Objective To explore the popularity of application and quality of candidates of clinical medicine, and its distribution and variation tendency in different regions and universities in China, so as to provide suggestions for improving the quality of clinical medicine candidates.Methods Clinical medicine and 7 other majors were included in the study, and the average scores for admission to the 12 comprehensive universities were available in 2011 and 2016, and the index of “percentage of average score rank” was applied to describe and analyze the popularity of application and quality of students of these majors.Results In 2011 and 2016, the percentage of average score rank in clinical medicine was 26.61% and 18.05% respectively. The popularity of application to clinical medicine increased from 4th in 2011 to 2nd in 2016 among the 8 majors. As a whole, the popularity of application to clinical medicine in different regions increased, and the candidates in the western regions had the highest enthusiasm to study clinical medicine. It was distinct among the different universities on the popularity of medicine and the distinction increased.Conclusions Overall, the popularity of application and quality of candidates of clinical medicine were favorable in 2011 and 2016, the quality of students with an eight-year master degree was better. The popularity of application of clinical medicine increased in the most areas, and the excellent candidates who lived in the areas with low income and high medical expenditure had a more strongly willing to study medicine. Family background and medical professional characteristics might be the reason to push the impoverished students into studying medicine. While the universities with dominant medicine were more attractive to candidates who aimed to study medicine, the universities with abundant employment resources and numerous competitive disciplines had a relatively weaker attraction.