Top Feeders to Medical School
Updated December 2022
Earning an excellent GPA in a rigorous, usually science-based major and scoring well on the MCATs are prerequisites to earning a spot in any American medical school. Those seeking a spot in the nation’s most selective medical programs need to meet that criteria AND bring other compelling factors to the table. One such factor can be the prestige of your undergraduate college. While attending an elite undergraduate school is not a prerequisite for gaining acceptance into an elite medical school, it certainly can help, as our analysis demonstrates. This leads us to the Top Feeders to Medical School.
The two lists that follow showcase the top 30 “feeder” schools into the most highly-ranked MD programs. On the first list, for each school, we look at the raw number of students who go on to attend elite MD programs, as well as the two MD programs enrolling the most graduates from that undergraduate school. The second list looks at the top 30 producers when adjusted for a school’s undergraduate enrollment, which allows us to highlight schools that may be smaller in size, but that still send a consistent flow of graduates to the world’s premier medical schools.
In order to identify "top feeder” colleges, we relied on publicly available data from LinkedIn, a professional networking site featuring profiles of approximately 170 million workers across the United States. Specifically, we identified and analyzed the undergraduate backgrounds of more than 27,300 individuals who enrolled at twenty five of America’s most reputable MD programs, including those at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania (Perelman), New York University (Grossman), Stanford University, Columbia University, Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, UCLA (Geffen), University of California-San Francisco, Washington University, Cornell University (Weill), Duke University, University of Washington, University of Pittsburgh, University of Michigan, Yale University, University of Chicago (Pritzker), Northwestern University (Feinberg), Vanderbilt University, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, University of California at San Diego, Baylor College of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Case Western Reserve University, and Emory University.
Top Feeder Rankings (by total graduates enrolled)
Rank (Total) | Institution | #MD Graduates | Top Med School (#1) | Top Med School (#2) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Harvard University | 1742 | Harvard Medical School | Yale University School of Medicine |
2 | Stanford University | 1269 | Stanford University School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
3 | Columbia University | 998 | Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons | Harvard Medical School |
4 | Yale University | 991 | Harvard Medical School | Yale University School of Medicine |
5 | University of Michigan | 863 | University of Michigan Medical School | Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine |
6 | Northwestern University | 811 | Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine | Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis |
7 | University of California, Berkeley | 769 | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA | University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine |
8 | University of Pennsylvania | 698 | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
9 | Duke University | 694 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
10 | University of California, Los Angeles | 669 | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA | University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine |
11 | Cornell University | 664 | Weill Medical College of Cornell University | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
12 | New York University | 630 | New York University School of Medicine | Weill Medical College of Cornell University |
13 | Johns Hopkins University | 599 | The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
14 | Princeton University | 563 | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
15 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 534 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine | Vanderbilt University School of Medicine |
16 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 439 | Harvard Medical School | Stanford University School of Medicine |
17 | Brown University | 419 | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | Yale University School of Medicine |
18 | Washington University in St. Louis | 402 | Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis | Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine |
19 | Dartmouth College | 396 | Harvard Medical School | Weill Medical College of Cornell University |
20 | University of Washington | 360 | University of Washington - School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
21 | Emory University | 356 | Emory University School of Medicine | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine |
22 | University of California, San Diego | 301 | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA | University of California, San Diego - School of Medicine |
23 | Rice University | 300 | Baylor College of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
24 | University of Texas at Austin | 298 | Baylor College of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
25 | Vanderbilt University | 283 | Vanderbilt University School of Medicine | Emory University School of Medicine |
26 | University of Notre Dame | 259 | Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine | University of Michigan Medical School |
27 | Case Western Reserve University | 247 | Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine | Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis |
28 | University of Chicago | 244 | The University of Chicago Prtizker School of Medicine | Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine |
29 | University of PIttsburgh | 189 | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
29 | University of Virginia | 189 | Emory University School of Medicine | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
Top Feeder Rankings (adjusted for undergraduate enrollment)
Rank (Total) | Institution | #MD Graduates | Top Med School (#1) | Top Med School (#2) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Stanford University | 1269 | Stanford University School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
2 | Harvard University | 1742 | Harvard Medical School | Yale University School of Medicine |
3 | Yale University | 991 | Harvard Medical School | Yale University School of Medicine |
4 | Columbia University | 998 | Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons | Harvard Medical School |
5 | Duke University | 694 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
6 | Princeton University | 563 | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
7 | Johns Hopkins University | 599 | The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
8 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 439 | Harvard Medical School | Stanford University School of Medicine |
9 | Amherst College | 176 | Harvard Medical School | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
10 | Northwestern University | 811 | Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine | Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis |
11 | California Institute of Technology | 85 | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA | University of California, San Diego - School of Medicine |
12 | Dartmouth College | 396 | Harvard Medical School | Weill Medical College of Cornell University |
13 | Haverford College | 106 | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
14 | Williams College | 166 | Harvard Medical School | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
15 | Swarthmore College | 118 | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
16 | Rice University | 300 | Baylor College of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
17 | Pomona College | 115 | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA | University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine |
18 | Brown University | 419 | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | Yale University School of Medicine |
19 | Davidson College | 109 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine | Emory University School of Medicine |
20 | University of Pennsylvania | 698 | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
21 | Washington University in St. Louis | 402 | Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis | Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine |
22 | Emory University | 356 | Emory University School of Medicine | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine |
23 | Case Western Reserve University | 247 | Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine | Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis |
24 | Cornell University | 664 | Weill Medical College of Cornell University | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
25 | Vanderbilt University | 283 | Vanderbilt University School of Medicine | Emory University School of Medicine |
26 | Bowdoin College | 259 | Harvard Medical School | Emory University School of Medicine |
27 | University of Chicago | 244 | The University of Chicago Prtizker School of Medicine | Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine |
28 | Wellesley College | 93 | Yale University School of Medicine | Harvard Medical School |
29 | Wesleyan University | 107 | Weill Medical College of Cornell University | Yale University School of Medicine |
30 | Oberlin College | 90 | Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine |
Does institutional selectivity matter?
When applying to medical school, yes, it appears that institutional selectivity does in fact play a role. In our sample, of the students who went on to enroll at America’s best MD programs, approximately 63% graduated from colleges categorized as “Most Selective” or “Extremely Selective.” Only 17% of elite medical school students in our sample graduated from schools indicated as minimally selective or non-selective. Click here to see how we group colleges by selectivity.


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