Medical School Applications Up Nationwide; UB Sees 40% Increase

Multiple news outlets reported that applications to the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences are up 40 percent in the midst of the pandemic. Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School, said, “The fact that so many of our young people have decided during this once-in-a-century pandemic that they want to ‘run toward the trouble’ as the saying goes, and not away from it, is extraordinary and humbling.” Dori R. Marshall, MD, associate dean and director of medical admissions, also pointed to the focus on racial injustices both in the health care system and elsewhere in the country as a potential contributing factor. “They want the opportunity to stand up and say I’m going to make the world a better place,” Marshall said.