Medical Schools in Rhode Island: How to Get In (2024)
/Learn exactly how hard it is to get into medical schools in Rhode Island, including admissions statistics and strategies for entry
learn everything you need to know about medical schools in rhode island
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: List of medical schools in Rhode Island: 2024 rankings & admissions statistics
Part 3: Rhode Island medical school profiles
Part 4: Rhode Island medical school admissions strategies
Appendix A: Rhode Island medical schools by degree type
Appendix B: Rhode Island medical schools by institution type
Appendix C: Rhode Island medical schools by region
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Part 1: Introduction
For the smallest state in the nation, Rhode Island packs a punch when it comes to its scenic shoreline, delicious seafood—stuffies are a must try—and commitment to advancing the cause of medicine.
While Rhode Island has enviable programs in nursing, pharmacy, and becoming a physician assistant, when it comes to full medical schools in Rhode Island, there’s only one MD program, albeit one of the top-ranked schools in the nation. The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University is renowned for its research and rigorous academic programs that produce some of the best doctors in the nation.
If you’re keen to acquire your MD in “The Ocean State” this guide will cover everything you need to know about medical schools in Rhode Island. Read on to learn about admissions statistics, program breakdowns, and profiles, as well as tried and tested admissions strategies that will have you receiving an acceptance letter to a Rhode Island medical school of your dreams.
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Part 2: List of medical schools in Rhode Island: 2024 rankings & admissions statistics
The Warren Alpert Medical School (AMS) at Brown University is the only institution offering an MD program in Rhode Island, but even its ranking and admissions statistics are always changing. Gaining entry to this top-ranked medical school will require hard work, grit, and determination, but with proper planning, an ivy league white coat is within reach.
To lighten the load on you a bit, we’ve done the admissions research for you and listed the most recent data available below. This should give you a solid idea of your chances of getting into this Rhode Island medical school.
While researching the following statistics, a few things stood out to us as we compiled this data:
Brown’s average GPA and MCAT scores are among the best in the nation. Out of the nearly 200 MD and DO-granting programs in the United States, only 45 have average MCAT scores of 515 or above. This puts Brown in the top 25% of schools for this metric.
For a med school attached to an ivy league college, the Warren Alpert Medical School was established quite recently after having a short-lived start in the nineteenth century.
Brown has elected not to participate in this year’s US News Rankings. Therefore, we’ve listed the prior year’s ranking as well.
Note: U.S. News and World Report moved to a tier-based ranking system in fall 2024, in part due to a number of schools declining to participate. Schools who declined to share sufficient data with US News are now unranked, which is reflected in the table below with ‘UR.' Schools that did participate are given ‘tier’ rankings by U.S. News. We’ve reported rankings from both the prior and current cycles to more accurately reflect where the medical schools in Rhode Island stand.
| Rhode Island Medical Schools | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School | $72,518 OOS |
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Part 3: Rhode Island medical school profiles
If you’re keen to study medicine in Rhode Island, you’ll need to find a way to gain admission to The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, located in Providence. As it’s the only medical school in the state, it can help to understand what makes AMS unique and what factors of the program there may appeal to you.
When creating your full list of medical schools to apply to, consider not only each school’s acceptance rates but also elements such as the school's location, curriculum, culture, focus, and resources. We typically recommend you initially apply to 15–25 medical schools and since only one of those can be in Rhode Island, you’ll want to ensure you have a clear picture of AMS’s profile before submission.
Warren Alpert Medical School
The Alpert Medical School emphasizes a supportive learning environment and offers various scholarly concentrations, allowing students to align their education with their interests and talents.
The first medical school was established at Brown more than 200 years ago, in 1811, but only lasted a mere 16 years. It wasn’t until 1972 that the Warren Alpert Medical School—and a full MD program in Rhode Island—was re-established.
Curriculum
Earning your MD at Warren Alpert Medical School will have you engaged in a “competency-based” integrated curriculum across all four years. During the first two years, you’ll be enrolled in Integrated Medical Sciences (IMS) and Doctoring. It’s during this time that you’ll get most of your science-related training with foundational courses on topics such as cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, and epidemiology.
The Doctoring portion of the curriculum is where you will learn the soft and clinical skills necessary to be a doctor. You will develop your diagnosis and medical interviewing skills while receiving mentorship from a physician at a community-based practice. This will give you an opportunity to observe plenty of real-world patient-doctor interactions.
Years three and four are when you’ll engage in six clerkships and have the chance to choose from electives that may interest you. Your clerkships will assign you to rotations at a Brown-affiliated hospital, but depending on your electives you may be assigned to an international location or working on a research project.
Degree options at medical schools in Rhode Island
At Warren Alpert Medical School, your options for pursuing an MD aren’t limited to the MD alone. Brown has a few dual-degree programs to complement your doctorate.
MD-ScM Combined Degree: The MD-ScM dual degree is the primary care and population medicine track at Brown. You’ll complete a normal MD program and in addition earn a Master of Science in Population Medicine (ScM) that will require the completion of a thesis.
