The demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and career plans of medical students in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) scholarship program from 1973-1974 through 1979-80 were examined. Where possible, comparisons were made between NHSC participants and the U.S. medical student population. Major findings are as follows: individuals whose state of legal residence was New York were awarded the largest number of scholarships (1,931), and the next 10 ranking states in descending order were Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Texas; a large proportion (approximately 30 percent) of scholarship participants from 1974-75 to 1979-80 had resided in localities with a population of 2,500-50,00 during their precollege years; an additional one-third of all scholarship participants had resided in cities over 500,000 and in the suburbs of such cities; more NHSC scholarship participants attended private medical institutions than public medical schools; although males comprised the majority of both the NHSC scholarship participants and the U.S. medical student population, the proportions of females for these two groups increased considerably over time; although whites constituted the majority of participants in the NHSC scholarship program from 1973-74 through 1979-80, their representation declined by 11.1 percent during this period, while the proportion of blacks and Hispanics increased during the same period; and from 1973-74 to 1979-80, there was an 18.8 percent increase in the proportion of scholarship participants planning a general practice. A bibliography is appended. (SW)