The medical school officially welcomed its newest cohort of future physicians, the MD Class of 2030, for Day One at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) in June.
The 86 students who make up WMed’s 13th medical class arrived at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus on Monday, June 29, along with six students who are completing a one-year Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences degree.
The MD Class of 2030 was chosen from a pool of 6,242 applicants. At WMed, the admissions process is comprehensive, in-depth, and seeks to select students who possess strong personal attributes and outstanding pre-medical experiences. The group is academically excellent, boasting an average MCAT score of 513 with scores ranging from 497 to 524, along with an average GPA of 3.81.
“Today represents the culmination of years of hard work and preparation for every one of these new medical students, as well as the beginning of a new phase in their journey to become physicians,” Director of Admissions Val Horwath said. “They already bring so many accomplishments, talents, and qualities to medical school, and we are thrilled to welcome each of them to WMed and Kalamazoo and watch them develop into outstanding future physicians.”
The newest MD class is composed of 41 women and 45 men from 23 states. They range in age from 21 to 34 years old, with an overall average age of 24. Students in the class hail from across the country, including 36 Michigan residents and 11 students and five students from Illinois and Washington, respectively.
With collaboration and teamwork as pillars of our curriculum, this group of students comes to WMed by way of 56 undergraduate institutions where many pursued majors in biology, while other common majors include biochemistry, neuroscience, biomedical engineering, and psychology.
Highly represented undergraduate institutions include the University of Michigan, University of Washington, Michigan State University, and Western Michigan University. Locally, 12 students are from Southwest Michigan, and eight attended an institution with which WMed has a preferred relationship.
The Class of 2030 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 11th 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 the 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 2031.
Students in the Class of 2030 will receive their white coats and be officially welcomed into the medical profession on Friday, October 2, during a White Coat Ceremony at Western Michigan University’s Miller Auditorium. Please visit wmed.edu/whitecoat for more information on the event.