After announcing its intention to offer full-tuition scholarships to all students going forward last August, the NYU School of Medicine saw admissions jump almost 50 percent, according to Insider Higher Ed.
The New York City-based school announced its pledge last year to cover the entire $55,000 per year tuition for all students, which equates to more than 400 students across classes, the report states. The move left many experts wondering if the private medical school would see gains among its applicant pool.
Inside Higher Ed found the total number of applications to the medical school increased 47 percent to 8,932. Researchers also found a significant shift in the diversity of NYU's applicant pool — the institution saw a 102 percent increase in applications from underrepresented minorities, the largest of which came from the number of African-American applicants, up 142 percent to 1,062 applicants.
While many medical school admissions leaders praised NYU's decision to go tuition-free, few said they would follow suit, according to an October 2018 survey by education and career services provider Kaplan Test Prep. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed said they did not have plans to adopt a similar policy during the next five to 10 years, and called NYU's plan "unrealistic" for institutions lacking the donor bases of private medical institutions.
To access the full report, click here.