10 Hardest Medical Schools to Get Into

If you are thinking about getting into a medical school, then the list of the hardest medical schools to get into may interest you.

It is common knowledge that becoming a doctor in the United States is no easy thing to do. First, you have to have insanely good grades throughout your academic career, and after all that, you have to enroll in a reputable medical school. You are probably already aware that there are quite a few medical schools out there that have a single digit acceptance rate. Now, after you get enrolled into a medical school, the system demands a lot of time and effort from you before you can start practicing as a doctor. On average, a person studying to become a doctor in America spends about 14 years training for the job. That includes, 4 years of college, another 4 for medical school, then residency programs and 3 to 8 years for a fellowship.

Since you are committed enough to go through all that, it is safe to assume that you are already top in your class and exceptional in your academic records. The medical schools that we are going to talk about in this article, are extremely selective when it comes to new intakes. They will put you through a lot of testing before you are accepted. Essentially, the schools that made our list are not only the hardest medical schools to get into in the United States, rather they are the hardest medical schools to get into in the entire world. So you know what you are getting into, there is just no way to water it down a little bit. You will have to be exceptionally good in order to enroll in the schools that made our list.

However, if you would like to go to a medical school that is not exceptionally difficult to get in, you may want to check out our list of 9 Easiest Medical Schools to Get Into. These schools as you can guess, are not top of the line, but they are definitely not something to scoff at either. Anyway, for our current list, the schools we have selected are on a totally different level, only the best of the best of candidates will be able to enroll in these schools. You can expect fierce competition if you are going to apply for these schools.

This is the part where we talk a little about our methodology. As our article’s title states “hardest medical schools to get into” we took a long hard look at the rate of acceptance for medical schools. Thankfully, there are websites that provide us with such records, like US News, Blog Accepted and Medical-Schools Start Class and we looked up the most recent data we could find regarding the rate of acceptance for medical schools. We went ahead and ranked our article based on the rate of acceptance, so the lower the rate of acceptance is, the harder it is to get into the given medical school. So, you will find the hardest medical school to get into at the very top position of our list.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at our list of 10 hardest medical schools to get into.

10. University of California-San Diego

Acceptance rate: 3%

We are starting our list off with the University of California-San Diego,  with an acceptance rate of 3%. Now we can imagine how low that actually is right? Out of every 100 students who applied to get into the University of California-San Diego only 3 made it through selection. The thing is, the rate of acceptance is only going to get worse from there on. As per our ranking methodology, University of California-San Diego’s medical school has the highest rate of acceptance as it has been placed on number 10. The applications are now open, if you are looking to drop an application you have till November of this year to do that.

9. University of California-Los Angeles (Geffen)

Acceptance rate: 2.7%

The acceptance rate for the University of California – Los Angeles (Geffen) is merely 2.7% which is to be expected in a list of hardest medical schools to get into. Out of 12,081 applicants in 2017, only a handful got the chance to enroll. The students are selected on the basis of undergraduate record, medical college admissions test scores, interview with members of the admissions committee, graduate record and life experiences such as research, volunteerism, etc. Unless you have a pretty impressive academic record and an attitude to match, you have a slim chance of getting in.

8. University of California-Davis

Acceptance rate: 2.7%

The University of California – Davis is a public research university and one of the 10 campuses of the University of California system. The application deadline for the school of medicine at UCDAVIS is October 1. So, if you are ready to apply, you still have a couple of months to prepare. The tuition fee for in-state candidates is around $35,933 and for out-state candidates is $48,178. Another interesting piece of data is that the faculty-student ratio at University of California–Davis is 1.9:1, with 923 full- and part-time faculty on staff.

7. Alpert Medical School

Acceptance rate: 2.7%

The application deadline for the medical school at Brown University, namely Alpert Medical School is November 1. The tuition fee for Alpert Medical School is pretty high at about $55,552. But, given the impressive faculty-student ratio of 1.4:1 that is to be expected. Out of 7,423 applicants last year, a mere 202 were selected for enrollment.

6. Wake Forest University (NC)

Acceptance rate: 2.6%

Wake Forest University’s school of medicine is one of the oldest medical institutions on the list. They have been working tirelessly since 1902 to provide all manner of medical aid to the people, and their goals still remain the same in 2017. Under the capable leadership of Dean Edward Abraham, there are over 1,100 full-time faculty members and 550 part-time teachers who provide the best education in medicine to their students. Last year, out of 9,115 applicants only 238 made it through selection, that sums up to an acceptance rate of mere 2.6%.

5. George Washington University (DC)

Acceptance rate: 2.6%

The deadline for applications for George Washington University’s school of medicine is November 15. Apart from the appalling rate of acceptance, the tuition fees are also quite high. Even if you manage to get through the selection process of George Washington University’s school of medicine, you will face a tuition fee of about $56,790, which is substantial by any standards. You have to be absolutely sure about committing yourself to such an immense financial undertaking; and, on top of that, due to the system of medical education, you will not be able to work while you are studying at least for the first few years. Otherwise, this is one of the best medical schools in America.

4. Florida State University

Acceptance rate: 2.6%

Florida State University college of medicine has topped rankings for best medical schools on several occasions. It is also considered as one of the hardest medical schools to get into in the entire country. Naturally, the rate of acceptance will be very low for such a well-reputed institution. Also, the tuition fee is pretty reasonable for the services and facilities you will be getting, which clocks in about $22,408 (in-state). We highly recommend that you take your best shot at if you have an impressive academic record.

3. Stanford University (CA)

Acceptance rate: 2.5%

At number 3 on our list, we have Stanford University (CA). Now being the third hardest medical school to get into, Stanford University School of Medicine has a comparatively “high” rate of acceptance at 2.5%. If we look at last year’s statistics we see that of 7,512 applicants only a handful got accepted. One more quite interesting statistic we would like to share with you is that for the class of 2016, about 65% of students who applied for residency got admitted to their first choice.

2. Georgetown University School of Medicine

Acceptance rate: 2.5%

Georgetown University School of Medicine may have only 2.5% acceptance rate, but the thing is Georgetown University School of Medicine attracted the highest number of candidates as well. If we were not ranking schools on our list based on acceptance rate alone, this university would have topped the list without question, as it is an excellent choice for anyone aspiring to become a successful doctor. Last year a total of 14,377 students applied for enrollment and 359 made it through the selection process.

1. Mayo Clinic School of Medicine (MN)

Acceptance rate: 1.8%

Mayo Medical School needs no introduction. It has been ranked the number 1 on pretty much every list concerning medical schools in the United States. If you wish to learn from the best, to be the best, then Mayo Medical School institution is for you. As you can see, it has a rate of acceptance of 1.8% meaning that getting accepted is going to be a monumental task even if you have impressive credentials. But this is to be expected to the institution that has been praised as the top institution of the entire nation.

This wraps it up for our list of the hardest medical schools to get into.