Gender differences in medical school attrition rates, 1973-1992

Retention is a critical problem in medical school education. We report here on research that examined gender differences in attrition rates between 1973 and 1992. Using secondary data compiled from the annual reports on undergraduate education published in JAMA, both descriptive and inferential analyses of medical school attrition rates were conducted. Data show that medical school attrition rates have steadily increased across the country since 1973 and that women drop out of medical school at consistently greater rates than men. These results highlight the importance of future analyses that attempt to delineate the causes as well as the consequences of dropping out of medical school for women and the institutions that support them.