The Brown Medical School will continue to expand enrollment in the next few years as it responds to a recent call from the Association of American Medical Colleges for more physicians and adjusts to the standard admissions policy it adopted in 2005.
The number of enrolled students increased by about 26 percent this year, climbing from 73 students in last year's incoming class of 2009 to 92 students in the class of 2010.
This increase mirrored a national trend. The AAMC reported a "significant" 2.2-percent nationwide increase in the number of incoming medical students in 2006, according to an Oct. 19 Chicago Tribune article.
In June 2006, the AAMC called for medical school enrollment to increase 30 percent by 2015. According to a June 19 AAMC press release, such an increase would help prevent an anticipated "national physician shortage."
"Many schools are responding to this, and Brown is no exception," said Assistant Dean of Medicine Arnold-Peter Weiss.
Also contributing to the Med School's recent enrollment increase is its move to a standard admissions process, which allows undergraduates from all universities to apply to the program.
Previously, the Med School was composed primarily of students participating in the Program in Liberal Medical Education, an eight-year program to which students are admitted out of high school. Students outside of PLME could only enter the Med School through programs such as the Early Identification Program, which accepts students from other Rhode Island institutions and Tougaloo College in Mississippi.
Even with larger incoming classes, Brown's medical program remains small. According to its Web site, the Med School was the 16th smallest of 126 institutions included in the U.S. News and World Report's 2007 ranking of medical schools.
Associate Dean of Medicine Philip Gruppuso said there was "no compelling reason to be so small," especially considering the service the school can bring to the surrounding area. Hospitals affiliated with Brown serve about a million people, according to Gruppuso.
"In the context of all the information, staying very small would seem a bit self-indulgent," Gruppuso said.
Weiss said he hopes future incoming classes can eventually reach a count of 105 or 106 students, but he does not want classes to become larger than that number.
Weiss noted that an increased influx of students will produce "a really nice balance between students that come from different routes."
Thirty-three members of the class of 2010 were enrolled through standard admission, up from 11 students in the class of 2009. Students admitted from PLME comprise 52 percent of the class of 2010.
Gruppuso said the increase of non-PLME students in the Med School has generated rumors that the PLME program will eventually be phased out. But Gruppuso said such rumors are "completely unsubstantiated" and that, ideally, PLME students will continue to make up roughly half of incoming classes.
Weiss was also unconcerned that the school's gradual expansion will strain its resources.
"We don't want to expand so quickly at a rate that would not allow each student an optimal experience," he said.
One member of the Med School's class of 2010, Sharon David, said she does not believe resources are being overextended or that competition within the school has increased considerably with the school's larger class size.
"It adds a lot of diversity, and it's interesting to get varied experiences," David added.
The only problem David noted was the first-year class' inability to fit into a lecture hall in the BioMedical Center for a daily meeting. Now, the first-year class has to meet in a room in Smith-Buonanno Hall, she said.
Another member of the Med School's class of 2010, Lauren de Leon, also lauded the effort to augment the school's size.
"I'm hoping (the school's size) will keep increasing because it will definitely strengthen the school," she said.
