Applications and enrolments at the Western medical schools: a study of medical matriculants for 1964.

All applicants and those who subsequently enrolled for the 1964-65 session in the Western medical schools were studied with the hope that it would encourage a national registration of applicants. Seven hundred and sixty-four applicants completed 865 applications for 288 places in four schools. Although the principal factor in selecting medical students in all Western schools is pre-medical performance, 49 "good-quality" (academically of good standing and under 30 years of age) resident applicants were not accepted in their own provincial school, and 49 places were filled with "poor-quality" students.The loss of good applicants to the Western medical schools and the 20% overlap of each school's applicant pool with that of other schools suggests that objective standards of quality must be developed, and that a regular annual national assessment of applicants should be conducted by the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges.