Why People Apply to Medical School in Iraq?

Abstract

Background:The motivations behind why people choose to study medicine in Iraqi medical schools are unknown. Such information could help school pupils to make more informed career decisions and assist medical schools in enhancing the student selection process.Aims:To investigate why people choose to study medicine in Iraq.Subjects and methods:The first-year students admitted on the academic year 2015-2016 to Baghdad College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, were invited to complete a structured questionnaire, which was administered through the college electronic education portal. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 21 software.Results:A total of 152 (50% response rate) students responded. Women constituted 69.1% of respondents. Most students (61.8%) had made their choice by themselves without family pressure. The most frequent reasons that affected this choice were “humanitarian reasons and a wish to provide help to others” as well as “childhood dream,” “positive community appraisal of doctors,...