Application submissions at the Fort Worth M.D. school have almost tripled in less than two years

FORT WORTH, Texas (July 21, 2020) – The 60 students who officially became the Class of 2024 recently at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine competed with more than 4,300 candidates to win those prized spots. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, applications for the third class already are exceeding expectations.

When the Fort Worth M.D. school opened up applications for the third class, the Office of Admissions & Enrollment Services received more than 1,700 submissions on the first day. That number is about three times higher than the first day of application submissions for their inaugural class of medical students in 2019 when they received more than 600 applications on the first day.

“It’s a testament to all the hard work we are doing collectively as a school of medicine. Our innovative curriculum makes us a unique program offering for individuals who desire to become physicians.” said Carlos Tapia, the Executive Director of Admissions & Enrollment Operations at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine.

The medical students in the Class of 2024 are from 18 different states within the United States, with 38% of them from Texas. Fifty-Five percent are male and 45% are women. The new students come to the Fort Worth M.D. school from 45 different undergraduate higher education institutions.

“This class definitely has resiliency,” Tapia said. “We learned that we have a lot of folks that have made it their purpose to become a physician and attend medical school despite the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also dynamic in their personal hobbies. We have a surfer, we have artists and competitive athletes so they will fit in with the rest of our student body really well.”

The medical school’s unique private-public partnership between Texas Christian University and the University of North Texas Health Science Center will prepare students to be compassionate physicians, excellent caregivers and prepared to meet the challenges of the rapid advances in medicine.

The curriculum is designed to transform medical education. It does this in several ways by incorporating communications training throughout the entire curriculum, pairing students with patients and physicians from their first day in a Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship, world-class simulation and technology and encourage students to be life-long learners capable of critical inquiry and medical information literacy through their scholarly thesis and pursuit.

Among the new students there is one triple major, 36 undergraduate areas of study and eight areas of graduate studies. Eighty-eight percent of the class self-identifies with one or more of the three school-defined diversity domains, which is a 30% increase the first admission cycle.

“From the onset of our medical school, we challenged ourselves to recruit a diverse class of students that reflects the community they will serve,” Tapia said. “The increase in overall school of medicine diversity, speaks to the commitment we have to our Fort Worth community and beyond.”

Here’s more about the Class of 2024:

• 55% male, 45% female
• Average age of students is 24.
• 100% have Bachelor’s Degrees from 45 higher education institutions.
• 20%, or 12 students have graduate degrees.
• 38% of the Class of 2024 is from Texas. The other states represented are: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
• Average MCAT Score: 509
• Overall Average GPA: 3.67
• 88% of the class self-identifies with one or more of the three school-defined diversity domains:
  • Race/Ethnicity: 24% of the class self-identifies as Black/African-American or Hispanic/Latino
  • 20% of the class identifies with LGBTQ+ community
  • Socio-Economic: 56% of the class represents the first-generation to attend college, attended community college, worked to support the family before the age of 18 or graduated from a rural-designated high school.

The medical students were welcomed into the Fort Worth M.D. School during Welcome Week with activities from July 6-10. The students began their first classes on July 13

About the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine

The TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, Fort Worth’s M.D. school, opened with a class of 60 students in July 2019. TCU and UNTHSC joined together in July 2015 to form this new allopathic medical school. The School of Medicine’s focus on communication, a first-of-its-kind curriculum and the development of Empathetic Scholars^TM uniquely positions the organization to radically transform medical education, improving care for future generations. To make this new school possible, the greater North Texas community stepped up to help, providing philanthropic support. The school’s current Founding Donors include Alcon, Amon G. Carter Foundation, Baylor Scott & White, Cook Children’s, Texas Health Resources, Mr. H. Paul Dorman, Mr. Arnold and Mrs. Harriette Gachman, Dr. John and Mrs. Priscilla Geesbreght, Anonymous, Sid W. Richardson Foundation, Rebecca and Jon Brumley, The Morris Foundation, Martha Sue Parr Trust, Tartaglino Richards Family Foundation, and Thomas M., Helen McKee, John P. Ryan Foundation and an anonymous donor.

Prescotte Stokes III is the Integrated Content and Marketing Manager. You can reach him at p.stokes@tcu.edu