Abstract Introduction This paper compares the socioeconomic profile of medical students registered at the Faculty of Medicine of Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (FM-UEM), Maputo, for the years 1998/99 and 2007/08. Case study The objective is to describe the medical students' social and geographical origins, expectations and perceived difficulties regarding their education and professional future. Data were collected through questionnaires administered to all medical students. Discussion and evaluation The response rate in 1998/99 was 51% (227/441) and 50% in 2007/08 (484/968). The main results reflect a doubling of the number of students enrolled for medical studies at the FM-UEM, associated with improved student performance (as reflected by failure rates). Nevertheless, satisfaction with the training received remains low and, now as before, students still identify lack of access to books or learning technology and inadequate teacher preparedness as major problems. Conclusions There is a high level of commitment to public sector service. However, students, as future doctors, have very high salary expectations that will not be met by current public sector salary scales. This is reflected in an increasing degree of orientation to double sector employment after graduation.