The Association of American Medical Colleges has released new data on medical school applications, acceptances, and enrollments.
For the 2025-2026 academic year, 54,699 students applied to medical schools in the United States, up 5.3 percent from 2024-2025. Among these students were 31,292 women, representing 57.2 percent of all applicants. This is an overall 6 percent increase from the total number of women applicants in 2024-2025. Women have represented the majority of medical school applicants every year since 2018-2019.
First-time applicants to U.S. medical schools for the 2025-2026 academic year increased by 8.4 percent from 2024-2025. Similar to overall applicants, women represented nearly 57.9 percent of this year’s first-time medical school applicants.
Women also represent a similar share of students accepted to medical degree programs. For the 2025-2026 academic year, 24,300 students were accepted to a U.S. medical school. About 55 percent of the applicants selected for admission were women. Compared to last year, total medical school acceptances increased by 0.5 percent. For women, total acceptances rose by 0.2 percent, while total acceptances for men rose by 1.2 percent.
Overall medical school matriculants are up by 1.2 percent from the 2024-2025 academic year. Women represent 55 percent of medical school matriculants for the 2025-2026 academic year. At the start of the fall 2025 semester, 12,900 women were enrolled in a medical degree program in the United States – an increase of 1.2 percent from the preceding year. In comparison, 10,409 men enrolled in medical school for the fall 2025 semester, an increase of 1.4 percent.
Over the past decade, the total number of women matriculants to U.S. medical schools has jumped from 9,861 in the 2015-2016 academic year to 12,900 in the 2025-2026 academic year. Over the same time period, the total number of male matriculants to medical schools has decreased from 10,766 to 10,409.