UMass Chan Medical School
Worcester, MA · UMass Memorial Medical Center · 225 students per class
Program Statistics
71%
Women
50%
Out-of-State
225
Class Size
$192M
NIH funding · FY2025
Clinical training & research
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★★★★★UMass Memorial Medical Center
-
★★★★★Baystate Medical Center
-
★★★★★Lahey Hospital & Medical Center
★ CMS overall hospital rating (1–5). Children's, cancer and psychiatric hospitals aren't rated.
$192M
NIH · FY2025
+14% since FY2021
Top NIH-funded departments
- Anatomy / Cell Biology$35M
- Internal Medicine / Medicine$33M
- Genetics$26M
- NIH-funded MD-PhD (MSTP)
- 52 recruiting clinical trials
Programs & admissions
Tracks & programs
- PURCHurban and rural population health · Baystate
- LEAD@Laheyleadership and health systems science
- MSTPMD-PhD
- MCAT guidance
- Aim for the 65th percentile or higher overall and in each section
- PURCH interviews
- Virtual multiple mini interview (MMI)
- LEAD@Lahey interviews
- Virtual, open-file, one-on-one
Sources: UMass Chan Class Profile (Class of 2030) · UMass Chan Tuition & Fees 2026–27 · UMass Chan PURCH Track · How to Apply to PURCH or LEAD@Lahey · UMass Chan–Lahey regional campus (LCME approval) · UMass Chan Admissions FAQ · Census QuickFacts (Worcester County, MA) · NIH RePORTER · ClinicalTrials.gov · CMS Care Compare
Program Highlights
Curriculum
Courses run in focused blocks rather than semesters, so exams come often and material arrives fast. Prithwijit Roychowdhury found the faculty, many of them practicing clinicians, unusually invested in students they see as future colleagues.
Prithwijit's routine is built around afternoon classes and labs bracketed by daily spaced-repetition review. The advice Prithwijit would give a younger self: start that habit much earlier.
Three Ways to Train
Most students train in Worcester with UMass Memorial Medical Center and community partners from Cape Cod to the Berkshires. The PURCH track focuses on urban and rural population health, with all core clerkships at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.
LEAD@Lahey, which welcomed its first students in 2024 at a regional campus with Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, emphasizes leadership, health systems science, and interprofessional education. The Class of 2030 includes 32 PURCH and 23 LEAD@Lahey students.
Culture
Prithwijit describes a positive, supportive culture that starts on day one: first-year orientation is a camping trip run with second-years, and faculty join students at social events through the year.
Older students and faculty mentors are easy to reach for help with coursework, physical exam technique, or career advice.
Life in Worcester
Prithwijit calls Worcester "a gem of a city": distinct neighborhoods with new cafés, the restaurants and events of Shrewsbury Street, parks and small beaches, and plenty of young people from the area's many colleges.
The cost of living is low; the downsides, Prithwijit says, are limited public transit and a spread-out city.
Sources: DocStory interview with Prithwijit Roychowdhury · UMass Chan PURCH Track · UMass Chan–Lahey regional campus
Student Voices
1 interview from current and former UMass Chan students