Meharry Medical College is a historically black, private, not-for-profit institution. Founded in 1876 as the medical department of Central Tennessee College, it was acquired by the Nashville Baptist Association in 1902 and became affiliated with Meharry Medical College. Today its mission is to provide quality education leading to excellence in patient care and research through a commitment to community service, cultural diversity, and academic freedom.

Suited in Nashville, Tennessee, Meharry Medical College is one of the nation’s oldest and largest historically black academic health science centers dedicated to educating physicians, dentists, researchers, and health policy experts.

Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, Meharry was the first medical school in the South for African Americans. It was chartered separately in 1915.

Today, Meharry includes a medical school, dental school, graduate school and applied computational sciences school; and is home to the Center for Health Policy at Meharry. The degrees include Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.), Master of Science in Public Health (M.S.P.H.), Master of Science (M.S.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees.

Meharry is a United Methodist Church-affiliated institution. A 2010 study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine ranked Meharry as one of the nation’s top five producers of primary care physicians. Meharry is also a leading producer of African Americans with Ph.Ds. in biomedical sciences.

In addition to providing quality professional health care education, exemplary patient care, and compassionate community outreach, Meharry Medical College produces the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, a public health journal.

Today, Meharry receives over 5,000 applications for admission to the M.D., D.D.S., M.S.P.H., M.S.D.S., M.S.B.D.S., and Ph.D. programs, providing opportunities for people of color, individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, and others, regardless of race or ethnicity, to receive excellent education and training in the health sciences and conduct research that fosters the elimination of health disparities.

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Meharry Medical College School of Medicine MD programs

As a Meharry student there are a variety of programs available to you, all of which ultimately guide you to an MD degree. Most students will select the traditional four-year program that is separated into a two-year preclinical education, during which students will learn the principles of basic sciences, and a two-year clinical rotation curriculum through which students will see and learn from patients in various clinical settings.

In addition to this program, Meharry students may also pursue the following options:

• BS/MD program: This is an eight-year program through which enrolled students will first complete a four-year undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree at one of ten historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), then link into the four-year MD program at Meharry if they complete the necessary requirements and meet the appropriate benchmarks. 
• MD/PhD program: Students interested in a graduate medical education and a graduate research education should consider applying to the MD/PhD program, which is achieved by a partnership between the Medical College and the School of Graduate Studies and Research. These students must meet the separate requirements for both the MD and PhD programs and will apply to the program jointly.  

Meharry Medical College Acceptance Rate

To best understand how likely it is that you’ll get into the medical school of your choice, it’s important to look at the statistics. Meharry does not currently publish its acceptance or interview figures, but based on its high number of applicants, we can estimate its acceptance rate to be quite low, somewhere in the range of 3–4 percent. Here are some numbers for the class of 2024:

• Applications: 7,115
• Matriculants: 115

While Meharry does not make available the GPA and MCAT scores of its most recent successful applicants, in recent years matriculants have had the following statistics:

• Median GPA: 3.47
• Median MCAT: 501

Additionally, Meharry Medical College seeks to select patients from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, given that it is a historically Black medical school. The breakdown of race and ethnicity admissions statistics for the entering class of 2019 is included below:

• White: 13%
• Black or African American: 86%
• Asian: 10%
• Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin: 5%
• Other: 4%

meharry medical college tuition

In 2021–2022, tuition and fees at Meharry Medical College cost $61,132. When taking into account additional costs such as room and board, academic materials, and personal expenses, the total cost of attendance is estimated at $92,134 for the first year. Given that Meharry is a private institution, in-state and out-of-state residents pay the same tuition.

Approximately 90 percent of Meharry Medical College students qualify for financial assistance through either financial aid or institutional scholarships. The Office of Student Financial Aid has an integral role in helping students apply for and receive financial aid.

meharry medical college admission requirements

The admissions selection committee at Meharry Medical College will evaluate candidates across a host of criteria including intelligence, preparedness, motivation, and aptitude. Of note is that students who have been dismissed from other medical schools will not be considered for admission. International applicants will be considered only if they have a permanent resident visa; however, Canadian applicants will receive special consideration. 

To apply to Meharry, you must complete the below list of requirements and achieve an average GPA of at least 3.5 in these required courses in order to be considered a competitive applicant. This will demonstrate that you have a strong premedical foundation that will lead to your likely success as a medical student and future physician.

• General biology or zoology: 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours with lab
• Inorganic chemistry with qualitative analysis: 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours with lab
• Organic chemistry: 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours with lab
• General physics: 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours with lab
• English composition: 6 semester hours or 9 quarter hours
• Biochemistry : 3 semester hours or 5 quarter hours

You will also be required to take the Casper test prior to your interview at Meharry. The Casper test is a 90-minute situational judgment test that’s administered electronically. You can find more information about how to prepare for the Casper test by reading our guide How to Prepare for the Casper Test to Get Into Medical School. 

Meharry has specific parameters around MCAT testing for applicants. MCAT scores must be no older than three years and taken no more recently than August 1st of the year prior to the year you plan to matriculate. In the 2021–2022 application cycle, the MCAT must be taken by August 1st, 2021.

Furthermore, applicants must have a science GPA of 3.5 or higher and an MCAT score of at least 498.

Meharry Medical School application timeline

You will apply to Meharry Medical School using the AMCAS application. To do so, you can plan your application around the following timeline:

• May 3, 2021: AMCAS application opens
• May 27, 2021: AMCAS application can be submitted
• August 1, 2021: AMCAS application deadline for Early Decision
• August 1, 2021: Application review begins
• September 2021–April 2022: Interviews conducted
• October 1, 2021: Early Decision candidates notified
• December 15th, 2021: AMCAS application deadline
• April 30, 2022: Deadline to commit to only one school

is meharry medical college a good school

The goals for Meharry for the next five years are financial stability, accountability, and academic excellence. Financial stability efforts involve better management (in part through accountability) throughout Meharry and continued fundraising efforts. Accountability will be enhanced by making routes of communication clear, management and staff development, setting goals, and providing rewards and recognition.

The approach to academic excellence includes vigorous recruitment of faculty interested in research (space is not a problem), providing faculty development funds for start-up research (from Commonwealth and MacArthur grants), keeping the entering class down to 80 until there are four clinical beds available per student (the current ratio is one bed per student), rewarding good teaching and counseling faculty on how to improve teaching, and attracting a core group of students with high cognitive test scores to serve as pace-setters.

Why Meharry?

1.It successfully trains students to meet the health care needs in many underserved areas.

2. Part of its student body is composed of students who would have had difficulty being admitted elsewhere and it successfully trains students who are considered high risk. Meharry has learned how to teach the (apparently) least qualified student and/or to identify predictors of success other than cognitive test scores.

3. It is important as a symbol with deep historical and emotional ties to the black community and the nation.

4. Problems such as the financial pressures and limited access to patients have been a positive stimulus in that they have forced innovative programs to be developed. The pressures, and thus the creativity, are not likely to go away soon. (The community emphasis and Mound Bayou pilot program, which served as a model for Tufts University Neighborhood Health Center project, grew out of the need to increase student access to clinical experiences, and to satisfy the health care needs of a unique and restricted black community.)