According to the latest numbers, the Graduate School is facing a 2 percent collective decrease in applicants, though many of its programs reported increases. The Alpert Medical School, on the other hand, has reported a 12 percent increase in applicants from this time last year.
With 6,922 applications as of Feb. 9, "we are nearly on par" with the number reported last year, Beverly Larson, Graduate School director of communications told The Herald via e-mail. The decrease followed last year's record number of applications.
Within the 66 Grad School programs, life and medical sciences, social sciences and humanities all reported application increases of 16 percent, 5 percent and 1 percent respectively. Physical science programs, however, suffered a 17 percent drop in applicants.
Despite the decrease, certain programs within the physical sciences have had an increased number of applicants since last year, Larson wrote, reporting increases of 12 percent in the geological sciences, 10 percent in chemistry, 6 percent in computer science and 3 percent in mathematics.
Six graduate programs, with closing dates ranging from March to May, are still accepting students, Larson wrote. The medical school has seen a 12 percent increase in applications, said Director of Admissions
Barbara Fuller.
Currently, the admissions office is reviewing 2,517 secondary applications, Fuller said, adding that far 80 students have been accepted.
The Med School is aiming to have 96 students in the class of 2013, of which half will likely be students currently in the Program in Liberal Medical Education, Fuller said.
The Med School offers several routes to apply for admission, which include standard medical doctor, PLME, MD/PhD, postbaccalaureate and the Early Identification Program which targets "underrepresented minority students and Rhode Island residents."
Fuller said she couldn't give an overall medical school acceptance rate since "all these routes of admission (don't) make for a clear statistical number."
