Career Decisions of Unaccepted Applicants to Medical School

To investigate the admissions process to medical school and the post-rejection behavior of unaccepted applicants, a national sample of the 16,837 such applicants to the entering medical school class of 1971-1972 was studied in 1973. The majority of the 1,933 respondents had reapplied to medical school following rejection, and 27% had gained entrance to either US or foreign schools by the time of the study. Of those still unaccepted, about half were studying or working in health-related fields of study or occupations at least 2 1/2 years following the initial rejection. We conclude that unaccepted applicants demonstrate considerable variance in postrejection behavior, which is associated with both personal and institutional factors.