At least 75 percent of accepted students enrolled at these medical schools, according to U.S. News data.
On average, medical schools saw 52.8 percent of accepted students join the first-year class
The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College and The Short List: Grad School to find data that matters to you in your college or grad school search.
The Association of American Medical Colleges asked for a 30 percent increase in first-year students by 2015, and it looks like medical schools have responded with urgency. Since the organization made its plea in 2006, fearing a nationwide doctor shortage, there’s been a steady uptick in the number of first-year students, according to a March report by the association.
First-year students are particularly eager to attend certain schools. The most popular are typically public institutions that have been around for decades.
The University of Kansas Medical Center, for example, had the highest percentage of accepted students opt to enroll for fall of 2013, out of the 112 ranked institutions that reported data to U.S. News in an annual survey. The medical school, which opened in 1905, had a yield of 85.1 percent.
Kansas also topped the list last year. This year it’s joined by some schools that have recently improved the rate at which accepted students enroll. Two are the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which had a yield of 83.4 percent, and Harvard University. Harvard, which had a yield of 76.3 percent, is the only private institution on the list.
Each of these 10 schools had at least 75 percent of its accepted students join the first-year class. The average yield among all schools that submitted data is 52.8 percent. Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine had the lowest yield of all schools that reported the data: 30.1 percent.
Below is a list of the 10 most popular medical schools, as determined by yield. 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) | Students accepted | Students enrolled | Yield percentage | U.S. News research rank | U.S. News primary care rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Kansas Medical Center | 248 | 211 | 85.1% | 60 | 22 |
| University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences | 205 | 171 | 83.4% | 84 | 40 |
| University of Oklahoma | 199 | 165 | 82.9% | 71 | 71 |
| University of New Mexico | 128 | 103 | 80.5% | 83 | 40 |
| University of Washington | 296 | 235 | 79.4% | 10 | 1 |
| University of South Dakota (Sanford) | 74 | 58 | 78.4% | RNP* | 78 |
| University of Utah | 131 | 102 | 77.9% | 52 | 35 |
| Ohio University | 182 | 141 | 77.5% | RNP | RNP |
| Harvard University (MA) | 219 | 167 | 76.3% | 1 | 11 |
| University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill | 240 | 180 | 75% | 22 | 2 |
*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 yield rate, 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 153 medical schools for our 2013 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 comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools. The yield data above are correct as of May 6, 2014.
