Med school short students

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 1999 | 11:13 a.m.

A decision last year by the University of Nevada School of Medicine to allow some students to begin a year late has left the school six students short in its second-year class and deprived would-be medical students of six admission slots this year, Regent Steve Sisolak said.

Each new class is supposed to have 52 students. The current second-year class has 46.

"It could have been avoided," Sisolak said. "They took 52 applicants but granted six of them delayed matriculation. The six were accepted into last year's class but did not start till this year."

"Last year's spots went unfilled, so there is a smaller class even though last year 150 people applied and didn't get in," Sisolak said.

Sisolak said the shortened student class came to his attention and he took the issue to the medical school.

"They said the students were granted delayed entry for various reasons, such as trips to Europe to experience life," Sisolak said. "I thought that was unacceptable."

Sisolak said he has been told two extra students will be admitted this year and three next.

"That helps, but it doesn't change that this year's students were disadvantaged," he said.

The issue should have been brought to the attention of the regents last year, Sisolak said, but he found out about it by accident when he ran into an applicant on an alternate list who was denied admission.

Sisolak said he researched the enrollment over the past six years and found this to have been the only incident of a class coming up short.