Medical Schools in Idaho: How to Get In (2024)
/Learn strategies for applying to medical schools in Idaho, plus rankings, admissions statistics, tuition, and curriculum details
everything you need to know to get into medical schools in idaho
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: List of medical schools in Idaho: 2024 rankings, tuition, and admissions statistics
Part 3: Idaho medical school profiles
Part 4: Idaho medical school admissions strategies
Appendix A: Idaho medical schools by degree type
Appendix B: Idaho medical schools by institution type
Appendix C: Idaho medical schools by region
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Part 1: Introduction
For outdoors enthusiasts, Idaho might be the American Northwest’s best-kept secret, with its nearly 5 million acres of protected, publicly-accessible wilderness and stunning mountain views. As home to both an MD and a DO program, it might also be one of the region’s best-kept secrets among medical school applicants.
Premeds in Idaho who plan to pursue allopathic medicine by gaining their MD have the option of applying to the University of Idaho’s WWAMI Medical Education Program, while applicants who intend to pursue osteopathy by getting their DO degree can apply to the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (ICOM).
In this guide, we’ll provide you with the latest updates on rankings, admission statistics, and expert advice on how to improve your chances of admission to either of the medical schools in Idaho.
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Part 2: List of medical schools in Idaho: 2024 rankings, tuition, and admissions stats
University of Idaho - WWAMI Medical Education Program (MD)
The University of Idaho’s WWAMI program boasts a 51% interview rate and a 23.8% acceptance rate, which is far higher than the national average. However, it’s important to note that 96% of accepted students across all schools within the WWAMI program are residents of the states through which they’re applying—so that rate is likely far lower among out-of-state applicants.
Updated stats on the GPA and MCAT scores among all of the students who were accepted into a WWAMI program for the fall of 2024 reveal that the majority of accepted students had a 510 or higher MCAT and a 3.8 or higher GPA. So although Idaho WWAMI applicants may have a bit more room for error in their GPA and MCAT compared to applicants to some of the most competitive programs in the country, you’ll still want to aim for as close to that average as possible—or higher—to boost your chances of acceptance.
Because the Idaho WWAMI program is funded by the state, tuition is actually more affordable there, at $55,988 per year, than at Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine. The total estimated annual cost of attendance of $98,454 includes housing, food, transportation, and other personal expenses—but thanks to financial aid, loan, and scholarship assistance, the average annual cost of attendance is $83,550—far below the national average of $167,200.
All in all, as a medical student at Idaho WWAMI, you’ll be on track to obtain your MD from a medical school that was ranked first in the nation for Primary Care 27 times by the U.S. News and World Report over the past 31 years. Although it was unranked in 2024 due to disagreements over ranking methodologies, it retains its position of high renown in the medical field.
Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (DO)
Osteopathic medicine programs tend to have a slightly lower barrier to entry than their allopathic counterparts. But don’t be mistaken: you’ll still need to ensure that your GPA, MCAT, and clinical experiences are competitive in order to secure a spot over other hopeful applicants. In particular, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (ICOM)’s most recent available data on accepted students reveals an average GPA of 3.6 and an average MCAT of 506.
ICOM’s first-year class size is more than double the first-year class size of Idaho WWAMI, but with no requirements for matriculants to practice medicine in Idaho after earning their white coats, the school is far likelier to receive applications from all over the country. In fact, just 22% of first years in the fall of 2024 hailed from Idaho, with 26 other states represented among new matriculants.
As a private institution, ICOM’s tuition is slightly higher than Idaho WWAMI, but at $65,292 per year, it’s still far more affordable than many medicine programs nationwide.
Considering these comparisons, you’ll want to carefully weigh out your options if you intend to apply to medical school in Idaho. Below, we’ll provide deeper insights into how to compile an application that will give you a competitive edge and boost your chances of admission compared to other applicants to Idaho WWAMI or ICOM.
| Idaho Medical Schools | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Idaho - WWAMI Medical Education Program | Unranked |
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| Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine | Unranked |
*Note: This number reflects the data available for applicants accepted across all WWAMI programs. Data specific to Idaho WWAMI program applicants is not available at this time.
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Part 3: Idaho medical school profiles
University of Idaho - WWAMI Medical Education Program
Idaho partnered with the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) in 1972 to provide affordable, quality education to Idaho residents intent on becoming doctors. This partnership is part of the UWSOM’s WWAMI program, which is an acronym for the five states with participating schools—Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. In particular, these programs aim to train the next generation of primary care physicians who will go on to practice in communities across each of the five respective states. And if you come from a rural or underserved area, you may be eligible for one of the six seats reserved for students through the TRUST program.
