Learn how hard it is to get into the best medical schools in California, plus strategies to make it happen

California coastline of Malibu — THERE ARE 16 MEDICAL SCHOOLS IN CALIFORNIA, 13 OF WHICH ARE ALLOPATHIC

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: List of medical schools in California: 2023 rankings & admissions statistics

Part 3: California medical school profiles

Part 4: California medical school admissions strategies

Appendix A: California medical schools by degree type

Appendix B: California medical schools by institution type

Appendix C: California medical schools by region

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Part 1: Introduction

Getting into a medical school in California is a very common goal among premed students given the state’s high-ranking programs, reduced in-state tuition at public institutions, idyllic weather, cultural diversity, and so on.

Unfortunately, California med school admissions are also incredibly difficult due to schools’ competitive stats, the large state population, and the massive number of applications each program receives.

Do a quick search online and you’ll come across horror stories from students on premed forums like:

(Note: “Zero IS interviews” refers to 0 in-state interview invitations.)

This might leave you wondering how anyone manages to get into one of California’s 16 medical schools. Fortunately, there are systematic approaches to gaining these coveted seats, as many of our students have demonstrated over the years:

In this guide, our goal is to demystify what it takes to get into California medical schools. We’ll provide statistics, rankings, and other relevant information about each school so you can make informed, data-driven decisions about where to apply. Plus, we’ll go over admissions strategies to help you improve your odds of gaining an acceptance.

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Part 2: List of medical schools in California: 2023 rankings & admissions statistics

Your first step is to learn about your competition when applying to California med schools. We dug up the most pertinent information about each school to help you understand the admissions landscape, whether you’re a California resident or out-of-state applicant.

While compiling this information, we observed the following trends:

California medical schools boast high rankings. In the 2023 U.S. News Best Medical Schools (Research) rankings, one is in the top 5, four in the top 25, and seven in the top 75.
Tuition and fees to attend California medical schools are comparable to schools outside of California.
While out-of-state students must pay more than in-state students at public California (i.e., UC) med schools, tuition and fees for out-of-state UC students are still lower than all California private schools’ tuition and fees.
California residents enjoy higher interview rates at most schools.

In the “U.S. News Ranking” column in the table below, numbers in parentheses reflect each medical school’s national ranking, whereas numbers outside parentheses reflect each California medical school’s relative rank. Relative rankings allow us to more easily answer the question, “Which are the ‘best’ medicals school in California?”

(Note: We strongly advise you to sign up for MSAR for the most up-to-date and comprehensive data on individual MD programs and to sign up for Choose DO for DO program data.)

California Medical Schools	U.S. News Ranking	Location	Degree	Year Est.	Annual Tuition & Fees	Avg. GPA	Avg. MCAT	Interview Rate	First-Year Class Size
UCSF School of Medicine*	1 (5)	San Francisco	MD	1864	$47,315 IS $59,560 OOS	3.87	517	5.9%	161 (71% IS)
Stanford University School of Medicine	2 (5)	Stanford	MD	1908	$73,628 IS $73,628 OOS	3.89	518	5.93%	90 (32.2% IS)
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine*	3 (18)	Los Angeles	MD	1951	$43,843 IS $56,088 OOS	3.81	516	7% IS 6.5% OOS	175 (59.4% IS)
UC San Diego School of Medicine*	4 (21)	San Diego	MD	1968	$47,662 IS $59,907 OOS	3.77	515.11	9.66%	141 (76% IS)
USC Keck School of Medicine	5 (28)	Los Angeles	MD	1885	$75,245 IS $75,245 OOS	3.8	517	9.8% IS 3.6% OOS	186 (79.6% IS)
UC Davis School of Medicine*	6 (50)	Davis	MD	1966	$50,368 IS $62,613 OOS	3.73	509	7.8% IS 0.5% OOS	137 (95.6% IS)
UC Irvine School of Medicine*	7 (44)	Irvine	MD	1896	$46,714 IS $58,959 OOS	3.93	514.2	7.02%	114 (86% IS)
UC Riverside School of Medicine*	8 (96)	Riverside	MD	2008	$44,924 IS $57,169 OOS	3.67	509	4.8% IS 0.07% OOS	86 (98.8% IS)
Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine	9 (118-130)	Vallejo	DO	1997	$63,880 IS $63,880 OOS	3.56	509	NA	135 (81% IS)
Western University of Health Sciences - College of Osteopathic Medicine	8 (117)	Pomona	DO	1977	$67,738 IS $67,738 OOS	3.68	509	13.54%	228 (88% IS)
California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine	UR	Clovis	DO	2019	$64,330 IS $64,330 OOS	3.55	504.25	NA	160 (92% IS)
California Northstate University College of Medicine	UR	Elk Grove	MD	2015	$75,091 IS $75,091 OOS	3.77	512	7.33%	119 (88.2% IS)
California University of Science and Medicine	UR	San Bernardino	MD	2015	$72,012 IS $72,012 OOS	3.61	514	13.1% IS 0.4% OOS	129 (97.7% IS)
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science	UR	Los Angeles	MD	1966	$72,638 IS $72,638 OOS	NA	NA	NA	60 (72% IS)
Kaiser Permanente Tyson School of Medicine	UR	Pasadena	MD	2019	$0 IS $0 OOS	3.76	516	6.3% IS 6.2% OOS	50 (54% IS)
Loma Linda University School of Medicine	UR	Loma Linda	MD	1909	$67,056 IS $67,056 OOS	3.86	510	4.86%	176 (48.9% IS)