MD-PhD program: No Ivy League-affiliated medical school would be complete without an MD-PhD program. If your goal is to become a physician-scientist, Brown’s program will challenge you to become the best in your field. As an MD-PhD student at Brown, you’ll complete your first two years of MD studies and beginning with the third year, add your PhD focus into the mix. MD-PhD students can focus their PhD portion on graduate programs in the Division of Biology and Medicine on topics such as Neuroscience, Computational Molecular Biology, and Biomedical Engineering.
MD-MPH program: There is also the option of completing a master’s in public health (MPH) while pursuing an MD at AMS. For this track, students apply to the MPH after matriculation to the MD program, completing their MPH after their first two years of medical school.
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Part 4: Rhode Island medical school admissions strategies
As the medical school admissions process can be grueling, forcing you to tap into reserves of strength and stamina you didn’t know you had, it’s important to pair those wells of willpower with the right strategies to maximize your chances.
Strategy 1: Take advantage of any program that may offer an edge
Depending on where you are along your journey to a white coat, some interesting options may be available to you that could bolster your chances.
For example, if you’re a high school student considering a career as a physician, you can join the Pathways to Medicine Pipeline program. This program pairs high school students with professional student mentors from Brown’s AMS and has them tackle med school curriculum work and a science project together.
If you’re a college student at the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, or Providence College, you may be interested in joining the Month of Medical School program, which offers a half-day immersion in Brown’s medical curriculum. This will give you a taste of what medical school at Brown is really like and could help you make connections that will benefit you during the application cycle.
Strategy 2: Showcase your fit with the mission of Rhode Island medical schools
Medical schools often share common goals, such as serving the community, fostering academic excellence, and training the next generation of clinicians. However, each institution, including The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Rhode Island, emphasizes different aspects of its mission.
For instance, The Warren Alpert Medical School prioritizes a commitment to diversity and community health. Its mission focuses on cultivating a diverse community dedicated to improving health outcomes for individuals and communities, particularly within Rhode Island.
While the Warren Alpert Medical School also engages in research, its core focus remains on integrating community service and healthcare equity into medical education. As an AMS applicant, you should highlight your academic achievements while also demonstrating how your experiences and values align with the school’s mission of serving diverse populations and enhancing healthcare delivery.
This may seem like a tall order, but you can express this through your personal statement, secondary essays, and even during interviews. Articulating how your background and aspirations align with Brown’s goals of fostering health equity and community service will make you a more attractive candidate to adcoms who seek individuals committed to making a positive impact in Rhode Island's healthcare landscape.
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Strategy 3: Get ready for interviews at Rhode Island medical schools
If you've reached the interview stage, you’re just one step away from achieving your goal of entering a medical school in Rhode Island.
Make sure you familiarize yourself with the specific interview format used by the school you’ve been invited to. Common questions like “Why medicine?” and “Why do you want to attend this school?” are likely to come up, so think through your answers carefully.
Furthermore, knowing which interview format to expect will help you prepare effectively. Brown notes its interviews in the 2024–2025 cycle will take place virtually. AMS uses open-file traditional interviews while many other medical schools utilize the MMI model. The MMI format has interviewees visit several short stations and give responses to situational and ethical questions.
Regardless of the interview style, be prepared with answers to questions like “Why Brown?” that go beyond simply wanting to attend a top-tier medical school or regurgitating information that can easily be found on their website. Aiming for specifics in your answer will help you present yourself as a well-rounded candidate ready to contribute to Rhode Island's healthcare community.
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Strategy 4: Organize your application efforts around secondary essays for Rhode Island medical schools
While GPA and MCAT scores are crucial, your personal statement and secondary essays are where you can truly distinguish yourself as a candidate. To maximize your chances of success at Rhode Island's medical school it’s essential to structure your application efforts based on the number of essays required. This will help you organize your time so that you’re allocating the right number of hours to the right applications.
The character or word limits and themes of the essays you’ll be tasked with writing will differ, but planning your efforts around these differences and your personal work style will make you much more productive and reduce the stress of writing and editing as you approach application deadlines. For example, you may want to tackle a school that requires many short essays first, or a school with a few 500+ word essays. Either way, it’s about thinking ahead and working with your talents rather than against them.
To assist you in this effort, we’ve constructed a table listing the number of secondary essays required for medical schools in Rhode Island below.
| Rhode Island Medical Schools | |
|---|---|
| Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School |
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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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: Rhode Island medical schools by degree type
Allopathic (MD) Schools in Rhode Island
Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School
Osteopathic (DO) Schools in Rhode Island
There are no osteopathic (DO) medical schools in Rhode Island
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Appendix B: Rhode Island medical schools by institution type
Public Medical Schools in Rhode Island
There are no public medical schools in Rhode Island
Private Medical Schools in Rhode Island
Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School
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Appendix C: Rhode Island medical schools by region
Medical Schools in north Rhode Island
There are no medical schools in north Rhode Island
Medical Schools in Providence
Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School
Medical Schools in south Rhode Island
There are no medical schools in south Rhode Island
