Reminiscent of when more people joined the armed forces after 9-11, this year, in the wake of COVID-19, a record number applied to medical schools. Applications are up 18% nationally, with a jump of nearly 50% at one Virginia medical school.
Virginia Tech Carillion School of Medicine in Roanoke has been inundated with applicants.
“I think it represents the fact that people are inherently good, that there is a big unknown out there>”
Melanie Prusakowski is Dean of Admissions.
She says, “Medicine is a calling. And now, people want to be a part of making a difference and that a career in medicine is one way to do that.”
Lee Learman is Dean of the Medical College at Virginia Tech. He says, “It's a coming-of-age situation for a new medical school to have this much interest.”
Doctor Learman says the medical school’s specialized curriculum and instruction model are just right for the medical challenges we face. “These are the topics that are most relevant today for understanding how health systems function, how they function in the case of a pandemic, how they function to promote or relieve health disparities, and health inequities; how to understand, the effects of racism in medicine, ---all of these topics, and many more are now covered in this new, innovative construct called “Health Systems Science.”
The Virginia Tech Carillion Medical School accepts just 49 applicants a year and plans to increase that over the next several years to 56, with a larger growth plan five to ten years out.
***Editor's Note: Radio IQ is a service of Virginia Tech.
