New York is one of the top states for pursuing a rewarding and successful career in the medical field. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, New York has the greatest number of medical schools of any state, surpassing even the state of California.
New York is home to many of the nation’s most prestigious medical schools, offering both a comprehensive education as well as access to top affiliate hospitals. Additionally, many of the nation’s leading doctors, surgeons, and medical scholars not only practice throughout the state of New York, they also simultaneously teach in major universities.
For the following list, we are ranking the schools based on each school’s placement in the US News Medical Schools – Research list. While the top nine schools are included in the US News list, the writers at College Gazette appointed the 10th place school based on editorial opinion.
Without further ado, here are the 10 best medical schools in the entire state of New York.
10. New York Medical College (Valhalla, NY)
Founded in 1860, New York Medical College today is situated on a 600-acre campus shared with two affiliate medical centers, the Westchester Medical Center as well as the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital. Approximately 12,000 people call themselves alumni of this prestigious school.
Outside of the aforementioned two medical centers, NYMC maintains an affiliation with over a dozen more centers throughout New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and even West Virginia.
NYMC is selective, taking just one out of every ten applicants who apply. Students who apply are typically expected to have a GPA in the area of 3.6 and an MCAT in the 90th percentile (approximately 510 and higher).
New York Medical College offers attendees the opportunity to study abroad in countries like Korea, Japan, and Israel, allowing them to achieve multicultural knowledge and sensitivity to different healthcare systems worldwide.
9. University of Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (Buffalo, NY)
Founded in 1846, the University of Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine is among the country’s oldest and most established medical schools. Additionally, with friendly in-state and out-of-state tuition, Buffalo’s medical school is a great option for students looking to mitigate student loan debt.
Unlike many other medical schools, the Jacobs School of Medicine does not operate an independently owned medical center. Rather, UB students have access to affiliated Buffalo-based hospitals, including the Buffalo General Medical Center, John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital, and the Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital.
While pursuing a medical degree at the University of Buffalo, students find themselves winning significant recognition from top academic journals. They include one Natalia Quade, who has recently won Paper of the Year by the American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology.
Buffalo’s medical school acceptance rate is 9.5%, meaning it accepts less than 1 in 10 of all applicants who apply.
8. Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell (Hempstead, NY)
Zucker School of Medicine may not be as old as some other schools on this list, having been established less than 15 years ago in 2008, yet it is recognized among the top 10 medical schools in the state of New York. Zucker is among the relatively few schools offering a “4+4” dual-degree program. In the 4+4 program, undergraduate students earning a BA or BS degree at Hofstra can automatically enroll into the medical school for graduate studies.
Zucker School of Medicine is named after its major donor, Donald and Barbara Zucker, who gave an unprecedented $61 million to the medical school in 2017. This gift created a $50 million scholarship fund for medical students as well as the “Emerging Scientists Program” at the associated Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research.
Speaking of the Feinstein Institutes, much of the medical school’s research is carried out at this affiliated program. With over 5,000 researchers & staff, the Feinstein Institutes publishes 1,300+ medical papers a year.
Admission into the Zucker School of Medicine is competitive, with the average acceptance rate just 7%. The average MCAT is 515, and the typical GPA is 3.7, which is an “A” average.
7. Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine (Stony Brook, NY)
According to US News, Stony Brook’s Renaissance School of Medicine is the top public medical school in the state of New York, making it a desirable – and relatively more affordable – option for in-state students seeking a high-quality medical education.
Renaissance School of Medicine is an important medical school, having advanced scientific and medical growth through $90 million of annual research funding. Some of the school’s most important discoveries historically include finding the cause of lyme disease, creating technology that ultimately led to the creation of the MRI, and advancements in PET scan technology.
Students at Stony Brook gain intensive, 1-on-1 experience working with the school’s own hospital, the Stony Brook University Hospital. US News ranked Stony Brook’s medical facility as the 10th best hospital in all of New York.
Renaissance Medical School is an evolving institution not resting on its past laurels and accomplishments. To that end, the size of the faculty has increased by over 22% in the last five years. In the same time period, 15 additional endowed chairs have been added.
6. Albert Einstein College of Medicine (New York, NY)
A constituent of the Montefiore Health System, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is based in New York City’s Bronx neighborhood. Incepted nearly 70 years ago in 1953, today Albert Einstein is ranked by one publication as a top-15 medical school in the entire country.
Acceptance to Albert Einstein is intense, with admissions standards rivaling even that of the Ivy League medical schools. For its class of 2020, Albert Einstein received 8,077 applicants, enrolling just 183 of them.
