Medical Schools in Florida

Florida is home to 81 colleges and universities that offer graduate programs, but only eight of those institutions have medical schools where you can earn your Doctor of Medicine degree. Here you'll find information about all options for medical school in Florida. All but two are housed within public universities, so tuition will be lower than at many medical schools in the country.

Keep in mind that earning an M.D. is challenging and will typically involve four years of schooling after your bachelor's degree, and then a minimum three years of residency before you can become an independent physician. If you're up for the challenge, the rewards are many. Medicine is a growth field with excellent job prospects, the work is critically important, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, average salaries top $205,000 a year.

of 08

Florida Atlantic University

Located in Boca Raton, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University launched in 2010, and today the college enrolls 64 new medical students each year. The college identifies itself as a community-based medical school working to increase medical services in Florida. The curriculum is "humanistic, high touch, high tech," and the college collaborates with three health systems in Palm Beach Country.

Students in the Schmidt College of Medicine have several degree options: an M.D., Ph.D., joint M.D./Ph.D, M.D./M.B.A., M.D./M.H.A, and other master's/Ph.D. combinations. As a young college, FAU continues to grow both its academic offerings and residency options.

of 08

Florida International University

The Health and Life Sciences Buildings at the FIU College of Medicine.
Comayagua99 / Wikimedia Commons / CA BY 3.0

Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine is located several miles west of downtown Miami. The college is young having first opened its doors in 2009. It became fully accredited in 2013. The Miami location gives FIU medical students clinical and residency opportunities at a wide range of hospitals and health networks in southern Florida.

FIU takes a regional and hands-on approach to health education. Students learn in both traditional classrooms and in the community through household-centered care initiatives. The school's Green Family Foundation Neighborhood Health Education Learning Program allows students to work with patients over time, gain service-learning experience, and put classroom learning into practice.

of 08

Florida State University

Established in 2000, the Florida State University College of Medicine offers both M.D. and Ph.D. degree options. The main campus of the College of Medicine is located on the northeast corner of the FSU main campus in Tallahassee, so students have easy access to all of the academic, athletic, social, and cultural events on a campus of over 40,000 students.

FSU medical students spend their first two years on the Tallahassee campus. In their third and fourth years, students move to one of the college's six regional campuses where they will work with the faculty to complete clerkships and practice family medicine, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, and other specialties. Throughout their four years, students have service learning opportunities both locally and internationally.

of 08

Nova Southeastern University

The youngest medical school in Florida, the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine at Nova Southeastern University (NSU MD) first opened its doors to students in 2018. The college's curriculum emphasizes active learning as medical student interact with patients and work with small cohorts of just seven to eight students. Clinical experience, not the lecture hall, is at the heart of an NSU MD education.

Located on NSU's Fort Lauderdale/Davie campus, will play an important role in serving the medical needs of South Florida, and the campus will soon be home to a 200+ bed Hospital Corporation of American (HCA) teaching and research hospital. NSU MD's affiliation with HCA also provides medical students with locations for clinical rotations along Florida's eastern coast.

of 08

University of Central Florida

Located on UCF's 75-acre health sciences campus, the College of Medicine is another young school—the first class of medical students graduated in 2013. The school has a state-of-the-art 170,000 square foot medical education facility, and students also study at the new 198,000-square-foot Burnett Biomedical Sciences Building located next door. Both buildings are part of the rapidly growing Medical City at Lake Nona. UCF's main campus is 20 miles to the north.

Admission is selective, and applicants need to have a minimum 3.0 GPA and minimum MCAT score of 500. The college will also be looking for applicants who have a proven record of community service, strong leadership skills, and experience shadowing physicians.

of 08

University of Florida

Established in 1956, the University of Florida College of Medicine ranks among the top 20 public medical schools in the country in U.S. News & World Report. The school is a strong research institution with nearly $200 million in annual research funding. Through its 29 departments, the college offers a breadth of medical degree options at both the master's and doctoral levels.

The College of Medicine employs 1,300 faculty members and has a medical student enrollment of 559. Like most strong medical schools, the UF College of Medicine emphasizes active learning, and students gain clinical experiences starting early in the program. The university collaborates with urban, rural, and suburban health facilities throughout Florida.

of 08

University of Miami

The Louis Pope Life Center in Miami.
aimintang / iStock / Getty Images

Founded in 1952, The Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami is the oldest medical school in Florida. It also the school that receives the greatest amount of NIH funding among Florida medical schools. The school's urban location gives students clerkship and residency opportunities at major health care facilities in the region including Jackson Memorial Hospital, VA Medical Centers in Miami and West Palm Beach, University of Miami Hospital, the JFK Medical Center, and others.

The school has a medical student population of over 800, and M.D. students have numerous joint degree program options. They can combine their Doctor of Medicine degree with a master's of public health, Ph.D., M.B.A., J.D, master's in genomic science, and more.

of 08

University of South Florida

The Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation at USF.
FightingRaven531 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

The University of South Florida's Morsani College of Medicine enrolled its first class in 1971, and today is home to over 700 full-time students. The school's Tampa location gives students access to several affiliated medical facilities for clinical and residency opportunities. These include the VAMC in Tampa and Bay Pines, Tampa General Hospital, the Moffitt Cancer Center, and All Children's Hospital.

Students at USF have two pathways leading to their M.D. The can choose the CORE program and spend all four years in Tampa, or they can choose the SELECT program and spend two years in Tampa and then two years in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. The latter program places greater emphasis on medical leadership.