*Public medical schools in California | UR: Unranked | IS: In-state | OOS: Out-of-state | NA: Not available

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Part 3: California medical school profiles

Now that you’re familiar with the admissions statistics of every medical school in California, we’ll provide further information on each institution to help you learn even more about them. After all, medical schools vary in ways besides how challenging they are to get into. When deciding where to apply to medical school, you’ll want to take many factors into account—location, curriculum, culture, resources, and competitiveness all play a role in determining which schools will be the best fits for you.

California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Not only is California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine one of just three osteopathic medical schools in California, it’s also brand new—the inaugural class matriculated in 2020. CHSU-COM is also the only med school located in California’s Central Valley, so one of its stated goals is to train physicians who will stick around and work in this medically underserved region. A cornerstone of CHSU-COM’s curriculum is team-based learning, which emphasizes students collaborating together to evaluate information rather than receiving it through lectures.

California Northstate University College of Medicine

California Northstate University College of Medicine, located in the Sacramento area, is another relatively new California medical school with a focus on educating doctors who will help address a regional shortage of primary care physicians. It should be pointed out that CNU-COM has faced criticism for a couple of things: its status as a for-profit institution, which therefore doesn’t allow its students access to federal loans, and the fact that even after graduating its first class of students in 2019, it hadn’t yet moved from provisional to full LCME accreditation. Furthermore, in early 2022, the LCME placed CNU-COM on probation. For these reasons, some believe there is risk associated with attending CNU.

So, should you consider applying to CNU-COM? If you’re dead set on earning an MD in California, and the lack of access to federal loans isn’t a concern for you, you might add CNU-COM to your list. However, other med schools may present surer bets in terms of proven quality and career opportunities.

California University of Science and Medicine

California University of Science and Medicine is another fairly new California med school founded in part by Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, a well-established teaching hospital near San Bernardino. CUSM emphasizes a participatory curriculum that incorporates clinical sciences beginning in the first year, and it describes itself as a “socially accountable medical school”—one of the tenets of its mission is to address the health concerns and wellbeing of its local community. As such, it also focuses in its admissions process on admitting students from California’s Inland Empire.

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science is a historically Black institution with a focus on social justice and health equity for underserved populations. The four-year MD program offered by CDU is a joint program with UCLA; one of its aims is to develop medical leaders who will focus on advancing healthcare for disadvantaged areas. Accepting just 24 students each year, CDU/UCLA is a small, tight-knit program. However, students take all the same classes and benefit from the same resources as regular UCLA med students; the difference lies in CDU’s specialized focus on underserved populations, which includes rotating at community hospitals and clinics in underprivileged parts of Los Angeles.

