Women Students 
Written for Kaplan's Medical School Admissions Advisor. Posted versions are longer than those published.

 
Goals of Female Premeds
History of Women in Medicine
The Current Realities
Women's Concerns
What Women look for in Med Schools
Female Friendly Schools

 
Questions from Women:
   Specialties still male-dominated?
   Women taken less seriously?
   Women considered more emotional?
   Interview questions about family, marriage,
   pregnancy?
More Questions...
 

 

Characteristics that women look for in medical schools

• A school where students help each other. One student said, "by helping each other we can learn more about different people and how they like to be treated."
• A school with an ethics elective and courses which focus on the art of dealing with people
• A school that provides clinical experience early in training
• A school where the faculty take time to talk with students
• A school that offers childcare

A single parent applicant with two children agonized over selecting a less expensive, public institution which provided a traditional curriculum during a 40-hour curricular week compared to a competitive, but more expensive private institution which had flexible class hours in a problem-based learning, small group setting, and early clinical experience. She selected the private institution because it allowed her to attend classes all morning, return home to two teenage sons in mid-afternoon, spend time with them at dinner, help them with their homework, and then to do her own homework in the evening. In short, she found a comfortable way to integrate her family life into her medical education with a minimum of stress. She was very happy with her choice. This student is completing a surgical residency now; she learned how to balance her family and medical training time requirements before entering a stressful residency.

Medical Schools Enrolling at least 50% Women in 2000-01 Entering Class
Albany Albert Einstein Baylor Brown East Caroline East Tennessee Eastern Virginia Emory Howard Mayo Michigan State Morehouse Mount Sinai New York Medical	Northeastern Ohio Pennsylvania State Stanford SUNY Downstate SUNY-Buffalo SUNY-Stony Brook Texas A & M U Chicago-Pritzker U Connecticut U Florida U Kansas U Maryland U Massachusetts U Minnesota-Minneapolis	U Missouri – Kansas City U Pittsburgh U Puerto Rico U Rochester U So. California U Texas-San Antonio U Vermont U Washington U Wisconsin UC San Francisco Virginia Commonwealth Washington U Wright State

Medical Schools Enrolling less than 35% Women in 2000-01 Entering Class

Medical College of Georgia Medical College of Ohio Medical College of Wisconsin U Nebraska U North Dakota Uniformed Services West Virginia

Source for Tables: MSAR 2002-03 (adapted from Table 5-A)

Issues Important to Women

• Gender discrimination and harassment
• How women are viewed in relationships
• The question of marriage, pregnancy, and rearing children

One woman said her most important goals are to be respected in her specialty for the work she does, to be judged for her performance as a physician, not as a "woman" physician. Is this realistic? Probably not, since we are all packages of many characteristics. Being male or female is one of those characteristics; it cannot be ignored or erased, even if we wish it to be.

Women premedical students indicate important goals are:

1. To find a satisfying balance between the hard work involved in medicine and developing my personal interests and relationships."

2. "To find a spouse who is willing to accept a nontraditional relationship, and who understands and accepts my commitment to medicine." There may not be too many of those men out there. Another way to put this concern is, "will my spouse be able to handle it when I can't come home for several days, and then when I do come home, I just want to sleep? I hope I can accept not having much time to spend with my family and friends."

Go to "Questions from Women"