As one of the Ivy League schools, Yale University has earned its spot among the greatest and most respected institutions of higher learning in the entire world.
It comes as no surprise that the Yale School of Medicine is equally renowned.
Founded in 1810, the Medical Institution of Yale College, Yale Med is one of the nation’s oldest and most prominent medical schools. That reputation was built thanks to the work of the school’s unparalleled faculty.
Over the years, teachers at Yale Med have included 47 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 70 members of the National Academy of Sciences, and 13 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators.
The school uses a ground-breaking method known as the “Yale System.”
According to this approach, the school does not grade or rank its first- and second-year students, allowing them to pursue knowledge without falling into regimented or restricted learning styles.
Before moving on to third-year education, students must participate in seminars and pass qualifying examinations.
Yale Med is equally famous for its facilities. Students gain most of their hands-on training through the Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.
A level-1 adult and pediatric trauma center, Yale New Haven Hospital offers 1,546 total beds, including those in their pediatric and cancer wards.
With these resources, students at Yale Med can work with a wide range of patients. Combined with the school’s famous research facilities and award-winning faculty, it’s no wonder that the Yale School of Medicine is considered to be one of the best in the world.
Yale Medical School Acceptance Rate
The acceptance rate at Yale Medical School is approximately 5%.
Everybody knows that Yale University is one of the best schools globally, famous for its research and outstanding faculty. The Yale School of Medicine is no exception. And as such, it is a very popular school for future doctors.
In 2020, Yale Med received 4,700 applications. Out of that group, only 5.72% were accepted.
To be sure, that’s a very low number. But potential applicants should take heart because it’s not as low as many of Yale’s peers.
For example, the Stanford School of Medicine received 6,800 applications in 2021 and accepted only 153, for a rate of 2.2%. The Baylor College of Medicine accepts 5.3% of its applicants, taking in only 12 of the 402 people who applied in 2021.
When looked at in that light, Yale Med’s rates don’t seem so bad. That’s especially true when you consider the other advantages. 5.72% of 4,700 is 269 students. So while the large majority of those who apply to study at Yale Med will be rejected, hundreds will be accepted into the program.
When put in perspective, one realizes that while admission certainly isn’t a given, it isn’t impossible either. Those who meet the admission requirements (which we’ll discuss shortly) and who make an impression on the acceptance committees will surely get the chance to study at one of the best schools in the world.
Yale Medical School Tuition
Nobody expects medical school to be cheap. To get the extensive training necessary to work on the human body and address the most pressing diseases of our time, students need access to experienced faculty and state-of-the-art resources.
And those things don’t come cheap.
All of those expectations should be doubled for an elite institution like Yale Med. Because it offers the best faculty and resources, it will likely be more expensive than nearly every other medical school.
According to information provided by the school, students studying at Yale Med should plan to pay $72,148 their first year of study, $73,471 in their second year, and $24,841 in their third year.
Without question, that’s a lot of money, but it isn’t out of line for a school of this quality. For example, the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles tells its students to plan for $83,182 in total expenses. At the Stanford School of Medicine, students pay over $62,000 each year.
As expensive as that is, it’s important to remember that these numbers are estimates for the total cost of living.
Tuition at Yale Med is only $42,120 for the first two years (after which it drops to only $14,040). Students can take actions that will lower the overall costs, such as getting a roommate or carpooling to campus.
Yale Medical School Requirements
Although Yale Med does accept hundreds of students every year, it rejects far more. Thousands of students have their applications rejected each year.
While there is nothing anyone can do to guarantee acceptance, there is one thing to do to ensure rejection. And that is this: fail to follow the application requirements.
Every application to Yale Med must include scores from the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). They are designed to assess a student’s readiness for medical school by testing them in subjects that they study in their undergraduate years.
The test features sections devoted to the foundations of behavior, biochemistry, analytical and reasoning skills, and biological systems.