Kaiser Permanente Tyson School of Medicine

The Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine is yet another newcomer to the California medical school landscape, having matriculated its first class in 2020. Yet, the Kaiser Permanente name was already well known in the region for its health insurance, vast system of hospitals, and residency programs, which date back to 1946. Kaiser has vowed to waive tuition for its first five classes (through the entering class of 2024), which has helped establish it as a desirable—and competitive—med school option. Though Kaiser doesn’t give preference to students interested in any particular specialty, free tuition may especially appeal to those hoping to enter primary care or other lower-paid specialties. At just 50 students accepted each year, its entering class size is among the smallest of any of the California med schools.

Loma Linda University School of Medicine

Loma Linda University School of Medicine is a Seventh-day Adventist medical school in the Inland Empire whose mission is to “continue the healing and teaching ministry of Jesus Christ to make man whole.” Part of this mission includes an emphasis on service and a holistic approach to patient care. Sometimes, prospective students wonder how Loma Linda’s Christian values impact its medical curriculum—as an LCME-accredited medical school, you can rest assured that a Loma Linda medical education won’t have gaps or deviations based on religion. That said, students are required to attend chapel, take religion courses, and adhere to a fairly strict code of conduct. For these reasons, cultural fit will be important in determining if Loma Linda is the right school for you.

Stanford University School of Medicine

Consistently one of the best-ranked medical schools in California and the nation, Stanford is nearly unbeatable in terms of prestige and resources. As a premier research university, Stanford prepares its med students to be both excellent providers of patient care and innovative leaders and researchers. That’s evident in its Discovery Curriculum, which allows students the flexibility to pursue their education via different pathways and to focus on scholarship. As such, in order to be a strong candidate for Stanford, interests in both medical care and research are critical. Stanford’s admissions process is incredibly competitive, even for exceptional applicants.

(Related reading: How to Get Into Stanford Medical School)

Touro University of California College of Osteopathic Medicine

Touro University California is an osteopathic medical school in the Bay Area. Though religion is not an especially visible part of Touro’s curriculum or culture, it’s a med school under Jewish auspices whose values include service, social justice, and intellectual pursuit. Touro’s curriculum emphasizes primary care and includes a Global Health Program that sends students around the world for a month to gain hands-on experience in foreign countries. Touro is known for fostering a friendly, tight-knit community, and its desirable location makes it one of the more competitive DO schools in the country.

UC Davis School of Medicine

UC Davis’s School of Medicine boasts a strong research reputation and an even stronger reputation in primary care—it routinely ranks among the top med schools in the nation for primary care (it currently sits at #11). In addition, UC Davis emphasizes caring for the underserved and includes multiple pathways for students interested in urban, valley, or rural medicine. UC Davis’s highly competitive admissions process admits very few out-of-state students and heavily favors applicants from Northern and Central California, especially those from rural areas or who plan to practice primary care in a rural area.

UC Irvine School of Medicine

UC Irvine’s School of Medicine is guided by the mission statement, “Powered by discovery, innovation, and inclusive excellence, UCI School of Medicine will advance individual and population health.” As you might then expect, UCI is known as a strong research institution and is particularly acclaimed for its research in cancer and the neurosciences. In addition, they offer the iMed curriculum which integrates technology into the med school curriculum in forward-thinking ways. UCI also emphasizes community outreach and aims to reach underprivileged populations in Southern California. Admission into UCI is quite competitive.

(Related reading: How to Succeed as a UC Irvine Premed)

UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine

As UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine routinely ranks among the best medical schools in both California and the nation, it excels in preparing its students for both clinical practice and research. In addition, UCLA emphasizes lifelong learning, a “firm commitment to the humanistic, ethical, legal and cultural aspects of medicine,” and community engagement, as exemplified by their multiple programs that prepare students to practice in underserved communities. Given its many strengths, UCLA is one of the most difficult med schools to get into in the country.

(Related reading: How to Get Into UCLA Medical School)

UC Riverside School of Medicine

UC Riverside is a medical school with a clear mission: to educate a diverse workforce of physicians and to develop research and healthcare delivery programs in order to improve the health of medically underserved Californians, especially residents of the Inland Empire. UCR’s curriculum emphasizes ambulatory primary care, and students begin seeing patients under mentor supervision beginning in their first year. Given UCR’s regional focus, it is very difficult for out-of-state applicants to get in; candidates from the Inland Empire who are committed to practicing there have the best chances of admission.

