According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, in the 2017-18 academic year, there 6,188 Black students enrolled in U.S. medical schools. Meharry Medical College in Nashville and the Howard University School of Medicine each enroll more than 300 Black students. Among the predominantly White medical schools, the largest number of Black students – 128 – is at Indiana University.
Readers might also be interested to know which undergraduate colleges and universities are the best at preparing their students for medical school. In the 2017 academic year, 118 graduates of Howard University in Washington, D.C., applied to U.S. medical schools. This was the most in the nation. Xavier University of Louisiana, with a much smaller number of total graduates, ranked second and had 103 students apply to medical schools. Spelman College, the historically Black educational institution for women in Atlanta, produced 71 graduates who applied to medical school. This was the sixth most of any undergraduate institution in the nation.
Florida A&M University, Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, and Morehouse College in Atlanta were the only other HBCUs that graduated at least 30 students who applied to medical school. Hampton University in Virginia, Prairie View A&M University in Texas, and Tuskegee University in Alabama each had at least 20 graduates who applied to medical school.
Of the nation’s predominantly White colleges and universities, the University of Florida tops the list. In the 2017-18 academic year, 87 Black graduates of the University of Florida applied to medical school. The University of South Florida was second with 77 Black graduates who applied to medical school.
Six other predominantly White undergraduate institutions graduated more than 50 Black students who applied to medical school. They are Georgia State University, the University of Texas at Austin, Rutgers University in New Jersey, the University of Georgia, Florida State University, and Cornell University.
It’s great that the students applied, but which schools’ students did the best as far as ADMISSION to med school?
There’s an old adage “it’s not how you start but how you finish that matters.” Although Howard University may lead in producing more medical school applicants, Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) CONSISTENTLY produces the MOST BLACK medical school graduates. To further clarify, that is more than any other HBCU or PWI, according to AAMC data. Thus, the TOP FEEDER undergraduate institution of BLACK medical school graduates is XULA, not Howard, Harvard, Yale, yada yada! The TRUTH hurts but the NUMBERS NEVER LIE. #FACTS
Best,
“X-Man”
Excellent point. Its not the rate of application that I’m looking for but the rate of acceptance. Can you post that link????
DAF, what you are implying is that although Howard send more to medical school, more of them don’t finish relative to Xavier. Can you please provide some empirical data that supports your argument?
I don’t think the point of DAF’s note was clear. I think he is making a statement about the percentage of students that apply to medical school and get accepted somewhere. I am sure that Howard students do excellently once in medical school. But, as DAF noted, the numbers don’t lie:
The following data was obtained for the 2020-2021 application year:
# of Howard students that APPLIED to medical school: 5,044
# of Howard students that were accepted into one or more medical schools: 192
The following data was obtained for the 2018-2019 application year:
# of Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) students that APPLIED to medical school: 66
# of XULA students that were accepted into one or more medical schools: 83
So though Howard gets more acceptances, XU gets better bang for their buck – 80% is a good rate of acceptance into medical school for ANY university!
Sources: Web search
Howard:
For academic year 2020-2021, total 5,044 students have applied to Howard University College of Medicine and 192 students have accepted to get into the school. Among the admitted students, 119 students have enrolled into the school.
Howard University College of Medicine – College Tuition …
XULA:
Is Xavier a good medical school?
Xavier University is extremely proud that over the past five years, approximately 80% of our students who applied to medical school were accepted, compared to 44% nationally. The 2015 graduating class enjoyed a 86% acceptance rate to allopathic and osteopathic medical schools.
For a number of years, Xavier has been a leader nationally in placing African-American students into medical school. And, Xavier continues to do well as evidenced by the fact that 66 Xavier students have been accepted into medical, dental, veterinary, optometry, podiatry, etc. school for entry in the fall of 2018.
For a number of years, Xavier has been a leader nationally in placing African-American students into medical school. And, Xavier continues to do well as evidenced by the fact that 66 Xavier students have been accepted into medical, dental, veterinary, optometry, podiatry, etc. school for entry in the fall of 2018.
It’s great that the students applied,
It’s inspiring to see which undergraduate institutions are fostering the path to medical school for Black students. Knowledge is power!
Great info thanks
Thank you for this great post! I learned a lot.