Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine breaks enrollment record and continues rising trend of recent years.
Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine welcomed a record-breaking number of students into its medical program this year, continuing its expansive nature of recent years.
With 139 students joining Athens’ campus, 50 joining Dublin’s campus and 51 trailblazing the newly created campus in the Cleveland Clinic, the college accepted 240 new students of “around 450” total candidates, said John Schriner, HCOM’s assistant dean of admissions and an assistant professor of social medicine.
The enrollment statistic broke last year’s record of 190 by a margin of 50 students, the largest increase in the last four years, said Jim Phillips, an HCOM spokesman.
To be accepted into the college, those students completed a multifaceted application process that includes: two application considerations; three, half-hour interviews and a discussion by a selection committee, Schriner said. On top of this, candidates must have been pre-med during their undergraduate studies and scored well on the MCAT their junior year.
With the opening of the Cleveland campus, more spots were available, allowing more candidates to be accepted.
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“The infrastructure has grown accordingly,” Schriner said.
He added that the Athens campus is up to 139 attendees from an original 24 and the Dublin and Cleveland campuses were created to accommodate 110 more.
Dr. William Burke, the dean of HCOM's Dublin campus, said this year's enrollment class marks a "significant milestone" in the college's history, citing how much it has grown from its 1975 inaugural class.
"The past two years have been incredibly exciting for the college as we opened two new campuses in Dublin and Warrensville Heights in Cleveland," Burke said. "Over 48 percent of our graduates are primary care physicians, and over 58 percent have stayed in Ohio to practice."
Of the new students accepted 98 percent are in-state, which exceeds the mandatory state requirement of 85 percent, said Dr. Isaac Kirstein, the dean of the Cleveland campus.
Joe Crum, a student in HCOM’s Class of 2019, said he took pride in being enrolled in one of Ohio’s largest medical schools.
“It's a welcoming atmosphere when you take away the stress of exams,” he said. “It's a pretty diverse student body so it's been a great experience getting to know everyone from a multitude of different backgrounds.”
Schriner hopes students like Crum will help to fulfill one of HCOM’s goals of providing Ohio with primary care physicians.
“We matriculated another great class and we have some outstanding students that we hope to help realize their dreams of becoming outstanding physicians,” Schriner said.
@LukeFurmanOU
