University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Medical School Admission
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Medical School Undergraduate Program
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Medical School Application

The Facts

The University of Minnesota is a rather large, public institution located in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has a combined graduate and undergraduate population of over 34,000 students. The university's Medical School, however, is significantly smaller, and is home to about 580 graduate medical students. The average age of enrollment is around 24, 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 fantastic research facilities and programs, as well as for its emphasis on the biomedical sciences. Aside from the basic MD degree, the school offers a joint degree in the MD/PhD in the areas of biochemistry, biomedical engineering, biophysics, cell biology, genetics, immunology, microbiology, molecular biology, neuroscience, pharmacology, as well as physiology.

Admission to the University of Minnesota's Medical School is extremely competitive among the many students who apply; last year, over 2,170 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 260 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 about 10.7 in Biology, 10.5 in Physics, and 10.2 in Verbal, as well as an average undergraduate GPA of about a 3.7. Students are notified of their admissions status on a rolling basis, and are able to take advantage of the school's early application program if they so choose.

The Medical School has about 1,050 faculty members, all of whom come from relatively diverse medical and academic backgrounds; the school also boasts a very manageable student to faculty ratio of about 1:1, and the small classes allow for plenty of discussion and interaction between students and their professors.

Graduates of the university's Medical School often go on to be accepted to some of the most prestigious and competitive residency programs in the nation, and most frequently specialize in the areas of family practice, internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, emergency medicine, ob/gyn, as well as radiology.

Clinical Programs

Students are required to complete extensive clinical training including 12 weeks of medicine, 6 weeks of ob/gyn, 6 weeks of surgery, 6 weeks of pediatrics, 6 weeks of psychiatry, 4 weeks of neurology, 4 weeks of surgical specialty, 8 weeks of ambulatory care. Students complete their clinical training at affiliated facilities including the Fairview-University Medical Center, Variety Club Heart and Research Center, Masonic Rehabilitation Center, as well as the Paul F. Dwan Cardiovascular Research Center.

What's Good

"There is a very collaborative environment here; you feel very comfortable with your peers."

"The faculty are obviously very passionate about what they do, and they love to give advice."

"If you an in state student, the school is very very affordable."

What's Bad

"There are often many teachers who just pile on the work, and you have no life."

"There is never enough on campus graduate housing available."

"The administration can be difficult to get a hold of sometimes."

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