Medical Education

The Duke University School of Medicine is widely recognized as one of the best medical schools in the nation. Based on a variety of factors -- such as reputation, selectivity, research activity, and faculty resources -- U.S.News & World Report, for example, has ranked Duke year after year as being among the leaders in American medical education.

The school offers the full range of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programs, including:

Doctor of Medicine (MD) Degree Program

Admission to the MD degree program is extremely competitive, with 5,300 applications for the school's 101 openings for the class entering in 2007.

Among the draws of the program is its unique curriculum, which gives students patient contact one year earlier than at most other schools and includes an entire year devoted to independent research.

Many use the year to begin studies toward a second degree; nearly one-quarter earn both the MD and PhD, MBA, JD, or master's degree. After graduating, one out of five medical alumni pursues a career focused on research and teaching -- one of the highest rates in the country and a clear measure of Duke's impact on academic medicine.

Graduate Medical Education

Duke also offers broad-ranging graduate medical education, with nearly 900 residents training in one of 71 ACGME-accredited residencies or fellowships, or 40-plus Duke-approved (ICGME) educational programs.

Continuing Medical Education

Since medical education is a lifelong endeavor, Duke's Office of Continuing Medical Education (CME) also certifies hundreds of CME activities -- providing CME credit for more than 40,000 physicians and nearly 18,000 non-physicians each year.