The Association of American Medical Colleges has been encouraging medical schools to expand their classes, with the overall goal of increasing the output of med school graduates by 30%. The original targeted date for the goal was 2015;  data analysis and a report show that the goal will be reached by 2017-2018. (See page 4 of the above link for a map of the new medical schools.)

The increase is due to a combination of factors: some medical schools have increased the size of their classes and new medical schools have opened or are set to open soon. The launching of new medical schools recently has been at a fairly feverish pace. The result is that there will be 30% more medical school graduates by 2018. A vexing problem persists, however, in that there has been no expansion in the number of residency positions to meet the increase in the number of med school graduates. Refer to another blog post on new medical schools and those set to open within a few years. While it’s exciting that these new schools exist, there are pros and cons of attending one. For information on that topic, please see my other blog post on that issue. 

–Liza Thompson, Expert Medical School Admissions Consulting