Why People Apply to Medical School in Iraq?

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," and "ready availability of work for physicians." About three-quarters (73.6%) of the students made some inquiry about medical school before making their choice, and the people asked were most frequently a medical student or a doctor. Information provided by the consulted parties was regarded as satisfactory by 64.2% of the surveyed students, had a positive value in 47.2%, and affected their decision in 34.9%. The highest proportion (42.2%) of the study sample was thinking about studying medicine since primary school. In addition, students with personal preference made their choice at a significantly younger age. Conclusions Reasons to apply for medical schools in Iraq are similar to those in many countries. Most of the students who inquired about studying medicine had not contacted the medical school itself.