Wednesday, June 09, 2010
New medical school picks its first class
The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine has 42 students lined up to start classes on Aug. 2.
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The inaugural class for Roanoke's new medical school has been selected, and there is a waiting list of more than 50 other students.
The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine has accepted 42 students to its first class.
School officials offered the first glimpse of the class Tuesday, sharing a few statistics on the student population but cautioning that the official class makeup won't be known until classes begin Aug. 2. Between now and then, students could be taken off other waiting lists and choose to attend a different school even if they have already committed to coming to VTC.
"We have assembled an amazing class of students with the intelligence and personal characteristics to truly be our nation's physician thought leaders," said the school's dean, Dr. Cynda Johnson.
About one-third of the students are Virginia residents, which was also the case for the total applicant pool, said Steve Workman, the director of admissions.
Another third of the students come from the region, including Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The remaining third come from the rest of the nation, Workman said.
The geographic diversity is also represented in the undergraduate programs the students attended. Many went to Virginia schools including Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary and Washington and Lee University. Others came from nationally known institutions Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, the University of Michigan and Harvard University.
With the school's stated focus on medical research, 18 percent of the students have done original research or have been published. Seventy percent of the class has some scientific research experience.
In looking for people who have experience in research, the school attracted many students who already have a graduate degree. Roughly two-thirds of the class are either just finishing undergraduate school or are under 25 years old. The other third is older and into their early 30s, Workman said.
Scores for the Medical College Admissions Test for accepted students range from 30 to 42. The average score for the class is 33, which is slightly above the national average score of 30, Workman said.
With a female dean, there was a particular interest in attracting female students, but only a third of the first class will be women.
Many of the "top notch" female candidates that VTC accepted chose to go elsewhere, Johnson said. Of the acceptances handed out, slightly more than 50 percent were given to females.
"We hope to grow a larger percentage of women in the future and that will be one of our challenges," Workman said.
"That might be a niche for us to really work on, to identify these women to make sure they are applying to med school and to make sure they are considering us," Johnson said.
Recruiting efforts for the school's second class have already begun.
Even though classes begin in August, some students are already making their way to Roanoke.
Robert Brown, a 2004 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is one of the 42 students. He moved to Roanoke over the weekend, hoping to spend the next couple of months shadowing doctors at Carilion Clinic and getting acquainted with the city.
"I think the biggest thing was I was looking for the most rigorous program I could find," Brown, 27, said of his reasons for attending VTC. "And really, hands down, there was no competition to the one here."
Other students are also coming to town early to begin their research, Workman said. The school is helping the students make connections with labs and resources at Virginia Tech this summer.
