffering of COVID-19 patients and the heroism of frontline health care providers and want to do their part. A related theory is the visibility of some physicians during the pandemic – the so-called “Fauci effect.” There are more mundane theories which include the fact that more students find themselves at home and with time on their hands and able to submit applications, the relative ease of submitting applications online or the perception that medicine is an economic safe haven in uncertain times. In 2019 American higher education was rocked by a series of indictments, guilty pleas and potential court cases related to wide-ranging criminal manipulation of college undergraduate admissions. Utilizing a system of bribes, surrogate test-takers of standardized tests, falsified assertions of athletic prowess and convoluted payoffs to athletic coaches, as well as a self-styled “admissions counselor” who emptied the wallets of wellheeled parents to facilitate the admission of their children to selective universities. The scandal has enveloped parents who are prominent attorneys, business leaders, actors and officials of several universities. This is certainly not the first scandal related to higher education admissions. In recent years investigative reporters have exposed favoritism in law school admissions. There are so many reports of the athletic department running roughshod over minimal academic admission and grading standards in NCAA Division I sports that the story has become old news. NYMC, of course, will never face any pressure from the athletic department to admit someone. First, we do not have an athletic department. Second, in my eight years here I have never been approached by the coaches of the College’s croquet, chess or touch football teams, regarding the status of an applicant for admission. All kidding aside, in my years as chancellor of NYMC I have found that I get many inquiries every year from alumni and friends of the College, and occasionally from elected officials, regarding applicants to our schools of medicine and dentistry. With the national explosion in applications overall and with the flood arriving this year at NYMC during the pandemic, I am willing to bet that direct inquiries are the tip of the iceberg of interest. It is time for some straight talk about admissions. Wading through those applications is one of the toughest jobs at the College. The professional staff in all admissions offices on campus study standardized test scores, academic transcripts, letters of reference, course selection, research and social service experience and—for the dental and medical schools—decide who to invite for interviews. Interviews are conducted online in accordance with quality control procedures and applicants are then presented to the respective medical or dental school admissions committees for decisions. Is this system perfect? No, it is not. NYMC is constantly evaluating its procedures to make the system better. In recent years the introduction of the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) and the Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics (CASPer) test of ethical reasoning in the School of Medicine are both attempts to refine the process for admission. At the end of the day, I think it is fair to say that we currently know far more about how to predict who will be able to pass licensure and specialty board examinations two to eleven years hence than predict who will be a good health care provider twenty years hence. Becoming, however, is often superior to being and we must engage in continuous quality improvement to do better. The accreditation bodies that oversee medical and dental education have adopted a very firm stance on their respective admissions’ processes. The authority to admit, waitlist or reject applicants, is vested entirely in faculty-controlled admissions committees. Intervention by a member of the Board of Trustees, president, chancellor, dean or anyone else into the work of those committees, would be viewed very negatively and could jeopardize a school’s accreditation. Asking an administrator of the College to intervene in an admissions committees’ deliberations is not appropriate. Writing a letter of recommendation regarding an applicant you know personally, on the other hand, and sending it to us is always welcome and appropriate. Our responsibility is to educate and graduate the best possible physicians, scientists, researchers and health care providers. The pandemic has made it clear how high the stakes are and we will not shirk from our mission. Our responsibility is to make sure that the health care for our grandchildren will be better than it is today. Our admissions processes are, and will continue to be, consistent with the fulfillment of our mission and we will carry on during the pandemic.

Edward C. Halperin, m.d., m.a.