Tuition-free medical school deluged with applicants

At Harvard Medical School, there were 40.2 applicants for every open slot. At Yale University School of Medicine, faculty members accepted one student in 50.2, and Duke University School of Medicine admitted one in 53 prospective students. Then, there's the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. For its first class, it got 67.5 applicants for every open slot.

So, why is an as-yet unknown medical school in central Florida attracting such attention from first-rate students with high GPAs and MCAT scores yet? Actually, there are 160,000 reasons. UCF is taking the unprecedented step of offering accepted students $40,000 per year for four years to the 40 students admitted to its program. As of early September, the school had received more than 2,700 applicants for those 40 slots, small wonder given that most prospective doctors will graduate with average debt levels of about $140,000.

The scholarship was spearheaded by Dr. Deborah German, UCF College of Medicine's dean. Dr. German, who received a full scholarship to Harvard, wanted other students to have the advantage she had, so she fought to build a fund that could cover all incomings. After a long period of relentless fundraising, Dr. German pulled together $7 million in scholarship funds. Students will receive $20,000 per year for tuition and $20,000 for personal expenses.

To learn more about UCF's scholarship program:
- read this AMNews piece

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