Several unique programs exist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. One such program is the Medical Scientist Training Program, part of the Graduate Division of Biomedical Sciences. This intensive program, which takes nearly 6 years to complete, requires approximately four scientific papers for graduation. The school’s prestigious alumni speak for themselves, with this department having graduated 5 National Academy of Science Members.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine is affiliated with the Montefiore Health System, a healthcare conglomerate that includes 15 member hospitals serving millions of people.
5. University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (Rochester, NY)
Founded in 1925, the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry today is situated within the 4,000,000 square foot University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). This medical school is ranked in the top-35 of all medical schools in the country by US News.
What makes the University of Rochester School of Medicine stand out among other medical schools is its implementation of the biopsychosocial educational model. This model takes into consideration the “whole” patient, analyzing pain and disease through a physiological, mental, and social model. This educational model was, in fact, incepted at the University of Rochester by famed psychiatrist George Engel, who spent almost his entire career with the university.
Research is at the heart of the Rochester experience, with the last five years seeing nearly $1.2 billion in funding for biomedical funding. Additionally, for students who seriously see research as an integral part of their future career, Rochester offers the Academic Research Track (ART), a program comprising funded seminars and mentorship with dedicated faculty.
4. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, NY)
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is a private medical school in New York City that, in 2018, won more neuroscience research funding from the National Institutes of Health than any other medical school. Among all medical departments, Icahn received nearly $413 million in research funding in 2020.
Acceptance into the Icahn School of Medicine is extremely competitive, which is expected with any highly-ranked east coast medical school. Typical admitted applicants have a GPA of 3.84 with an average MCAT score of 519. Additionally, the school’s acceptance rate is less than 3%.
Few schools can provide a clinical training ground equal to what this school can offer. To that end, Icahn students get clinical experience at any of the eight hospitals in the Mount Sinai Health System. With so many hospitals and a focus on experiential learning, pupils at the Icahn School of Medicine gain a significant variety of training, ultimately studying a variety of specialties before choosing the medical field of their choice.
3. Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University (New York, NY)
The Weill Medical School, a constituent of Cornell University, is one of the most selective medical schools in the world, accepting approximately 100 students per class from a pool of over 6,000 applicants. The selected students are among the most competitive applicants of any medical school, achieving an average MCAT score of 520 and GPA of 3.9. Additionally, Cornell holds the 11th place spot on the US News Best Medical Schools ranking nationally.
The medical centers affiliated with the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medicine Sciences are among the most well-known hospitals in the entire country. They include the Memorial Sloan Kettering Center, the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and the Hospital for Special Surgery.
Weill Cornell is home to the Center for Global Health, a program where students gain international experience working in Haiti, Tanzania, and other countries. Throughout the program’s history, Weill Cornell has been responsible for helping lower the HIV rate of Haiti’s general population.
All students who qualify for financial-aid are guaranteed to graduate without debt, according to this 2019 New York Times article.
2. Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (New York, NY)
In December 2017, esteemed physician and businessman Dr. P Roy Vagelos and his wife Diana Vagelos donated an unprecedented $310 million to Columbia’s medical school, dedicating $150 million of that money towards a scholarship fund. Because of this enormous donation, all accepted students who qualify for financial aid are awarded scholarships instead of student loan debt.
Because of its tremendous reputation and desirable funding package, Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons is among the most selective medical schools, with an acceptance rate of less than 4%.
Faculty members at Columbia’s medical school comprise a lexicon of celebrity doctors, bestselling authors, and medical innovators. They include Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of the eponymous daily television show Dr. Oz, Siddarth Mukharjee, Pulitzer winner in 2011, and Rudolph Leibel, a seminar researcher who discovered the hormone leptin.
Alumni of Columbia’s medical school are among the greatest innovators in healthcare of the 20th and 21st centuries. They include five Nobel Laureates, Allen Whipple, the inventor of the “Whipple Procedure,” and P. Roy Vagelos himself, who was previously the CEO of Merck Pharmaceuticals.
1. New York University Grossman School of Medicine (New York, NY)
New York University Grossman School of Medicine is among the most selective medical schools in the entire world, accepting just 2.5% of all applicants. In 2018, NYU Grossman began offering all students in the MD program full-tuition scholarships, even if they did not qualify for traditional financial aid.
Recently, NYU Grossman evolved their curriculum to better the suit needs of a 21st-century physician. The new curriculum includes 1.5 years of science as well as 2.5 years of hands-on clinical experience. Much of this clinical experience takes place at NYU’s Langone Health, the university’s academic medical center, and a top-10 hospital nationwide.
One of NYU’s most unique facilities is the NYSIM, a 25,000 square foot simulation center where students hone their caregiving skills. Additionally, NYU is home to some 1,300 residents pursuing an incredible 156 medical training programs.
Widely regarded among the very best schools for medicine in the world, NYU is not only the top medical school in New York, it is ranked #4 nationally.
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