DAYTON, Ohio — Medical schools don’t seem to have problems admitting quality students. The catch is keeping them.
The Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, thanks in large part to suggestions from its students, has started a series of video podcasts and other online campaigns to keep incoming students interested in attending. Two videos have been shot so far, and another six are planned, said Cindy Young, the school’s director of marketing and communication.
Medical students commonly apply — and get accepted — to multiple schools. So institutions continue to admit applicants as students finalize their choices.
Last year, Boonshoft had more than 3,000 applicants for 100 spots. Due largely to applicants going elsewhere, the school needed to accept 197Â students to fill the 100 seats, according to its admissions office. Two years ago, Boonshoft accepted more than 220 to get its 100. It expects to go through about 180 applicants this year.
“It’s never a problem getting students here,” said Young, whose department coordinates the podcasts with its admissions office. “But you like to attract the best and brightest. You want to bring the best students here.”
Institutions try several ways to keep their applicants. Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine – like many medical schools – hosts a “Second Look Weekend” that brings back about 130 accepted but undecided applicants to Cleveland to tour the city and school.
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Case usually accepts 360 students to fill a class of 150 students, school officials said. It also sends applicants weekly e-mails from a student representative committee and a holiday e-card, among other things.
Last year, Boonshoft asked students for help improving a “primitive” e-newsletter that went to admitted students who hadn’t yet hit campus, Young said. Many incoming classes build Facebook Groups ahead of admission, so they were well-versed in using social media to get information about the school.
It turns out, many students surveyed by the school thought the Dayton area was better than their first impressions. The students urged the school to give admitted students a better taste of life in Dayton, Ohio, where the school is located, and to give a better feel for its facilities.
It made school officials think that if they promoted the school and city ahead of time, some of the students who have several options would choose Boonshoft.
Now the school e-mails a newsletter about every week to students’ school e-mail accounts, which encourages them to visit a new-student orientation section of its Web site. About half of the students open the messages, and about three-quarters of those students click through to the school Web site, Young said.
The podcasts accompany the newsletter and are on the Web site. They are hosted by the school’s associate dean of student affairs as well as by some of the students, who provide virtual tours of the campus and include video outtakes from “match day” when students are matched with residency programs.
“It begins the process of orientation, matriculation and bonding through the Web,” said Stephen Peterson, assistant dean for student affairs and admissions.
