Despite a pronounced drop in the number and quality of applicants to most medical schools, the quality of applicants at the School of Medicine has not deteriorated, according to Daniel S. Funkenstein, Director of Research for the University Health Services.

Harvard has usually been unique, Funkenstein declared, since almost 25 per cent of every College class in the past used to prepare for medicine.

However, Funkenstein could not give a reason for the decreasing number of applicants to Harvard and to schools all over the country. "That is what we would like to know," he said. He noted a similar trend in other graduate schools, especially in engineering.

Because of the drop in qualified applicants, Funkenstein added, schools are forced to accept students whom they know cannot pass. Thus, the failure rate in medical schools has increased by one-third. Despite hopes that the opening of the Seton Hall and Albert Einstein medical schools would attract more students, no substantial improvement has yet occurred, he said.

It would help, Funkenstein said, if state schools could accept students from other states. If only by increasing the number of applicants, such a move would probably raise the standards of admission. However, interference with state schools would require legislation.