anyone know how many people apply and how many get selected?
On the NHSC site it does not say how many apply or how many are accepted but it does give the figure that about 1 in 11 gets a scholarship.
I looked up the graduating class and found this document talking about the 2009 Conference for Scholars:
"We anticipate that most of the 137-plus NHSC Scholars who will become available for service in 2010 will attend this conference. These Scholars include 53 family physicians, 10 general pediatricians, 23 general internists, 19 dentists, 14 obstetrician/gynecologists, 4 family nurse practitioners, 2 physician assistants, 1 certified nurse-midwife, and 11 psychiatrists."
http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/PHSD/Primary-Care/documents/PCONewsJuly2009.pdf
There are 2 reasons that the 1 in 11 figure poses problems:
1. As seen above, the scholarships are divided among physicians (MD and DO), dentists, PAs, NPs, and nurse midwives but no breakdown is given anywhere, so depending on what you are going into, your chances are probably different.
2. This figure was given before this year, and with the bill that President Obama signed into effect in February, a huge amount of money has been made available for scholarships and loan repayment, so the number of scholarships is probably different now.
How many scholarships, though? No one knows.