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Vital Signs

Then & Now

A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from the Spring 1978 issue of this magazine:

A news article titled "Faculty Committee Reports on Study of DMS Program" explained that "the report noted that Dartmouth, with 192 [M.D.] students is the second smallest of 113 U.S. medical schools and that only 18 others have enrollments under 400."

316
Number of students enrolled in DMS's M.D. program in 2008

129
Number of U.S. medical schools in 2008

28
Number of those schools with enrollments under 400

19
Number with enrollments smaller than DMS's

A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from the 1958-59 DMS bulletin:

"It is almost impossible for a student to engage in outside remunerative employment during the school year. . . . The student who is unable to pay the complete cost of . . . at least the first year is advised to withhold registration until he [sic] can arrange for sufficient funds. . . . Financial aid is available through . . . a limited number of scholarships."

$1,170
Annual DMS tuition in 1958-59

$38,000
Annual DMS tuition in 2007-08

50%
Percentage of the student body that today receives scholarship funds

A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from a 1919 monograph titled The Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital—Its First Quarter Century:

"The hospital charge for private patients varied from $15 to $25 a week, according to the room occupied, and was $12 a week for patients in the general wards. Although the latter charge was never sufficient to cover the expense of a patient, no one was ever refused admission because of his inability to pay that sum. . . . The Hospital was thus truly a charitable institution, from whose doors, as has been said, no one was ever turned away on account of poverty."

$56 million
Amount of unreimbursed charitable care and uncompensated care for Medicaid patients provided at DHMC in FY06


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