Would anyone happen to have a link or point me in the right direction to find the actual numbers of acceptance into medical school. I have been able to find the number of applicants but it doesn’t go on to say how many actual got it. I was looking for specific school data not a medical school giving their acceptance rate. For example: Harvard 300 applied 150 accepted. This has been such a challenge…
Unfortunately you’re not going to find that information.
There is no single, reliable source for applicant and matriculant data from individual undergrads. And any info provided by an individual undergrad is subject to multiple types of manipulation and cannot be relied on to be truthful and accurate. (EX. Some undergrads only count admissions to MD programs; other count admissions to MD and DO programs. Still other include any healthcare professional school–MD, DO, DPT, OTD, DDS, DPsy, DNP, etc. And a few include admissions to Caribbean and other foreign medical programs as “medical school” admissions.)
Another way med school admission numbers are manipulated is by the use of a health profession committee letter. At some schools (mostly private universities and LACs), the HP committee acts as a gatekeeper, controlling who is allowed to not allowed to apply to medical school by writing or withholding LORs. HP Committee will simply refuse to issue letters for any student the committee feels has a low likelihood of gaining an admission, thus artificially inflating a university’s “success rate” in medical school placement.
Also a college’s “med school success rate” usually count alumni applicants who have graduated as much as 5 years earlier.
There is aggregate data on med school applications and acceptance rates available from the AAMC. There is data about the number of applicants from certain schools, but there is no data about how many succeed in gaining an acceptance.
You can access it here:
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Thank you so much for taking the time to provide me with in-depth information. This is proven to be one of the most difficult statistics to uncover. Everyone just gives you the run around and inflates everything. I feel like I am talking to a used car salesman every time I try to get a clear answer. Thank you for the link.
Because the info is so difficult to find I always suggest folks ask where recent grads have gone - specifically where. What kind of list do you get? Are you content with the names/types on it? Are there several, or just a couple?
Odds are pretty meaningless to an individual, because it’s what your application has on it that will matter, but if others have gone places and done things similar to what you’re looking to do, you know it can be done if you can match their app.
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I am have been researching these numbers to help with selecting my sons undergraduate school.
Let me give the advice I’ve offered to others (including my own children).
First of all, take the whole idea of pre-med out of your search.
Pre-med is merely a set of mostly into level courses that are offered at nearly every college (and most community colleges) in the US.
Especially take pre-med out of your search equation because it’s estimated that between 60-75% of freshmen pre-meds will never actually apply to medical school. (The drop off isn’t merely due to the not having good enough grades for med school, but also because most pre-meds have no idea what the life of a doctor is like, or because they decide they really don’t want to postpone beginning their careers and lives for 15 or more years after high school. Or they discover an more compatible and interesting career during college. Our high schools do a really terrible job of career exploration for our young adults.)
Out of the remaining 25% or so of pre-meds who actually apply to med school, more than 60% get ZERO acceptances. 2020/21 was an especially competitive year for med school admissions and the percentage of accepted applicants is expected to be even lower.
With pre-med out of the search equation, I’d focus on finding the college for your child that offers the best combination of fit, affordability and opportunity.
Fit–because happier students do better academically
Affordability–because medical school is incredibly expensive (Think $75K-$100K/year) and there is almost no aid other than loans available. Pre-med are strongly advised to minimize undergrad debt. Successful pre-meds won’t be earning a “doctor’s salary” for 3-12 year post med school while their $250+K in unsubsidized loans continue accrue interest and capitalize.
Opportunity–because college is 4 years of your child’s life they will never get back. They need to enjoy it. Opportunity include the opportunity for them to explore new ideas and interests (including those don’t lead to med school). The opportunity to find mentoring from their professors (who they will need to write their LORs for med school.grad school or whatever path they decide to pursue). The opportunity to grow and develop as human beings. (Med schools are looking well rounded individuals with interests that go beyond science and who have demonstrated leadership capabilities.)
Successful pre meds come from every type of undergrad from brand name research universities to small rural LACs to directional state Us. The name of the college a student attends carries very little weight with med school adcomms.
