Two weeks after graduating 119 new physicians, the College of Medicine will welcome 120 new students as the Class of 2025. The students arrive June 1.

Many of them will need an introduction, but their path to medical school is a familiar one. For many others, the college is already something of a second home.

Thirteen have been at the medical school for the past year as part of the Bridge to Clinical Medicine master’s program. Those students graduated alongside the M.D. class on Sunday, now they’ll begin pursuing their own medical doctorate.

Others in the class have been at Florida State as part of the Honors Medical Scholars program, while some were earning a degree in Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences, involving seven FSU colleges and based at the medical school.

In all, nearly 8,200 applicants sought admission with the Class of ’25 – part of a dramatic increase in medical school applications over the past year that many attribute to greater interest in medicine during the coronavirus pandemic.

The class will be diverse, reflecting the college’s mission-based admissions philosophy: Sixteen percent (19 students) are Black; sixteen percent (19 students) are Spanish, Hispanic or Latino. Thirty-six percent of the class are considered to be underrepresented minorities – from racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population.

Forty members of the class are from counties in the Florida Panhandle, seven of those considered to be rural – part of the effort to bring in students more likely to one day serve Panhandle communities in need of more physicians.

And once again, women will outnumber men (66-54), continuing a national trend of more women becoming physicians.
 

The Florida State University School of Physician Assistant Practice has been selected as Florida’s top PA school in 2021 by Best Value Schools.

FSU’s PA program, one of 10 in Florida, enrolled its initial class in 2017 and has graduated two classes. The program began with 40 students and now admits 60 each year, preparing to reach full capacity (180) for the first time in August. The challenging 27-month PA program models the FSU College of Medicine’s M.D. program in many ways, including its mission statement and clerkship model.

PA students share learning communities with medical students at the central campus for 15 months  before completing their degree work in clinical rotations at regional campuses.

Best Value Schools derived its rankings from a formula which takes into account each school’s yearly tuition (in-state) and graduation rate. In its ranking, the web-based publication writes:

“Its affordable tuition and high educational quality put it above the rest of the schools on this list. The PA program at FSU is relatively new, but it has already become well-respected in the field. Its Master of Science in Physician Assistant Practice takes students roughly 27 months to complete. Florida State University is known for having exceptional facilities, and its simulation lab allows students to practice their skills before they get real clinical experience.”
 

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