Harvard University, Medical School Admission
Harvard University, Medical School Undergraduate Program
Harvard University, Medical School Application

The Facts

Harvard University is a rather large, private institution located in Boston, Massachusetts, and has a combined graduate and undergraduate population of over 24,000 students. The university's Medical School, however, is significantly smaller, and is home to about 735 graduate medical students. The average age of enrollment is around 23, and it is fairly rare for any of the students to enter the school directly from their undergraduate education. The school is perhaps best known for its unique structure, which includes two programs: the New Pathway, and the Health Science Technology Program. Aside from the basic MD degree, the school offers joint degrees in the MSTP, the MD/MPH and the MD/MPP in collaboration with the Kennedy School of Government, and the MD/PhD in various areas of medical science.

Admission to Harvard University's Medical School is extremely competitive among the many students who apply; last year, over 5,400 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 250 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 165 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming semester. The admitted students had average MCAT scores of 12.0 in Biology, 12.0 in Physics, and 11.0 in Verbal, as well as an average undergraduate GPA of about a 3.8. Students are notified of their admissions status by the beginning of the month of July, and there is currently no early application program in place.

The Medical School has an astounding 9,350 faculty members, all of whom come from very diverse medical and academic backgrounds. The school has a fantastic student to faculty ratio of about 1:1, and the small class sizes ensure that students receive plenty of one on one attention from their professors.

Graduates of Harvard University's Medical School often are accepted into some of the nation's top residency programs. Students most frequently specialize in the areas of internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, as well as orthopedic surgery.

Clinical Programs

Students at the medical school are required to complete an extensive clinical training, beginning as early as their first year, including 4 months of general medicine, 1 month of neurology, 3 months of women's and children's health, 1 month of psychiatry, 1 month of radiology, as well as 3 months of surgery. There is also on going primary care training, as well as several elective courses which must be completed.

What's Good

"The school has an incredible reputation in the medical community, and you have plenty of opportunities to make connections."

"There are a huge variety of courses to choose from, and you graduate being very well-rounded."

"The affiliated hospitals are some of the best teaching hospitals in the country."

What's Bad

"The tuition is very high, and the financial aid is very low."

"There is no on campus graduate housing, and Boston is a very expensive city in terms of real estate."

"Things do tend to become very competitive among the students."

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