June 24, 2004 for immediate release

After months of reviewing applications, the first group of Northern Medical Program students is beginning to take shape.

Complete identification of the first group of 24 NMP students is stilla few weeks away, but early indications are that a significant numberof the students will be from rural and northern areas. In fact, thisyear, there has been a doubling in the number of northern and ruralapplicants to Medicine in BC.

The Northern Medical Program is part of the expanded UBC Faculty ofMedicine and its objective is to increase the number of physicianspracticing in northern and rural areas.

This year, UBC has implemented a number of new initiatives that arehelping to identify the applicants who appear to be the most suitablefor rural education. This is something that has never been done beforeat any medical school in Canada. These initiatives include newquestions on the application form, adding a northerner to each studentinterview panel, and creating an NMP admissions sub-committee thatincludes representation from UBC and UNBC as well as from northernphysicians.

“It’s important to remember that admission to the Faculty of Medicineis based both on academic and non-academic criteria and that the systemdeveloped by UBC is objective and fair to all,” says Dr David Snadden,Associate Vice-President of Medicine for UNBC and Associate Dean forthe Northern Medical Program at the UBC Faculty of Medicine. “The newevaluation tools that we are using for the NMP help us select studentsfrom the pool of successful applicants to the Faculty as a whole. Atthe end of the day, we want to recruit the best medical students, withsome additional evaluation tools built into the selection process thatrecognize rural suitability. Our goal is to select students who havethe greatest potential to successfully complete this rigorous program,and who are more likely to settle and practice in northern and ruralcommunities.”

Admission into the Faculty of Medicine is very competitive: the totalnumber of seats in the province annually has been increased from 128 to200 this year, but there were about 1300 applications for admission andjust over 500 were selected for an interview. In addition to the 24students in the Northern Medical Program, 24 are being admitted intothe Island Medical Program (UVic) and 152 will study at the UBC campusin Vancouver.