Top U.S. Premed Programs by Size: 24,000 Premeds Can’t Be Wrong?

When you’re searching for a top premed program, you are probably looking for a high-quality program where lots of other students have had great success and gone on to medical school.

Trouble is, that data can be hard to come by.

I did some research this week, and cobbled together some data from AAMC to help you identify the premed programs with the biggest number of students. My theory for this exercise is that if there’s a lot of premeds, then maybe the program is a good one.

Premed Programs by the Numbers: University with Large Premed Populations

Here’s a list of undergraduate schools with the highest number of students who are applying to medical school. Take a look:

Name of University	# Of Medical School Applicants for the 2011 cycle)
University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA	820
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI	774
University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA	754
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL	741
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX	695
University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA	541
Cornell University (2 FICE combined), Ithaca, NY	471
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI	455
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL	449
University of California-Davis, Davis, CA	410
University of Georgia, Athens, GA	404
University of Washington, Seattle, WA	362
University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA	361
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC	360
Texas A & M University-Main Campus, College Station, TX	359
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD	358
Brigham Young University, Provo, UT	356
Duke University, Durham, NC	355
Ohio State University-Main Campus, Columbus, OH	351

(Source: AAMC)

Programs with the most premeds: Crunching the numbers

The top 20 colleges in the list above account for 9,825 out of the total of 43,919 applicants from the 2011 application cycle, or 22 percent. That’s a significant chunk of the total premed population that is tightly concentrated into only a relatively few universities. Further, 89 universities account for 55 percent of the total premed population, as defined by this applicant pool.

Given that there are approximately 2,474 four-year colleges/universities in the United States, and about 11 million college students who attend these schools* , It’s apparent that a large percentage of the total premed population is tightly concentrated into a relatively few # of colleges.

Maybe Yes, Maybe No

So what do you do with these facts? If you feel that you will have greater motivation and that your performance will improve because you will be surrounded by other premeds, then these premed programs are good for you. On the other hand, if you believe that the large number of premeds will create a too-competitive environment, then you may want to carefully consider your choices before you blindly enroll in one of the big producers of premed students.

One final thought: It’s possible, but certainly not guaranteed, that universities with a large premed population have resources available to support them. Do you know how to get into medical school? Learn How to Apply to Medical School Step-by-Step.

*(Source: National Center for Education Statistics)

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