The School of Medicine and Health Sciences received more than 14,500 applications this year, continuing a decade-long increase in students seeking admission to the school.

The number of first-round applications submitted to the school rose by almost 500 applications to 14,649, while secondary applications rose to 10,616. The school received 10,589 secondary applications last year.

The highly competitive application process for the University’s medical school involves a preliminary American Medical College Application Service application and a secondary application distributed by GW’s admissions office.

The numbers represent a 3.4 percent increase in first-round applications. Medical school applications increased nationwide at an average of 2.5 percent.

Applications to GW’s medical school have been on the rise since at least 2000.

“I would assume that this trend is due to a number of factors that include economic conditions,” Director of GW Medical School Admissions Ava Flores said.

With just 177 available spots, the school can accept about 1 percent of this year’s applicants.

To accommodate the growing number of applicants, 15 new medical schools have applied for preliminary accreditation in the U.S. as of October 2010. The number of medical school graduates is also expected to increase by 7,000 students per year over the next decade, according to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges.