U.S. News Ranks UAMS College of Medicine Second Most Popular School to Attend

By Spencer Watson

In 2013, the school enrolled 171 of the 205 first-year students it accepted, for a yield rate of 83.4 percent. The national average yield, according to the report, is 52.8 percent.

“For such a large majority of first-year students we accept to choose to enroll at UAMS, as opposed to other schools to which they applied and were accepted, means we have a student population that is very eager to be here,” said G. Richard Smith, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine.

The U.S. News Short List, published in May, is based on self-reported data from 112 medical schools across the country and was collected in 2013 as part of the publication’s annual survey of 153 schools. From that data, institutions are ranked in several categories such as research and primary care. UAMS and Harvard University were specifically highlighted in the report for improvement of their enrollment yield rates.

The University of Kansas Medical Center topped the list for the second straight year, enrolling 211 of its 248 accepted students, or 85.1 percent. The University of Oklahoma ranked third just behind UAMS, enrolling 165 of its 199 accepted students for a yield rate of 82.9 percent. The lowest rate among schools surveyed was Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, which enrolled only 30.1 percent of students accepted.

“Certainly, as an academic institution, we want to be well above average,” Smith said. “To be ranked among the top 10 medical schools in the country in a measure of student choice is fantastic.”

Harvard, which ranked ninth on the list with a yield of 76.3 percent, is the only private institution to be ranked among the top 10, the report notes. Largely, the schools with the highest yield of applicants were public institutions with well-established histories. They include: University of New Mexico (80.5 percent), University of Washington (79.4 percent), University of South Dakota Sanford (78.4 percent), University of Utah (77.9 percent), Ohio University (77.5 percent) and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (75 percent).

These schools, the report says, are answering the call of the Association of American Medical Colleges, which in 2006 asked its member schools to improve enrollment rates to meet an expected nationwide physician shortage. In March, the association noted a steady uptick of first-year medical students over the past eight years.

UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.

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