16 Medical Schools with Highest Acceptance Rates in America

If you want to be sure that your application for medical school would be accepted, try out some of the medical schools with highest acceptance rates in America we have picked out.

It seems that medical schools are becoming more popular among young people, having in mind the fact that between 2006 and 2016 number of applicants to medical schools have risen by about 35%. But that also makes it harder to get into a medical school, because medical school acceptance rates do not follow the rising trend obviously.

On the matter of medical school admission statistics 2017, the number of applicants has increased by 0.9% from 2016 (following the trend that we have seen for the period 2006-2016). It might be of interest for the future applicants which schools have received the most applications (with more than 10,000 applications). For 2017 those were: George Washington, Georgetown, Drexel, Chicago Med-Franklin, New York Medical, BU, Tufts, Jefferson-Kimmel, Temple-Katz, Tulane, Rush and Loyola Stritch. But on the matter of finances, these are one of the most expensive as well. At Drexel, for example, you’d need around $183,000, and for Tufts around $171,000.

Let’s now see some more interesting facts. According to researchers of AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) on medical school acceptance rates by race and ethnicity, it seems that the highest percentage is taken by the white applicants (with 44%), followed by Asian and Hispanic or Latino (both having 42% acceptance rates), and finally African American with 34%. Concerning the graduates’ percentage, it seems that whites are again on the top of the ladder with 58%, followed by Asians (19.8%).

But anyway, if you are considering applying to a medical school, you should maybe first have an insight in which the hardest and easiest are, and you can get that information from 9 Easiest Medical Schools to get Into and 10 Hardest Medical Schools to Get Into. And if you are not bound to a specific place you could also reconsider some of the 10 Easiest Medical Schools to Get Into out of State.

The first medical school in America was the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, founded in 1765. Soon after, among the first medical schools in America was the Harvard Medical School, founded in 1782. And, having a long tradition in highest quality education, and being among the best medical schools, it can be understood why Harvard medical school acceptance rate is among the lowest in the states (being 3,5%). Maybe you should then have in mind some other medical schools with lowest acceptance rates: Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, Stanford University, and Florida State University being among the top here.

We have based our research on medical schools with highest acceptance in America on the statistics concerning acceptance rates. So we have used the data on medical school ranking on this matter that was provided by BeMo Academic Consulting, Hospital Careers, and Accepted, and then ranked them according to the average acceptance rates as you will see below. The statistics do vary from place to place, but we hope to have made the best picks – all the sources agree approximately on the figures.

But in the end, things do not seem to be that simple concerning these figures. That is because this is a statistical overview, which rather means percentages than numbers. That means that the number of accepted applicants would depend more on the number of total applicants: 2% would be 2 accepted on 100 applicants or 200 accepted for 10,000 applicants. But let’s leave mathematics for now, and go through the medical schools with highest acceptance rates in America:

16. Mercer University School of Medicine

Average acceptance rate: 11.38%

Although a relatively newly established university (founded in 1982), Mercer University School of Medicine offers some quality programs apart from MD, it offers MS and Ph.D. studies in biomedical sciences, pre-clinical sciences, anesthesia, pre-clinical sciences, clinical medical psychology, and family therapy. It is located in Macon, GA, with the second campus, opened in Savannah, GA.

15. University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine

Average acceptance rate: 11.6%

Reno School of Medicine ranks 15th on our list of medical schools with highest acceptance rates in America. It was the first medical school established in Nevada, founded in 1969. Nowadays it offers all educational level degree programs: MD, MS, and Ph.D. in fields such as pathology and audiology, cell biology, pharmacology, microbiology, biochemistry, etc.

14. University of Tennessee Health Center

Average acceptance rate: 12.1%

There are several main colleges at the University of Tennessee Health center, including pharmacy, dentistry, medicine, nursing and graduate health sciences which include many programs in each of them. Among them, college of pharmacy is ranked among top 20 in the whole country.

