The medical school’s 11th class of future physicians – the MD Class of 2028 – officially arrived for Day One at WMed on Monday, July 8.
The 86 students were welcomed to the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus along with six students who are completing a one-year Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences degree.
The MD Class of 2028 was chosen from a pool of 4,319 applicants, an increase of 5% percent over last year. The diverse cohort boasts an average MCAT score of 513 with scores ranging from 499 to 525 along with an average GPA of 3.81.
"We’re excited to welcome these new students to our medical school family,” said Maria Sheakley, PhD, associate dean for Student Affairs. “We will be here to support them every step of the way as they grow as learners and make a difference for our patients and the community.”
The newest MD class is composed of 43 women and 43 men from 18 states. They range in age from 21 years old to 31 years old with an overall average age of 24. 37 students are Michigan residents with 13 students hailing from California, the second highest represented state.
With collaboration and teamwork as a pillar of our curriculum, this group of students comes to WMed by way of 49 undergraduate institutions where they pursued majors that include biology and chemistry, as well as economics, Latin, music, and Spanish, among others. Approximately 7 percent hold advanced degrees and almost 31 percent are fluent in at least one additional language.
Highly represented undergraduate institutions include University of Michigan Ann Arbor, University of California-Los Angeles, and Western Michigan University. Locally, 12 students are from Southwest Michigan and nine attended an institution with which WMed has a preferred relationship.
At WMed, the admissions process recognizes the importance of diversity and seeks students who bring strengths in academics, personal attributes, and pre-medical experiences. Institutionally, we seek students who will reflect the diversity of the patients we serve.
The Class of 2028 is being joined at the medical school by six students who are pursuing a Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences degree. The master’s degree program, now in its ninth year, is designed specifically for applicants to WMed who have strength in their pre-medical experiences and attributes and would benefit from additional basic science preparation before beginning their pursuit of a MD degree.
The students who are pursuing the Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences degree bring a wide breadth of backgrounds and experiences to the learning environment at WMed. The students, as part of their acceptance to the master’s program, are conditionally accepted to the WMed MD Class of 2029.
Meanwhile, students in the Class of 2028 will receive their white coats and be officially welcomed into the medical profession on Friday, September 6, during a White Coat Ceremony at Chenery Auditorium. Please visit https://wmed.edu/whitecoat for more information.