Pre-Health Career Pathways is proud to support our pre-medical, dental, PA, optometry, and podiatry students throughout their academic and application journeys. Each year, we guide about 40 applicants through a holistic preparation process, helping them build strong, competitive applications to health profession programs.
We value meaningful connections with our alumni and are committed to creating opportunities for engagement that benefit both our current students and graduates. From alumni spotlights featured here and our annual Pre-Health alumni panel in April we offer multiple ways to stay connected and inspired.
Each cycle, our students matriculate into health profession programs across the Northeast and beyond. To learn more about where our alumni have gone—and to hear their advice and insights—explore our alumni spotlight features below.
Our office supports both current students and recent graduates. Alumni are eligible for advising and application guidance for up to three years after completing their degree.
Alumni Spotlights
Alumni: Sydney Chratian ’22
At URI, Sydney studied Cell and Molecular Biology, and specialized in Microbiology. Now she’s at Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Her advice: My advice to incoming pre-health students is to create a plan and stick to it! It can be hard to figure out how to get involved and gain experience in the healthcare field, but figuring out where your interests lie and creating a plan to explore those interests is the best thing you can do for yourself.
Her StorY- Student Pre-Health Clubs and Organizations - Through clubs and organizations, URI pre-health students have built a supportive community of peers. Here is a sample of our student groups.
Interview with Alex Conklin, First Year DPT Student at URI - First-year DPT student has advice for current pre-health students: "If you have a positive mindset and believe in yourself, you’ll do the best you can and be successful."
Interview with Mazen Taman, ‘23 - As a first year medical student at Brown, Mazen Taman shares his thoughts on life after URI and his advice for other students.
Interview with Nana Ofei-Tenkorang, ’12 - The current Chief Resident of the family medicine residency program at Cleveland Clinic in Akron, Ohio shares her thoughts on how URI helps prepare students for medical careers.
Admissions Data
Understanding national acceptance data can help you realistically assess the competitiveness of medical, dental, and PA programs. Below, you’ll find recent statistics that provide context for applicant numbers, average GPAs, test scores, and acceptance rates across the U.S.
Medical (MD/DO)
According to AAMC data from the 2024 Application Cycle, the acceptance rate for applicants to allopathic medical school (MD) was just under 47%. There were just under 52,000 applicants and just over 22,300 matriculants.
AAMC 2024 Infographic AAMC GPA and MCAT Scores of matriculated studentsAccording to AACOM data from the 2024 Application Cycle, the acceptance rate for applicants to osteopathic medical school (DO) was about 63%. There were over 22,600 applicants and just over 9,700 matriculants.
AACOM 2024 InfographicOptometry and Podiatry
For the 2023–24 admissions cycle (entering Fall 2024), 2,868 applicants applied through OptomCAS, and 2,040 matriculated, yielding an acceptance rate of about 71% for optometry programs.
For the 2024-25 academic year, 839 individuals applied to at least one of the eleven podiatric medical schools. A total of 525 first-year students entered into study in the fall of 2024. Men made up 282 (57%) and women made up 243 (43%) of matriculating students in 2025.
Dental
According to ADEA data from the 2023 Application Cycle, the acceptance rate for applicants to dental school was about 58%. For the 2023 cycle, there were just over 11,100 applicants and just over 6,500 matriculants.
ADEA acceptance dataPhysician Assistant (PA)
As of June 2025, PAEA data indicates there were 34,625 applicants and 12,636 matriculants for the incoming 2025 class, providing an overall acceptance rate of about 36%.
PAEA Acceptance dataWhere our graduates go