If you intend to become a medical doctor through Idaho WWAMI, you should also be prepared to start your career within Idaho. Starting in Fall of 2023, all graduates of the WWAMI program are contractually required to spend their first four years as practicing physicians within the state. With few exceptions, any student who fails to meet this requirement is contractually obligated to reimburse the state for the funds spent toward their medical education. With this in mind, if you intend to apply via this route, you’ll want to make sure that you can envision yourself spending at least the first four years of your medical career in Idaho.
Degree programs at the University of Idaho - WWAMI Medical Education Program
As an Idaho WWAMI medical student, you can pursue your MD with the confidence that your degree will be conferred by the University of Washington, a world-renowned medical school with a challenging and enriching curriculum in use across all of the participating WWAMI medical schools.
Curriculum at University of Idaho - WWAMI Medical Education Program
The WWAMI curriculum consists of three phases:
Foundations Phase: Students build a strong foundation in the core medical curriculum by taking classes at the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID.
Patient Care: Students transition to focusing heavily on clinical experience, with the option of serving urban and/or rural populations in Idaho and/or other WWAMI states. Clinical rotations are coordinated through Idaho’s WWAMI office in Boise, ID. During this and the final phase, students can begin narrowing down their interests by gaining experience in various clinical disciplines: Obstetrics and Gynecology, Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, and Surgery.
Explore and Focus Phase: Students finally narrow their career interests through Advanced Patient Care Clerkships and various clinical electives.
Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (DO)
Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine is the only DO-granting program in the state of Idaho, and it was founded in 2016 to help address Idaho’s critical shortage of physicians. Formerly the most populous state to lack a medical school, Idaho still ranks last in the entire nation for physicians per capita, but ICOM will undoubtedly help rectify this critical issue as it continues to train and graduate osteopathic physicians in the decades to come.
That said, ICOM does not favor Idaho residents over out-of-state applicants—in fact, the majority of ICOM matriculants hail from other states. Still, as a third and fourth-year med student at ICOM, you’ll be assigned to complete clinical rotations in one of the five “mission states” (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota), so you should be prepared to demonstrate a convincing level of interest in the region through your secondary essays and interviews.
ICOM’s mission of alleviating Idaho’s doctor shortage goes hand-in-hand with their mission of caring for underserved populations within Idaho and beyond. If that sounds like the reason you want to pursue a DO degree, ICOM could be a perfect fit for you.
Degree programs at Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine
In addition to its DO degree program, ICOM also offers two concurrent degree programs. So, if you’ve ever considered pairing your DO degree with a complementary field of study, you may want to consider these options:
Both of these dual degree programs are designed to equip up-and-coming osteopathic physicians with a skill set that will prepare them to make a positive impact as a future leader in the business or policy sectors of healthcare.
Curriculum at Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine
ICOM’s curriculum clearly reflects its community-oriented approach to medical education, with a two-phase program designed to fully equip students for residency.
Preclinical Curriculum Phase: Students spend two years on the main ICOM campus in Meridian, Idaho mastering foundational concepts in areas including microbiology, immunology, pharmacology, anatomy, and genetics. Students also learn communication, history-taking, and physical exam skills to prepare them for the next phase of their training.
Clinical Curriculum Phase: Students spend the final two years in the program gaining hands-on clinical experience at a regional clinical site (the specific location is determined by a lottery). There, they’ll learn to serve patients in various areas—including family medicine, pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral health, internal medicine, surgery, and more.
Along with this well-rounded combination of in-class coursework and patient-facing clinical experience, ICOM students are also encouraged to pursue research opportunities so they can stay abreast of new findings in their fields of interest.
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Part 4: Idaho medical school admissions strategies
Your strategy for medical school admission in Idaho may vary depending on whether you intend to pursue the allopathic or osteopathic medicine route. In any case, you’ll need more than just a strong GPA and MCAT score to secure an acceptance. Secondary essays and interviews are two of the most crucial components of the overall admissions process, and you’ll need to approach them strategically in order to impress adcoms.
Strategy 1: Write standout secondary essays for Idaho medical schools.
Secondary essays might seem like overkill after all the time and effort you put into maintaining your grades, scoring well on the MCAT, logging clinical hours, and putting together your AMCAS application—including your personal statement essay.