Adcomms are looking for applicants who embody the personal characteristics of a good physician, who are academically able, who score well on standardized exams (medicine is one continual line of career-defining standardized exams), who have strong interpersonal and leadership skills, and who are able to communicate comfortably with a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds. These are things that no college can teach your child.
The main difference between colleges w/r/t pre-med is that some college may offer better advising and a few more resources than others. (Be aware that many college pre-med advisors are terrible and your child may be better off seeking out [free] outside advice when they go to apply.) Better resources may be helpful–like free academic tutoring, and access to nearby hospitals or clinics for volunteering opportunities.
Undergrads do NOT provide MCAT prep. That’s something a student needs to do for themselves.
Hope this helps.
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- 1 to your advice. I think it ought to be required reading for anyone considering pre-med TBH. And… I might print it off to have posted in our guidance office if you don’t mind.
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Perhaps post #6 or something similar should be an FAQ post.
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Yes, I totally understand. In our case my son will definitely be applying to med school. Both his father and I are medical. His father an anesthesiologist and I am a nurse from a young age we both have taken him to work. He loves everything about medicine. Things these days are much different than when his father and I applied. I understand all the factors that need to take place to have a happy student thus a successful one. We have narrowed our search based on simple “fit”. However, would be interested in seeing how the various programs over the years have proven success in acceptance into medical school. I do understand it is a case by case basis but this can prove a nice baseline when selecting undergrad studies.
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You have been extremely helpful. Thank you so very much. I know the time it took for you to give such a thoughtful reply and I am extremely grateful.
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Ask each school you are considering where recent grads have been accepted. Compare lists.
Get on a site with students and/or graduates of the school and see if they can put you into contact with those heading to med school or currently in med school. Ask them what they thought about their undergrad experience as it applies to med school.
These are two things I suggest students at our school do.
Which state or region of the US are you in or interested in? Or do you have acceptances in hand already and are comparing schools for this year?
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I second @ucbalumnus idea. If you start a new thread with this, I will gladly pin it.
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Thank you. He is considering Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Baylor and TCU. CMU and CWRU for obvious academic strengths and CWRU is literally next to 2 of the best hospitals in the USA, one being Cleveland Clinic. CMU is ranked 15 for physics which is his major. Baylor and TCU have great school spirit and he loves the south but we aren’t quite sure if the premed tracks will prepare him to be competitive for med school. Thanks again for helping.
Any of those colleges is fine for premed.
Point…CWRU is actually adjacent to University Hospital main campus in Cleveland. Easily walkable from CWRU. Cleveland Clinic is down the road a piece…it’s not all that far but it’s not next door.
What does your son think about the locations? CMU is in a nicer area of Pittsburgh. But with easy access to the downtown which is a nice walking downtown.
CWRU is a little further from the downtown, but I’m not sure how often college students go downtown. It’s a bus ride away. Lots of nice things happening in downtown Cleveland now.
Both cities have great professional sports! (Go Browns, Go Tribe)
As you say, Baylor is in Texas. Great college. Would your son like to live there for four years?
To me, TCU seems like the outlier here…but I don’t know that much bout the school.
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Thanks again for all the helpful information.
I added more to my post!
TCU I know nothing about except the name and it’s in TX. I’m in PA and we’ve never to my knowledge had a student from our school apply there, which doesn’t mean it’s bad. It mainly means most of our students stay within 4 hours of home and those who venture further haven’t had it on their radar.
Baylor my own med school boy applied to and was accepted at, but we never actually went and visited nor did he ever really consider it beyond applying. They were more expensive and further away than two of his other options plus he really liked his top choice. I think he mainly applied because it was free and they’re a Christian school. His older brother selected a Christian college, so this lad was contemplating if he wanted to as well or if he wanted something else. Baylor seemed like a good mix of Christian and Pre-med. He chose a (secular) school with a lot of research availability for undergrads (U Rochester) that he fell in love with on a visit. I don’t recall anyone from our school applying to Baylor for the same reasons as TCU, so don’t know anything more about it other than having driven past on one of our trips.
