The number of female applicants to medical school surpassed the number of male applicants for the first time ever this year, but officials at the BU School of Medicine say they’ve been ahead of the game for a while now.

“The BU Medical School has had more women than other schools,” MED Associate Dean of Admissions Robert Witzburg said. “We’ve been at about 50 percent women for many years – close to a decade.”

The record-breaking national statistics are for those applying for the 2004-2005 academic year, according to The Associated Press.

Witzburg said MED conducts its application process without regard to gender, though the school tracks gender for statistical purposes.

MED can trace its acceptance of female students to its founding days in 1848 when it opened as the New England Medical Female College, Witzberg said. The school was the first female medical college in the country at that point. A few decades later, in 1872, it became the BU Medical School, the first coed medical school in the country, Witzburg said.

College of Engineering freshman and pre-med student Arup Chakrabarti said he sees the shift as a positive trend with beneficial results.

“I think it’s great because the medical profession is predominantly men, so I think more women in those areas just diversifies the opinions and helps out the patient in the end,” he said.

Medical schools will probably still conduct their admissions processes in gender-blind ways regardless, Chakrabarti said.

“It’s going to become more competitive no matter whether more women or more men apply,” he said. “I don’t think there’ll be much sexism in the application process – it doesn’t really matter if you’re a guy or a girl.”

But the changes may well force medical schools to change small things about the ways they do business once students get to campus, Witzburg said. As the number of female students at medical schools across the country increases, Witzburg said schools will have to adapt to the increased number of women on campus and change to suit their needs.

“Years ago, women needed to change in the nurses’ changing room because there were only rooms for male doctors,” he said. “Maternity leave is a common issue in schools now. The BU Medical School adapts like any other employment area. It adapts with regard to issues of advancement and promotion of women, equal access, opportunities, pay and promotion.”