Medical Schools in Georgia

The state of Georgia is home to 178 colleges and universities, but only four institutions have medical schools that offer a Doctor of Medicine degree. Three of the schools are private and one is public.

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Emory University School of Medicine

Emory University Healthcare — Jessica McGowan / Stringer / Getty Images

The Emory University School of Medicine ranks among the top 25 medical schools in the United States in U.S. News & World Report. The school wins high marks for both research and primary care. Emory's Atlanta location allows for a wide range of clinical experiences through Emory Healthcare as well as three affiliated hospital systems: the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Grady Memorial Hospital, and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. MD students also gain experience helping underserved communities in the Atlanta region through programs such as the Urban Health Initiative.

The size of Emory's School of Medicine gives students a huge range of options for shaping their educations. The school has close to 3,000 faculty members teaching and practicing in more than 25 medical disciplines. Specialties include emergency medicine, biomedical informatics, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, human genetics, and pathology. Students also have the option of numerous dual degree programs that combine an MD with a Ph.D. in research, MA in bioethics, master's in public health, MBA, or MSc in clinical research.

Admission is highly selective. The MD program receives over 10,000 applicants each year for an incoming class of just 138 medical students. Along with strong grades, relevant coursework, and high MCAT scores, successful applicants almost always have experience working with patients and doctors through shadowing programs or volunteer work.

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Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University

Georgia's only public medical school, the Medical College of Georgia's main campus is located at Augusta University, with another four-year campus in Athens that partners with the University of Georgia. The school has another three regional campuses as well as connections to roughly 350 sites across the state where students can gain clinical experience at facilities ranging from large hospitals to rural practices. The MCG is also home to five centers and institutes: Georgia Cancer Center, Georgia Prevention Institute, Center for Healthy Aging, Vascular Biology Center, and Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine.

MCG takes pride in serving the state of Georgia. Nearly half of graduates stay in the state to practice medicine, and the school graduates more physicians than any of the other medical schools on this list. Admission is selective, with over 3,100 applicants vying for 230 seats. Successful applicants had an average college GPA of 3.8 and an average MCAT score of 511. A total of 95% of the students are Georgia residents.

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Mercer University School of Medicine

Mercer University Law School. Alexdi / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0

The Mercer University School of Medicine has a main campus in Macon, a four-year MD program in Savannah in partnership with Memorial Health, and a clinical campus in Columbus where third- and fourth-year students can study at the Midtown Medical Center. At all campuses, the curriculum is designed to train physicians to attend to the medical needs of underserved populations in the state. The school believes in providing students with a broad education, and all third-year students complete six clerkships that span surgery, family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, and internal medicine. In the fourth year, all students complete a clerkship in community medicine as well as two clerkships chosen from critical care, emergency medicine, and geriatric/palliative care.

All MUSM applicants must be legal residents of Georgia. For the class of 2022, MUSM received 1,132 applicants, from which 281 were interviewed to arrive at an incoming class of 122 MD students. The school has a rolling admissions process, so applying early is a good idea. Over 60% of graduates practice in Georgia, and the great majority work in rural or underserved areas of the state.

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Morehouse School of Medicine

Morehouse College, one of the nation's top historically Black colleges, is home to the Morehouse School of Medicine. Located in Atlanta, the school is affiliated with Grady Memorial Hospital. MSM is home to several research centers and institutes including The Center of Excellence on Health Disparities, National Center for Primary Care, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Prevention Research Center, and Satcher Health Leadership Institute.

Part of the school's mission focuses on recruiting and training students from economically or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds, and the school takes pride in its efforts to increase the diversity of the medical profession. The school's 10-week APEX program helps prospective applicants gain the skills to put together a successful medical school application. MSM's MD program received roughly 5,000 applications for 70+ seats in the first-year class. Applicants have an average college GPA of about 3.5.