‘Fauci Effect’ Drives Record Number Of Medical School Applications

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Sam Smith, a University of Colorado Boulder grad who is applying to medical schools, says he has been inspired by the example of health care workers during the pandemic. He plans to specialize in infectious diseases. «I want to be on the front lines of the next one,» he says.

Meredith Nierman

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Meredith Nierman

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Kristen Goodell, associate dean of admissions at the Boston University School of Medicine, which has seen a 27% increase in applications. «People look at Anthony Fauci, look at the doctors in their community and say, ‘You know, that is amazing. This is a way for me to make a difference.'»

Meredith Nierman

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Meredith Nierman

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The United States will be short 54,100 to 139,000 physicians by 2033, the AAMC estimates. More than two out of every five doctors now practicing will reach retirement age over the next 10 years.

Thirty-five percent of registered voters in a survey last year said they’d had trouble finding a doctor, up from 25% in 2015.

Medical school graduates finish with a staggering $241,560 of student loan debt, on average, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, discouraging many would-be doctors.

Eight percent of medical students are Black and 7% Hispanic, both proportions smaller than their share of the population. (Ten percent identify themselves as multiracial.)

«I do think that the debt probably scares off some people,» said Goodell, who is also a former chair of the Council on Graduate Medical Education.

This year’s many medical school applicants appear undeterred.

«Everyone feels some sort of responsibility,» Kelley said. «There’s definitely a call to arms thinking that, if there’s another pandemic, it’ll be up to us.»

Fauci said he sees the flood of medical school applicants as a sign that people are thinking about social justice — «that you have responsibility not only to yourself, but as an integral part of society.»

He said he hopes the trend will counterbalance and «maybe would even overcome the other side of the coin, which is the really somewhat stunning and disturbing fact that people have no regard at all for society, only just focusing very selfishly on themselves.»

This was produced by The Hechinger Report in collaboration with GBH Boston. Additional reporting by Kirk Carapezza.

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