UC San Diego School of Medicine

UCSD’s School of Medicine is often associated with the word “innovation”—they were the first to integrate science into the medical school curriculum and they’ve pioneered multiple lifesaving surgeries. On top of this, the university is known as an all-around powerhouse in scientific research. UCSD has a reputation for rigor and its grads tend to produce an impressive residency match list each year. These are some of the reasons why UCSD is consistently highly ranked and challenging to get into.

(Related reading: How to Get Into UCSD Medical School)

UCSF School of Medicine

Like Stanford, UCSF is consistently considered one of the best, most prestigious medical schools in both California and the United States. However, UCSF is unique among top schools in that it’s the only med school to rank in the top 4 nationally for both research and primary care. This is unsurprising given its highly decorated faculty, excellent clinical reputation, and the diverse patient population it serves. In addition to these strengths, UCSF also emphasizes public service and community health. These focuses are combined in UCSF’s Bridges Curriculum, which aims to meet the challenges of 21st-century health care. You’ll need to be an outstanding applicant in order to be competitive for UCSF’s difficult admissions process.

(Related reading: How to Get Into UCSF Medical School)

USC Keck School of Medicine

USC’s Keck School of Medicine has a reputation for both robust research and unmatched clinical training. USC students are able to gain a wide range of hands-on experience at a variety of public and private hospitals, including LAC+USC Medical Center, one of the largest teaching hospitals in the country. As such, USC students get the opportunity to work with a highly diverse patient population, including underserved communities. Because the first two years of USC’s curriculum are pass/fail, thus eliminating competition between students, the school is also known for its friendly atmosphere and good work-life balance. For all of these reasons, admission into USC is very competitive.

(Related reading: How to Get Into USC Keck School of Medicine)

Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific

Western University of Health Sciences is an osteopathic medical school with campuses in both Southern California and Oregon. Established to address a shortage of primary care physicians in the western U.S, its mission is “to produce, in a humanistic tradition, health care professionals and biomedical knowledge that will enhance and extend the quality of life in our communities.” One distinctive feature of Western is its Interprofessional Education curriculum, in which DO students explore case studies alongside students in other healthcare professional programs.

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Part 4: California medical school admissions strategies

In this section, we’ll cover two strategies—beyond achieving high stats and completing all the right extracurriculars for medical school—to help maximize your odds of getting in.

Strategy 1: Take a data-driven approach to decide which California medical schools to apply to

Although med schools in California are often lumped together as uniformly difficult to get into, as seen above, there is significant variability with regard to admissions statistics that you would be wise to incorporate when developing your medical school list.

We routinely observe how students add certain schools to their list “just because” or thinking that “it can’t hurt,” even though the data clearly show that their chances of getting in are slim to none.

For instance, UC Riverside receives over 1,000 applications from out-of-state applicants each year, despite the fact that none of them receive interviews or get admitted. Why waste your money and time when you could be spending your resources on better options?

In addition, be realistic about your admissions odds based on your GPA and MCAT score.

For example, Stanford admits students with an average GPA of 3.9 and an average MCAT score of 518. If you have a 3.6 GPA and below a 510 MCAT score, you’re highly unlikely to get in unless you’re exceptional in some other regard (e.g., you’re a first author on five publications to high-impact research journals).

While we’re proponents of including a few “reach” schools in your med school list, we don’t subscribe to the “it can’t hurt to apply” philosophy when it comes to applying to schools that are nearly impossible for you to get into.

Writing high-quality secondary essays takes a lot of time, so it’s best to prioritize schools that you have a better chance of getting into. Focusing on far, far reach schools at the expense of realistic ones detracts from your chances of getting admitted to the latter.

In other words, it can hurt to apply to unrealistic schools, in California or elsewhere.

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Strategy 2: Focus on each California medical school’s mission and demonstrate fit

As we noted in the school profiles above, each California medical school—like any other med school—has specific areas that it excels in and about which it’s proud.

