The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College and The Short List: Grad School to find data that matters to you in your college or grad school search.
For those looking for career and financial stability, heading off to medical school may be a good bet.
For those looking for career and financial stability, heading off to medical school may be a good bet.
Employment for physicians and surgeons is projected to jump nearly 18 percent from 2012 to 2022, leading to 123,300 job openings, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Primary care physicians received median salaries of $220,942 in 2012, while physicians with specializations received total median salaries of $396,233.
That said, aspiring doctors will have to fork over significant amounts of money before they start to practice medicine. Incoming students paid an average of $49,369 in tuition at private medical schools in 2013-2014, according to data provided to U.S. News by 47 private medical schools. The average in-state tuition at the 67 public schools that submitted the data, in contrast, was $30,824.
At the 10 private medical schools with the highest tuition and fees in 2013-2014, students paid an average of $54,862 a year. Columbia topped the list, charging students $57,261 for tuition and fees.
Harvard University was the highest-ranked university for medical research on the list – earning the top spot in the U.S. News rankings. Harvard also beat out the other schools on the list in the rankings for primary care, placing No. 11.
Below are the 10 most expensive private medical schools based on tuition and required fees. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. Temple University, the only school on this list that reported both in-state and out-of-state tuition and fees, is listed below with its out-of-state tuition and fees. Its in-state tuition and fees were $44,454.
| Medical school (name) (state) | Tuition and fees | U.S. News research rank | U.S. News primary care rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia University (NY) | $57,261 | 8 | 48 |
| Tufts University (MA) | $56,784 | 49 | 60 |
| Dartmouth College (Geisel) (NH) | $55,196 | 34 | 18 |
| Case Western Reserve University(OH) | $54,976 | 23 | 40 |
| University of Southern California(Keck) | $54,653 | 31 | 73 |
| Northwestern University(Feinberg) (IL) | $54,528 | 18 | 22 |
| Temple University (PA) | $54,268 | 54 | RNP* |
| Washington University in St. Louis | $54,050 | 6 | 40 |
| Harvard University (MA) | $53,581 | 1 | 11 |
| Duke University (NC) | $53,323 | 8 | 40 |
*RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of all medical and osteopathic schools. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.
Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Medical School Compass to find information on tuition, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed 153 medical schools for our 2013 survey of research and primary care programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Medical Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools. The tuition data above are correct as of July 8, 2014.
By Devon Haynie