13. Augusta University Medical College of Georgia

Average acceptance rate: 12.7%

Apart from being the only medical school in Georgia, it is one of the biggest medical schools in the country. It was founded back in 1828 being one of the oldest medical schools as well. There are programs in neuroscience, public and preventive health, cancer studies, genomics, regenerative medicine, etc.

12. University of North Texas Health Science Center

Average acceptance rate: 12.8%

There are five colleges offering degrees in osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, public health, physical therapy, biomedical sciences at UNT Health Science Center, being one of the medical schools with the highest acceptance rates in America. All three levels – BA, MA and Ph.D. degrees can be obtained here.

11. University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine 

Average acceptance rate: 13%

Being one of the medical schools with highest acceptance rates in America, this university offers MD, MS and Ph.D. programs in a variety of fields such as biomedical sciences.

10. Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University

Average acceptance rate: 13.1%

There are lots of residency and fellowship programs in Brody School of Medicine including emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, etc. But it seems that most people get successful with studying family medicine at this university – being at the first place in North Carolina and the second in the US in graduates of family medicine.

9. University of Texas Health Science Center Houston

Average acceptance rate: 13.9%

This medical school is located in the Texas Medical Center which is the biggest of this kind in the world. Apart from being among medical schools with highest acceptance rates in America, it is one of the leading universities in diverse genetic studies including researchers in tissue plasminogen activator for example.

8. Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences

Average acceptance rate: 14%

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences was originally founded in 1792 as the Oklahoma College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery, and later on developed more educational programs such as forensic sciences, biomedical sciences, healthcare administration, etc. Nowadays stands as one of the medical schools with the highest acceptance rates in America.

7. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – Shreveport

Average acceptance rate: 17%

LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport is one of the medical schools with highest acceptance rates in America, those being 17%. In this university, there are five bioscience programs which offer all three-degree levels – BA, MA, and Ph.D.

6. University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Average acceptance rate: 18.8%

UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences was established in 1905 with two-year program in medical training, and started MD program only in 1973 (though only as three-year training), and established a full four-year program in 1981. But nevertheless, it still remains the only school of medicine in North Dakota. It offers degrees in biomedical sciences, clinical sciences and health sciences (which includes athletic training, lab science, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies and public health). It offers all three – BA, MA and Ph.D. levels degree programs.

5. University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Medicine

Average acceptance rate: 20%

Being among the medical schools with highest acceptance rates in America, University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Medicine offers a six-year curriculum based BA/MD program, rather than a classical four-year program, which means it accepts students directly from high school. The learning is based on constant communication and interaction with patients, starting from the first days of studies. They also offer three master’s programs in fields of anesthesia, science physician assistance and bioinformatics.

4. Central Michigan University College of Medicine

Average acceptance rate: 21.91%

This is one of the universities with a long tradition. It was established in 1892, being among the top largest universities both in Michigan and statewide. But apart from its long tradition, college of Medicine was established only in 2013. The same year, Neuroscience Society proclaimed Central Michigan University the best undergraduate neuroscience program of the year.

3. University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine

Average acceptance rate: 28.7%

With 28.7% University of Puerto Rico School of medicine is among the top medical schools with the highest acceptance rates in America. It was established in 1912, after the Institute for Tropical Medicine was founded, and it remained the only medical school of the University of Puerto Rico, and among the best bilingual (English and Spanish) medical schools.

2. University of Mississippi School of Medicine

Average acceptance rate: 38.18%

This university is located in Jackson, Mississippi, as the only academic health science center of the state. It was established in 1955, and it got school status in 2001. On average, around 3,000 students enroll annually to this university. The programs they offer include general medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, population health.

1. Central University of the Caribbean Medical School

Average acceptance rate: 44.4%

You should probably always have in mind Central University of Caribbean Medical School if you are looking for the medical schools with highest acceptance rates in America. Probably if everything else fails, this option cannot go wrong in 44,4% of cases. This university is a private non-profit university placed in Puerto Rico.