On average, students entering Yale Med score 518 points on the MCAT. The scores tend to break down to a 130 on the chemical and physical sciences section, a 129 on the critical thinking section, a 130 on the biological and biochemical section, and a 130 on the psychological section.
Students must also complete two applications, the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) and the Yale Secondary education. The AMCAS application is required by most medical schools in the country, but the Yale secondary application is unique to the university. In it, students will answer essay questions about diversity and patient care.
Finally, students must also submit letters of recommendation. These letters will help the student make an impression on acceptance counselors, even if one’s grades and scores do not meet minimum standards.
Yale Medical School Notable Alumni
Not only does Yale have one of the most famous medical schools in the world, but it also has one of the highest-ranked. Part of that high ranking comes from the outstanding alumni who have trained at the school.
After earning his Ph.D. from the Yale School of Medicine in 2001, Nenad Šestan returned to the school to be a professor of neuroscience, comparative medicine, and genetics. Dr. Šestan has received attention from the New York Times and the journal Nature. The latter included Dr. Šestan on their list of the ten most important people in science.
Farzad Mostashari earned an M.D. from Yale Med in 1996, before moving on to earn additional advanced degrees from Harvard. Dr. Mostashari founded the company Aledade, which provides support to primary care centers around the world, for whom he still serves as CEO. Dr. Mostashari has also worked with the Centers for Disease Control’s Epidemiological Intelligence Service and the New York City Department of Health.
Before becoming the former United States Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2009, Howard Kyongju Koh graduated from Yale Med in 1977.
Throughout his career, Koh has earned many accolades, such as the Drs. Jack E. White/LaSalle D. Leffall Cancer Prevention Award from the American Association for Cancer Research and the Intercultural Cancer Council, the Distinguished Service Award from the American Cancer Society, and the Dr. Harold P. Freeman Lectureship Award.
Yale Medical School Ranking
Yale University is one of the oldest and most respected institutions of higher learning in the United States, so it should come as no surprise that its medical school would be equally esteemed.
According to nearly every observing outlet in the world, the Yale School of Medicine is an excellent institution.
It earns that praise thanks to its outstanding faculty, its enormous contributions to scholarly research, and its world-renowned alumni.
The most respected of these outlets is U.S. News & World Report, a current events magazine that has become famous for its annual ranking lists. U.S. News has earned the trust of the higher education world due to its comprehensive evaluation criteria and its thorough research.
According to its findings, U.S. News ranks Yale Med as the tenth best school in the country for medical research. This ranking puts the school above the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota and the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.
The magazine also places Yale Med in 9th place for obstetrics and gynecology, 8th place for radiology, and 1st place for psychiatry.
Unsurprisingly, Yale Med does just as well on a global scale. According to the worldwide ranking outlet topuniversities.com Yale has the eighth-best medical school in the world, coming in above UCL Bloomsbury in London and Imperial College London.
Topuniversities.com gives Yale Med special recognition for its reputation in the academic world, for its low student-to-faculty ratio, and its reputation as an employer.
Should You Attend Yale Medical School?
It’s hard to imagine any serious medical student who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to study at the Yale University School of Medicine. After all, it’s part of one of the most respected Ivy League schools in the nation and has a long history of training excellent physicians.
The work done by students, faculty, and researchers at Yale Med has improved the lives of millions across the world.
But with that prestige comes a significant challenge. As we’ve seen, thousands of future doctors apply to be accepted into Yale Med, and only a tiny percentage of that group actually make it in. Those lucky few who are given offers of education have worked hard for the honor, turning in near-perfect grades in their undergrad classes and untouchable scores on the MCAT.
Once they’re accepted into Yale, the work doesn’t stop. As one of the best schools in the nation, Yale Med demands excellence from its students, giving them room to be creative (thanks to the “Yale method”), while still expecting excellent exam scores and engagement in seminars.
For many, those demands are simply too high. And fortunately, there are many other medical schools across the country for anyone who does not want to live up to such rigorous standards.
But for those who can meet the challenge, there are few greater honors than being counted among the students at the Yale University School of Medicine.
