Eighty-nine percent of Bates College students who worked with the college’s Medical Studies Committee in applying to health care-related graduate programs for fall 2007 matriculation were accepted.

According to a report issued this week by the committee, 32 of 36 Bates applicants to medical (allopathic) or osteopathic schools, or 89 percent, were accepted. Nationally, about 45 percent of applicants to allopathic schools were accepted.

A national acceptance rate for osteopathic schools wasn’t available. However, in the 2007-08 academic year, 4,243 of 11,459 osteopathic school applicants, or 37 percent, were enrolled (as opposed to accepted; not all accepted applicants will enroll).

Fifteen out of 17 Bates applicants to other health-related programs, such as dental, nursing, nurse practitioner or veterinary medicine, were accepted, or 88 percent.

All told, 47 out of 53 Bates applicants who worked with the committee were accepted into graduate programs in the health professions.

Bates students are typically accepted into graduate programs in 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.

During the 2006-07 academic year, the Bates Medical Studies Committee had more than 300 counseling appointments lasting at least 30 minutes with students and alumni interested in health careers. The college’s medical studies program helps students satisfy medical school requirements by, for instance, guiding students with their course selections and helping set up job-shadowing or internship opportunities.

Nearly 91 percent of Bates students who worked with the committee and applied to allopathic schools were accepted for fall 2007. Sixty-three percent of all Bates students who applied to allopathic programs were accepted, whether or not they worked with the committee.

Nationally, in 2007, 18,858 of 42,315 applicants (44.6 percent) to allopathic medical schools were accepted, according to information from the American Association of Medical Colleges.

Lee Abrahamsen, chair of the Medical Studies Committee and an associate professor of biology, notes that students at Bates and elsewhere show an increasing interest in graduate programs in public health. “That reflects the growing perception of health as a global issue that has to be understood from many perspectives,” she says.

In response, Bates has developed a four-course public health concentration as part of its new general education curriculum.

“Emerging infections, pollution, antibiotic resistance, who can or should be immunized — even laws that require car seats for children — are all public health issues,” Abrahamsen notes. “So public health is multidisciplinary, and including it in the curriculum allows our students to use what they learn from courses, travel, community engagement and other experiences to approach important issues that affect everybody.”

During the last two years, Bates applicants to allopathic and osteopathic programs have been 15 percent neuroscience majors, 24 percent biology majors, 29 percent biochemistry majors, 10 percent psychology and 22 percent other majors including art, philosophy, chemistry, English and religion.

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.