CMU and Case Western do draw love. That said, I don’t recall a single pre-med wannabie choosing CMU. They go right next door to Pitt (literally, right next door - across the street) as that’s a big pre-med destination within our state. My guy also had Pitt as an option. When we were there they mentioned being able to take classes at CMU if they weren’t offered at Pitt, so my mind is wondering if CMU students would have any reciprocal options at Pitt for research or other pre-med types of things. I don’t know, plus our visit was 10 years ago, so what was said then might not be around now. I’m sure CMU must have pre-meds there. I’d be asking their Pre-med (or Pre-health) departments where students have gone and what opportunities students have. One big bonus if it can be accessed would be all of the hospitals right there next to Pitt. I doubt Pitt keeps all shadowing for its own students, but there are a lot there, so I just don’t know for sure. Ask.
CW has its own med school and hospital right there, but as a PP said, it’s not Cleveland Clinic, though that’s nearby. It, like Pitt, has a very solid reputation around here for Pre-med. My guy briefly considered them for undergrad, but again, ended up where he is now. He didn’t actually apply there because he wasn’t as fond of its setting (more urban with less of a “campus bubble” than where he is now). He had Pitt as a solid safety, so didn’t need to go further out for CW (if that makes sense). There’s certainly nothing wrong with the school and other students where I work prefer CW - it’s all personal preference.
FWIW, my guy did interview at CW for residency and really liked their program and director. It was a tempting place for him that he ranked fairly high and would have been happy to go to had he not gotten matched at a higher ranked place. I’d definitely keep them in contention.
Others on CC are from TX (and OH/PA). Hopefully they can chime in more with what they know about the schools.
In general, I doubt med schools are going to differentiate between the schools based upon their name. They’ll all be considered perfectly fine. Pick fit for the student.
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I have a friend who went to Baylor for undergrad then went to medical school.
Baylor University is a Christian (Southern Baptist) affiliated university that takes religion seriously. All students must take 2 semesters of religion/Bible studies. And all freshman have a mandatory weekly chapel attendance requirement, regardless of their personal religious affiliation or interests. Additionally, there are lifestyle restrictions that are part of the student Code of Conduct. (dress code, prohibition of alcohol use or off campus, early dorm curfews, no co-ed housing, prohibition on PDAs, etc) If your child identifies as LBGTQ, Baylor probably isn’t going to be a good fit for them.
Also Baylor University is in Waco, while Baylor College of Medicine is in Houston which is 3 hours away via private car. There is little to no interaction between the undergrad and the medical school. There are 2 hospitals in Waco, but neither are close to the Baylor campus.
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Wishing this post existed a couple of months ago - so helpful in putting PreMed into context.
The only thing I might add is that you don’t remove this consideration entirely from your search parameters. If you have choices that are similar in your own personal rankings for fit, affordability etc, the differences in PreMed advising (quality and availability - advisor:student ratio), and especially opportunities to get to know your professors in PreMed and other courses (for personalized letters of recommendation) may make a difference.
This is playing out in my daughter’s decision: she is comparing UCLA/UCSD to Northeastern. Very different schools but similarly ranked in her mind for her own reasons. She loves the co-op model and being in Boston (lots of hospitals and research labs), and class sizes are manageable even in introductory courses. But, she is worried about the social aspects of a school - people coming and going from semester to semester, and being able to develop friendships. OTOH, UCLA and UCSD are much more traditional college experiences, with a typical vibrant social scene. Yet, we are concerned with the large classes, and the competition among ALL the other PreMeds for visibility and opportunities. These are PreMed factories, but available (and hard to find) evidence indicates they don’t do better than average with med school acceptances.
I am sure my daughter will figure it out, but it is tough.
Uh, I can’t agree with this^^^. UCSD is known as UC for the Socially Dead. The school has tried to reverse this trend but it’s been hard.
Vibrant social scene? Not according to my former students. People go to class, study, and repeat. School spirit is limited. There is ALWAYS construction going on. Freshman are the only ones who are guaranteed housing. La Jolla and University City rents are very expensive.
UCLA is the complete opposite. The school is always vibrant, busy, and active. Go down Bruin walk in a “normal” year. Lots of activity in every area. Great experiences for my former students.
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