Graduate programs in health care accept 90 percent of Bates applicants

Ninety percent of Bates College seniors and alumni applying to graduate programs in the health professions for fall 2006 matriculation were accepted.

Eighty-five percent of Bates applicants were accepted into medical or osteopathic schools, according to a report issued in November by the college’s Medical Studies Committee, vs. a national average of around 48 percent.

Bates students are typically accepted into graduate programs in law and the health professions at a rate higher than the national average. This speaks to both the quality of Bates students and the way Bates prepares students for life after graduation.

The college’s medical studies program helps students satisfy medical school requirements by, for instance, guiding students with their course selection and helping set up job-shadowing or internship opportunities.

During the 2005-2006 academic year, the Bates Medical Studies Committee and Office of Career Services had 305 appointments of 30 minutes or longer with students and alumni investigating careers or postgraduate education in the health professions.

Of the 19 Bates seniors or alumni who applied to postgraduate programs at allopathic or osteopathic medical school for matriculation this fall, 16 were accepted, or 85 percent. Of Bates applicants to other health-care programs, such as dentistry, nursing, pharmacology or veterinary medicine, all nine were accepted this year.

Nationally, in 2005, 17,978 of 37,364 applicants to allopathic medical schools were accepted, or just over 48 percent, according to information from the American Association of Medical Colleges.

Equivalent information for osteopathic schools wasn’t available. However, for the 2003-04 academic year, according to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, 3,308 of 6,814 applicants were enrolled in osteopathic schools, or 48.5 percent. (Note that these applicants were actually enrolled, as opposed to accepted; not all accepted applicants will enroll.)

According to the Bates MSC report, the grade point average for students matriculating at medical and osteopathic schools this fall was 3.64.

Meanwhile, the Law School Data Assembly Service reports that 38 Bates students and alumni entered law school in fall 2006. They were admitted to a variety of schools across the country, including top programs at Yale, Cornell, Georgetown, Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley.

Bates seniors and alumni who applied to law school in 2005-2006 scored notably higher on their Law School Admission Tests than applicants nationwide. On the LSAT scoring range of 120 to 180, the entering students from Bates earned a 159 average, a slight increase from prior years. The national average LSAT score was 152.8. Finally, 80 percent of Bates applicants to law school were accepted, compared to the national average of 63 percent.