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There’s a strong demand for doctors in the workforce, but most people who apply to medical school don’t get in.
Among 115 ranked medical schools, the average acceptance rate for fall 2015 was 6.9 percent, according to data submitted to U.S. News in an annual survey.
Low MCAT scores or undergraduate grade-point averages often prevent prospective doctors from making it through the competitive admissions process.
[See the 2017 Best Medical Schools.]
But at some institutions, hardly anyone gets an acceptance letter. The Mayo Medical School in Minnesota accepted only 1.8 percent of applicants — 81 out of the 4,616 who applied — for fall 2015. It had the lowest acceptance rate among all ranked medical schools.
Mayo accepted an even smaller percentage of applicants than it did in fall 2014, when it admitted just 2 percent.
Among the other schools accepting a lower proportion of applicants were three institutions that didn’t make the list of most competitive schools for fall 2014. Florida State University accepted 2.4 percent of applicants for fall 2015; the University of California–Davis had an acceptance rate of 2.8 percent; and the University of California–San Diego accepted 3.4 percent.
Among the top 10 schools, there was an average of 8,362 applicants and just 232 acceptances per school for fall 2015.
[Find out the top three reasons medical school applications are rejected.]
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences had the highest acceptance rate of all ranked schools: 21 percent.
Below is a list of the 10 medical schools with the lowest acceptance rates for fall 2015. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School (name) (state) | Applicants | Acceptances | Acceptance rate | U.S. News research rank | U.S. News primary care rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayo Medical School (MN) | 4,616 | 81 | 1.8% | 24 | 32 (tie) |
| Florida State University | 6,240 | 151 | 2.4% | RNP* | 87 (tie) |
| Stanford University (CA) | 7,197 | 185 | 2.6% | 2 | 37 (tie) |
| George Washington University (DC) | 11,839 | 323 | 2.7% | 63 (tie) | 87 (tie) |
| Brown University (Alpert) (RI) | 10,245 | 283 | 2.8% | 35 (tie) | 32 (tie) |
| Georgetown University (DC) | 12,697 | 359 | 2.8% | 47 (tie) | 87 (tie) |
| University of California–Davis | 7,100 | 198 | 2.8% | 47 (tie) | 37 (tie) |
| Wake Forest University (NC) | 8,602 | 249 | 2.9% | 52 (tie) | 74 (tie) |
| University of California–Los Angeles (Geffen) | 7,627 | 239 | 3.1% | 14 | 6 (tie) |
| University of California–San Diego | 7,456 | 253 | 3.4% | 18 (tie) | 21 (tie) |
* RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of all medical and osteopathic schools. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Medical School Compass to find information on medical school acceptance rates, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed 170 medical schools for our 2015 survey of research and primary care programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Medical Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The acceptance rate data above are correct as of March 17, 2016.
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10 Medical Schools With the Lowest Acceptance Rates originally appeared on usnews.com
