Finally, Poussaint says, the elimination ofcertain federal grants 10 to 15 years ago--whenthe government thought there were too many medicalstudents--have made attending medical school evenmore difficult.

Once in practice, many doctors say, thesituation only gets worse. As insuranceregulations over medical procedures continue toincrease, many physicians complain they have lessautonomy and less time for their patients.

Not surprisingly, that dissatisfaction has beentransmitted to up and coming students.

"Older physicians are really upset by the lossof autonomy. They are really upset aboutmalpractice insurance, and the huge increase inpaperwork," says Jessica A. Spira, a second-yearstudent at the Med school.

These factors have made the impact of otherdetriments--like the large time commitmentmedicine traditionally extracts--seem even worse.With lifestyle and family to consider, studentssay, many more prospective doctors are shunningmedicine.

"I think the lifestyle considerations are rightup there with the money," Prout says.

Nam H. Tram, a second-year student at the MedSchool, says the rough lifestyle of medicalinterns makes the career especially undersirable.He says that an although an intern may earn$30,000 a year, that intern usually works about100 hours each week, making for a relatively slimhourly wage.

In general, students and administrators agree,the medical profession's status has diminishedover the last few years. Most say that doctors donot command as much public respect as they usedto.

There is "a sense of concern about thededication and the long-range commitment toothers--a question about whether that's beentarnished in society," Federman says.

Poussaint says this changed image is apparentin modern television portrayals of doctors. Hesays gritty, realistic portayals of physicians onshows like St. Elsewhere are a far cry fromthe super-doctor images on Marcus Welby,M.D..

"I think that it's clear that these shows thatmake the doctor totally ideal aren't popularanymore," he says.

Winning Back Applicants

So far, Harvard has taken little direct actionto fight the drop in applications.

"If they're doing anything, it wouldn't be fromthe admissions office," says Helen Rakin, a staffworker in the Med School's admissions office.

But students say the admissions process has atleast changed its tone, in an effort to encouragemore applicants to attend. Spira says that whenher sister applied to medical school in the 1970s,the interview process had a reputation for beingmuch more stressful.