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Between prepping for the MCAT, going on interviews and submitting the required materials, applying to medical school can be challenging — especially when there are thousands of other applicants.
Among the 116 ranked medical schools that submitted these data to U.S. News in an annual survey, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Pennsylvania received the most applications — 15,475 — for the fall 2015 entering class.
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The medical school swapped spots with Drexel University , which topped last year’s list and had 15,282 applicants for fall 2015. Most of the schools on this year’s list also appeared on last year’s, though a few — including Brown University in Rhode Island and Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York — are new to the top 10.
The average among the 10 medical schools with the largest applicant pools was 12,194 — significantly higher than the average among all schools that submitted these data. At 5,693 applicants, the overall average was less than half that at the top 10.
Four of the 10 medical schools on the list are located in Pennsylvania, and none of those schools fell among the top 20 in either the research or primary care rankings.
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Three of the schools on the list — George Washington University and Georgetown University, both in Washington, D.C., and Brown University — were also among the medical schools with the lowest admissions rates for fall 2015.
Below is a list of the 10 medical schools that received the most applications 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.
| Medical school (name) (state) | Applicants (fall 2015) | U.S. News research rank | U.S. News primary care rank |
| Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (PA) | 15,475 | RNP* | 71 (tie) |
| Drexel University (PA) | 15,282 | 82 (tie) | RNP |
| Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (NY) | 13,273 | RNP | RNP |
| Georgetown University (DC) | 12,697 | 47 (tie) | 87 (tie) |
| George Washington University (DC) | 11,839 | 63 (tie) | 87 (tie) |
| Temple University (Katz) (PA) | 11,347 | 54 | 80 (tie) |
| Boston University | 10,929 | 29 (tie) | 40 (tie) |
| Thomas Jefferson University (Kimmel) (PA) | 10,540 | 56 (tie) | 54 (tie) |
| Western University of Health Sciences (CA) | 10,317 | RNP | RNP |
| Brown University (Alpert) (RI) | 10,245 | 35 (tie) | 32 (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 applicant data, 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 application data above are correct as of Sept. 6, 2016.
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10 Medical Schools With the Most Applicants originally appeared on usnews.com
