Meet the Entering Class!

The 120 members of the MD Class of 2016 (64 women and 56 men) comprise the largest first-year medical school class in Brown’s history. They have earned degrees in more than 30 different majors, from Architectural Studies to Biomedical Engineering to Theater Arts at 48 US or Canadian colleges and universities. Four international citizens (Canada, China, United Kingdom) join classmates from 27 different states and the District of Columbia. Twelve students have advanced degrees, with graduate work in education, biomedical engineering, computer science, humanities, and physical/life sciences, and 21 were selected to Phi Beta Kappa as undergraduates.

Fifty-seven students applied through the AMCAS route of admission, which is the largest cohort in the class. Forty-nine students were enrolled as undergraduates in the Program in Liberal Medical Education, although eight students took time after their Brown graduation to pursue educational and other service opportunities. Ten members of the class entered through Postbaccalaureate Linkage Programs at Bryn Mawr College, Goucher College, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins University. Four members of the class were selected through the Early Identification Program, which includes three Tougaloo College graduates and one University of Rhode Island graduate.

Twenty-five incoming students self-identified as members of groups underrepresented in medicine:  3% are foreign nationals; 12 (10%) are African-American; 13 (11%) are from Latino backgrounds (primarily Mexican and Puerto Rican Americans); 39% are white, 26% are Asian or South Asian, and 11% of the class prefers not to identify with one racial/ethnic identity.

Other class demographics include: average age is 23, with the range from 20 to 32 years. Nearly 50% of the 120 students have waited a year before matriculating to Brown, while 40 students have taken off more than two years between college and medical school. Experiential diversity is extraordinary: the class includes three Teach for America members; organizers of labor unions and political campaigns; a Marine combat veteran; an author and host of TV cooking shows; two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs; a dozen EMTs plus a chief firefighter; a clutch of triathletes and marathoners; numerous accomplished musicians and singers, and varsity/club athletes in football, swimming, track and field, soccer, boxing and rugby.

One-third of the entering class has volunteered internationally in countries such as Namibia, Ukraine, Senegal, Rwanda, and Bolivia, as members of the Peace Corps, AfricAid, and Gardens for Health International. Characteristically, the members of this class have had extensive volunteer experiences, as well, with over 85% having demonstrated significant commitments to health care or civic life in clinical, community, or other settings.