This is a descriptive study of publicly available and rurally relevant characteristics of all 182 allopathic and osteopathic medical schools operating in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2016, with rural program information for these schools updated in 2019. The authors constructed a “rural program” definition in order to systematically catalog coordinated and strategic medical school efforts to produce a rural physician workforce.
Increased medical school class sizes and new medical schools have not addressed the workforce inadequacies in primary care or underserved settings. This article outlines admissions strategies to recruit students likely to practice in primary care or underserved settings.