Los Angeles (LA) is home to a number of the country’s best medical schools. Besides the quality education at these schools, LA is also attractive for its beaches, sunshine, culture, excitement, and so many more.
If you’re interested in attending a medical school in LA and have no idea where to start looking, we have three schools that could be a good fit for you.
Keck School of Medicine at USC
This is a premium school that trains leaders in biomedical research and patient care. They provide health care to the community, which further confirms its prestigious profile as a medical school.
The Keck School has served a lot of patients every year and is connected to the Keck Hospital of USC, USC Medical Centre, USC Norris Cancer hospital, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and USC Verdugo Hills. This leaves the students with ample opportunities for residency and practical knowledge.
This school includes the course, Introduction to Clinical Medicine, for first-year students, which allowed them to experience patient care from the start of their MD program journey, which is beneficial in becoming a physician.
The common programs offered are:
- Traditional MD Program
- MD/Ph.D. Program (Physician Scientist Training Program)
- Doctor of Medicine / Master of Business Administration
- Doctor of Medicine / Master of Public Health
You can specialize in:
- Public health
- Medical scientist
- Physician Assistant
- Medicine
- Nurse anesthetist
- Biostatistics
- Bioinformatics
- Microbiology and immunology
- Biomedical sciences and molecular medicine
- Health professions and related clinical sciences
The school can give students almost any kind of medical degree. Both the school and students have unlimited access to leading health technology. The MD curriculum has been worked to give students the knowledge and skills to prepare them for any specialty they choose.
You must have a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent. International applicants must have a degree considered as a US bachelor’s degree as checked by the USC Office of Graduate and International Admissions.
Other admission requirements are as follows:
- AMCAS application
- Supplemental application
- MCAT scores
- Letters of recommendation
The Keck School does not have specific course requirements, however, they recommend you to have statistics and Spanish. Strong applicants will show capability in their chosen field and have a strong application. Check their website for more information.
This school has an acceptance of 2.3%, so make sure your application is tip-top!
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
The David Geffen School of Medicine is one of the best medical schools in LA. The school intends to prepare its students for medical careers in research, public service, and teaching.
This school gives students an amazing opportunity to gain real-world medical experience alongside their clinical knowledge. This is done through volunteering with the mobile clinic and homeless clinic projects, providing free healthcare.
UCLA also offers medical help at the annual Care Harbor Clinic, where students can give solutions to minor issues, which gives them a deeper look into healthcare for the underprivileged.
Apart from the MD degree program, there are three main degree programs offered here:
- Medical Scientist Training Program (MTSP). This is learning and being educated on biomedical services, and it takes 8 years to finish both degrees. The 8 years are made up of 2 years of med school, 4 years of Ph.D. graduate training, and finishing the 2 years of med school.
- UCLA/PRIME. This dual-degree program is on medical education and takes 5 years to complete. It is directed towards developing leaders in the medical field who will address research and medical policy for the underprivileged. This program gives you an MD and Master’s.
- UCLA/Charles R. Drew Medical Education Program. This course focuses on community engagement to provide students the medical training to become physicians and healthcare leaders. It also allows students to have a hand in changing the health of underserved and diverse communities. The program allows you to matriculate with DSGM and complete 2 years of coursework on the UCLA site.
The medical curriculum will have your first two years of learning through lectures. This includes learning the foundations of medicine, cardiovascular, renal and respiratory, gastrointestinal, endocrine, reproductive, neuroscience, and musculoskeletal. Aside from classroom learning, you will also learn doctoring and clinical skills.
Admission requirements are as follows:
- Apply through the AMCAS
- MCAT scores
- Letters of recommendation
- Secondary application with essays
- AP credit is accepted
- Undergraduate record
DSGM does not require minimum coursework, but they do advise you have some knowledge in biological sciences and physiology, chemistry, biochemistry and physics, humanities, mathematics, writing skills, healthcare delivery, and clinical experiences.
The acceptance rate of UCLA is 2.2%, which is very competitive.
Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science
The Drew University of Medicine and Science has been formed by the community needs that it aims to serve. This is the main focus of the school. The college is found in the Watts-Willowbrook section of South Los Angeles, where it benefits from the diversity of the population around it. This creates a favorable academic environment.
CDU gives you education on patient care through basic science, research programs, and allied health professionals who take you through the motions to provide care for under-served communities.
They also thrive on maintaining and expanding relationships with research institutions, local medical schools, and community organizations, which help them provide even more access and delivery of professional healthcare services to the underprivileged.
Through this work at CDU, students understand the health differences/problems and social justice in the healthcare system.
Charles Drew offers a wide variety of degree programs through their colleges. The College of Medicine provides the following programs:
- Radiologic technology
- Radiologic science
- Biomedical science
- Public health (BSPH)
- Psychology in community counseling
- Master of public health (MPH) in urban health inequalities
- PA program
The main attention of the university are usually the training, education, and treatment of diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and cardiometabolic diseases.
Admission requirements:
- First-year students need a year of high school lab sciences in chemistry or biology, or physics
- Transfer students need completion of introductory chemistry + introductory biology or equivalent
- Application for Undergraduate Studies
- Minimum GPA of 2.5
- National test scores (SAT or ACT)
- Completion of English and math placement exams
- High school diploma
- Official transcript from all post-secondary schools attended
You can read the detailed list of the admissions process/requirements on their website.
More than 70% of their graduates are from underrepresented backgrounds. This shows that the school focuses on providing opportunities to those who feel unrecognized.
In this way, their classes usually have less than 30 students each. The low ratio of students provides a personalized experience, which is important in deciding your choice of medical school in LA.
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Verosha has been involved in creating content in the healthcare niche for 3 years. She has produced various articles dealing with healthcare, from medications to health careers and education. She devotes her time into producing quality articles that will help people improve their health choices. Verosha lives in the sunny city of Durban, South Africa.