For instance, the home page of UC Irvine’s website boasts research grants, research discoveries, and information on upcoming grand rounds. On the other hand, Loma Linda’s website’s home page largely highlights their commitment to service, to the community, and to promote Christian values.

It’s not that Loma Linda’s faculty are not interested in conducting research (they are) or that UC Irvine does not care about service or the community (it does), but rather that the type of students they aim to recruit differ.

Therefore, when completing secondary applications for each school, make sure to demonstrate fit with their stated and presented mission.

The same advice applies during medical school interviews in California or elsewhere. While MMI interviews leave less room for explicit statements about your commitment to a certain community within California, etc., you can still demonstrate how your values align with each school’s mission through the answers you provide.

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Strategy 3: Consider Interview Day

Proper preparation is the name of the game with med school admissions in California and elsewhere. This is especially true once you’ve reached the final hurdle to acceptance—interview day.

If you’ve received an interview invitation, the adcoms that have reviewed your application like what they see on paper and they want to see if that matches up to how you are in person.

To effectively manage your interview, you’ll need to know what you’re likely to encounter. Will your interview be in-person or virtual? Will it follow the traditional format or an MMI format? Will you have opportunities to speak with current students and/or faculty?

Make sure you find out as much information as possible before the big day. This will not only help you leave a better impression with your interviewers, it will go a long way to reducing your stress and anxiety!

If your school follows a traditional interview format, you’ll likely be asked questions such as “Why us?” or “Why do you want to attend our school?” and “What are your greatest strengths/weaknesses?” Thinking through your responses to these questions will help you appear confident and knowledgeable to your interviewer. However, be careful not to memorize your answers, otherwise you run the risk of sounding robotic.

In contrast, if your school employs the MMI format, your strategy will be entirely different. This type of interview will have you cycling through various ‘stations’ with distinct interviewers asking you situational judgement questions to test your critical thinking skills. You’ll usually have two minutes to consider your response, and then seven minutes of discussion.

Whichever type of interview you’ll participate in, it’s important to plan for all eventualities. This way, you’ll have the best chance of being memorable to adcoms.

Strategy 4: Structure your time around your secondary essays

As mentioned in above, writing high-quality essays takes effort. With each California medical school requiring a different number of secondary essays of different lengths, managing your time while you apply is vital to your success.

For example, UCLA has 5 total prompts of 800 characters each, while UC San Francisco has 3 prompts of 350 – 500 words. With these varying requirements, writing essays for one school may take much more time than others—and that’s before considering what the prompts are even asking!

To help you with your planning, we’ve created a table with the most current numbers of prompts for every medical school in California. You can find a list of every prompt for every medical school in the US and Canada here.

California Medical Schools	Number of Secondary Essays
California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine	2 required
California Northstate University College of Medicine	6 required, 2 if applicable
California University of Science and Medicine School of Medicine	9 required, 1 optional
Drew/UCLA Joint Medical Program Drew University of Medicine and Science	5 required
Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine	3 required, 1 optional
Loma Linda University School of Medicine	8 required, 1 if applicable
Stanford University School of Medicine	8 required, 1 optional
Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine	8 required
University of California – Davis School of Medicine	1 required, 2 optional, + Scholarly Pathways questions
University of California – Irvine School of Medicine	2 required, 1 optional, 1 if applicable, 4 required for MSTP program
University of California – Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine	3 required, 2 if applicable
University of California – Riverside School of Medicine	4 required, 1 optional, 1 if applicable
University of California – San Diego School of Medicine	3 required, 1 optional, + a question if you're applying to a special program
University of California – San Francisco School of Medicine	1 required, 2 if applicable
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine	4 required, 2 if applicable, 1 optional
Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine	5 required, 5 if applicable

NA: Not available

Final thoughts

California’s many residents eager for in-state tuition to its prestigious public universities, plus the state’s widespread popularity with in-state and out-of-state applicants alike, make getting into California medical schools a challenge. Even if you’re an excellent student, you’ll still have to contend with unusually high amounts of competition and low acceptance rates.

That said, getting into medical school in California is possible. If you’re able to achieve high academic stats and ensure that your background, experiences, and essays align with the type of students each school you apply to is looking for, you can boost your odds of earning your MD in the Golden State.