Pictured: JABSOM MD students at a “Protect Our Patients” rally.
A survey published this month by USA Today says the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) is the 36th most affordable medical school in the country. The USA Today College publication ranked fifty of the “most affordable” U.S. medical schools. The list was compiled using the cost of tuition and the amount of educational debt which students from those schools typically incur. At JABSOM, the average medical student debt burden is $160,000. Read more about the survey.
The USA Today College rankings are based on annual data from the “Best Graduate Schools” by U.S. News & World Report. In 2017-2018, the magazine ranked Hawaiʻi’s medical school as #23 in the nation for turning out the most primary care residents. The magazine reported that 52.3% of our graduates go into primary care, which it defined as Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.
Further, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) found during the same period that JABSOM out-performs 90% of its peer medical schools in in the percentage of students choosing primary care.
The AAMC data also showed JABSOM is very strong in retaining its graduates after training to practice in Hawaiʻi, performing better than 75% of other medical schools in generating its state’s own MD workforce.
Both the number of students who choose primary care specialties and the number who remain or return to treat patients in Hawaiʻi after their training are critical to stemming the growing shortage of physicians in the state.
The US News rankings covered 170 medical schools in America.