U.S. medical school enrollment hits a record high in 2025

U.S. medical schools enrolled more students in 2025 than at any point on record, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

The AAMC reported that U.S. M.D.-granting medical schools enrolled 100,723 students in the 2025–26 academic year, up 1.3% from the prior year. Enrollment has continued to grow over the past decade.

At the same time, medical school applications rebounded after a three-year decline. A total of 54,699 people applied to U.S. medical schools in 2025, a 5.3% increase from 2024. More than three-quarters of applicants were first-time applicants.

The rebound follows a difficult period for medical school pipelines. Earlier AAMC data released in January showed applications had fallen to their lowest level since 2017–18, with declines for the third consecutive year and notable drops in matriculants from several groups historically underrepresented in medicine.

“The growing number of applicants to medical school reflects the continued strong interest in medicine as a career,” said David J. Skorton, M.D., president and CEO of the AAMC. “Training the next generation of physicians has always been, and will remain, a core mission of academic medicine.”

Largest entering class on record

Medical schools also enrolled their largest first-year class to date. The AAMC reported 23,440 matriculants in the 2025–26 academic year, a 1.2% increase from the year before. That growth pushed total enrollment above the 100,000 mark for the first time.

First-time applicants drove much of the increase. They accounted for 76.5% of all applicants and rose 8.4% from 2024, while the number of reapplicants declined by 3.6%.

Women continued to make up the majority of applicants, matriculants, and total enrollment. In 2025, women accounted for 57.2% of applicants and 55.0% of matriculants. The number of women matriculants increased 1.2% from the year prior. Men made up 44.4% of the entering class.

Geographic and international trends

Applicants continued to come disproportionately from large states — California, Texas and Florida produced the highest number of applicants in 2025.

Twenty-two applicants from U.S. territories applied in 2025, with 10 matriculating. Meanwhile, 1,390 applicants listed legal residences outside the United States, a 10.8% increase from the year before, though the number of those applicants who matriculated declined.

States and territories without in-state medical schools continued to send students elsewhere. Wyoming and Alaska had the highest percentages of applicants matriculating out of state. West Virginia and Puerto Rico had the highest shares of in-state matriculation.

Race, ethnicity and data changes

The AAMC cautioned that comparisons to prior years are limited because of changes to how race and ethnicity data were collected in 2025. The organization added a new category for Middle Eastern or North African applicants and updated several other classifications to align with changes made by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Among 2025 applicants, 16,837 identified as Asian, 6,167 as Black or African American, and 6,921 as Hispanic or Latino. A total of 3,707 applicants identified as Middle Eastern or North African.

Among matriculants, 7,505 identified as Asian, 1,970 as Black or African American, and 2,695 as Hispanic or Latino.

Black or African American men have seen little change in representation for decades. In 2025, 552 men who identified as Black or African American matriculated, compared with 542 in 1978.

Academic credentials and backgrounds

The incoming class continued to post strong academic credentials. The mean undergraduate GPA was 3.81 for matriculants, up slightly from 2024, and the mean MCAT score for matriculants rose to 512.1 from 511.8 in 2024.

Matriculants ranged in age from 18 to 60, with 2.6% older than 30. The class included 163 military veterans and 702 new M.D.-Ph.D. students.

Service remained a common thread. The AAMC reported that matriculants collectively completed more than 16.8 million hours of community service before medical school, an average of 717 hours per student.

At the same time, fewer students came from first-generation college backgrounds. The share of first-generation applicants declined to 13.8% in 2025, while first-generation matriculants fell to 10.7%.

The full dataset, including detailed demographic and academic breakdowns, is available from the AAMC.