But don’t let the word “secondary” lead you to think that these are of secondary importance to your application. In fact, your secondaries hold just as much—if not more—weight in the med school admissions process as all the other components of your application. After all, they’re your opportunity to show your personality, provide concrete evidence for the experiences that have prepared you to be a great future doctor, and make a lasting impression on the admissions committees.
The best way to ensure your secondary essays advance your application to the interview stage is to demonstrate fit within your responses whenever possible. In other words, you need to convince adcoms that their program is a uniquely strong fit for your personal and professional goals, and that your unique skills and experiences are aligned with their institutional mission and values.
As such, you’ll want to thoroughly research what makes each of the medical programs you’re applying to unique. What do they do differently than other programs? What are they particularly proud of? What kinds of courses or clinical opportunities do they offer that other programs don’t? How do you see yourself engaging with the community around campus?
If you’re applying to Idaho WWAMI, recall that you’ll be obligated to spend your first four years as a practicing physician in Idaho—so all of your career plans should clearly reflect this. You might also mention how you’ll take advantage of continuing education, seminars, and other unique opportunities available to Idaho WWAMI graduates through the University of Washington School of Medicine.
If you’re applying to ICOM, on the other hand, you might appeal to their five institutional values:
Student dedication
Collaboration
Osteopathic identity
Professionalism
Excellence
The most compelling way to convince adcoms that your values are aligned with theirs is by telling specific stories from your life. Rather than simply stating that you’re dedicated, professional, collaborative, and committed to excellence as a future osteopathic doctor, think through your life experiences and try to identify a time when you actually put those values into action.
Looking for secondary essay examples? Click below to access sample secondary essays for every prompt required by every MD and DO program in the United States and Canada. 1500+ essays and counting.
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Strategy 2: Thoroughly prepare for interviews with the adcoms at Idaho medical schools.
If your secondary essays successfully capture the attention of a med school adcom, you’ll be invited to interview with them. Just as with your essays, it’s crucial that you spend some time brainstorming about what makes their program unique and why you’re a great fit.
For Idaho WWAMI applicants, you’ll need to get familiar with the structure and mission of the overall WWAMI program. Fortunately, the UWSOM website provides detailed information on the types of questions typically raised within all WWAMI interviews. For example, although they no longer include first-person roleplay scenarios, they encourage applicants to be prepared to respond to questions about how they would handle specific scenarios involving coworkers, patients, and other members of the public.
As an Idaho WWAMI interviewee, you can expect to be asked questions regarding your:
Motivation for pursuing medicine
Prior experiences that have contributed toward your interest and preparedness to pursue medicine
Personality traits that are well-suited to a career in medicine
Ability to communicate clearly, effectively, and empathetically with patients and colleagues
Conflict resolution skills
Prior experiences that demonstrate a willingness to grow and learn from your mistakes or unconscious biases
Knowledge of pressing current issues within healthcare, such as health inequity
Sense of ethics and empathy
ICOM provides less detailed information about the structure of their interview process, but it’s safe to assume that they’ll ask many of the same types of questions outlined above for Idaho WWAMI.
Were you invited to a med school interview? Check out the resource below to learn strategies for approaching any question the interviewers might throw your way.
Gain instant access to the most common traditional and MMI interview questions, plus sample responses for each, to help you craft responses that lead to acceptances. Subscribe today to lock in the current investments, which will be increasing in the future for new subscribers.
Final thoughts
Medical schools in Idaho have made significant progress over the past few decades in their efforts to increase access to medical education and to address the state’s staggering physician shortage. If an MD or DO degree is in your future, you have two excellent options in Idaho WWAMI or Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine. Although both programs were unranked in 2024, they each offer a high quality education and extensive clinical experiences that prioritize rural and underserved patients.
When you’re ready to begin your path to medical school in Idaho, be sure to pair our optimal medical school application timeline with the strategies outlined in this guide so you can keep your eyes on the prize as you navigate the rigorous application process.
About the Author
Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on medical school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school using his exclusive approach.
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Appendix A: Idaho medical schools by degree type
Allopathic medical schools in Idaho (MD)
University of Idaho - WWAMI Medical Education Program
Osteopathic medical schools in Idaho (DO)
Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine
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Appendix B: Idaho medical schools by institution type
Public medical schools in Idaho
University of Idaho - WWAMI Medical Education Program
Private medical schools in Idaho
Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine
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Appendix C: Idaho medical schools by region
Medical Schools in northern Idaho
University of Idaho - WWAMI Medical Education Program is located in Moscow, Idaho.
Medical Schools in southern Idaho
Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine is located in Meridian, Idaho.
