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                Auburn University - University Relations
                            (334) 844-9999
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6/9/95                                       Sam Hendrix, 334/844-3698

AUBURN VETERINARY COLLEGE GRADUATING MORE WOMEN THAN MEN

      AUBURN -- For the fourth time in seven years, women outnumbered men
in the graduating class of Auburn University's College of Veterinary 
Medicine.  The college awarded 86 doctor of veterinary medicine degrees 
on June 6, with 49 women and 37 men completing the rigorous four-year 
professional program.
        "We're actually lagging behind the national trend," says Timothy 
Boosinger, associate dean for academic affairs. "Colleges of veterinary 
medicine nationwide are graduating more women than men these days, 
        "This represents the single biggest change in demographics ever 
in veterinary medicine, and it is a reflection of society's changing 
image of the role of women."
      Boosinger noted that veterinary medicine mirrors human medicine 
since 18 of the nation's 126 medical schools reported a majority of women 
in their first-year class this academic year. In many others, the numbers 
of men and women students are about equal.
        "Pharmacy, too, is becoming a female-dominated profession," 
Boosinger said.
 "Health care professions as a whole offer an attractive flexibility. You 
can work part-time or full-time, and there's a place for both the 
workaholic and the professional who wants to have a family."
     The Association of American Veterinary Medical College says women 
trailed men in gaining admission to U.S. veterinary medicine schools 
until 1984, when they drew even. Beginning in 1985, veterinary colleges 
have seen a steadily widening gap in the number of women and men admitted 
to programs.
        In 1992 and 1993, the gap reached its widest margins to date, 
with about 700 more women than men being admitted nationwide in each of 
those years.
Nationally, the number of women applicants to veterinary school s roughly 
doubled that of men since 1991.
        Auburn's College of Veterinary Medicine first graduated more 
women than men in 1989, but women also outnumbered men in 1990 and 1993.
       The recently ended school year was the first in which all four 
classes at the AU college were more than 50 percent female. The class of 
1996 will consist of 51 women and 37 men, the class of 1997 is shaping up 
to have 46 women and 43 men,and the class of 1998 -- this year's freshmen 
group -- has 48 women and 42 men.
        This incoming fall quarter freshman veterinary medicine class 
will have 53 women and 37 men.
        "There are some issues for the profession surrounding this 
trend," Boosinger says. "There would be concern among some that women 
might not command the salaries men do, and as a result, the salaries paid 
to veterinarians might decline.
      "But there's another side to it. Women appear to give a higher 
priority to location and working conditions than men. That's not yet 
fully documented by science, but some people feel it's the case."
        Admission to the AU College of Veterinary Medicine -- limited to 
90 students per year -- is based on college scores in pre-vet courses, 
test scores on the Graduate Record Examination, animal-related experience 
and an interview.
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june95:AU-femvets
      CONTACT: Boosinger, 334/844-3691 (boositr@mail.auburn.edu).