Tennessee Medical Schools—2026-2027 Guide to Acceptance

Are you considering applying to medical school in Tennessee? If you like the idea of unique research opportunities, working to become a culturally competent physician aware of the socioeconomic factors that determine patient care, and the opportunity to rotate at many different sites during your clinical years, look no further than Tennessee.

The rich cultural history, massive music scene, diverse landscape, and legendary BBQ offer plenty of reasons to make this state your home for the next four or more years!

But what’s it like to attend medical school in Tennessee, and how do you get accepted?

In this post, we’ll break down everything you need to know about going to medical school in Tennessee, including where the medical schools are located, what it’s like to live in Tennessee, how to apply, and tips for gaining acceptance to medical schools in Tennessee.

Are you applying to other states? Utilize our State Guide series for an in-depth look at the application process in various states across the country.

How Many Medical Schools Are in Tennessee?

There are 6 medical schools in Tennessee. 5 of them are allopathic schools, and 1 is osteopathic. However, one of the 5 medical schools, Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine, is brand new as of 2024.

List of Medical Schools in Tennessee

Allopathic Medical Schools in Tennessee (MD)

1. University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine (UTHSC)
2. East Tennessee State University – Quillen College of Medicine
3. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
4. Meharry Medical College
5. Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine

University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine

Founded in 1911, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine (UTHSC) is the flagship state school and leading allopathic medical school, offering extensive research and extracurricular opportunities.

The curriculum is relatively standard, with the preclinical years focused on the basic sciences in a classroom setting in the General Education Building and clinical activities in the Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation (CHIPS) building in Memphis. Preclinical students do many of their standardized patient encounters here as well as other simulations. CHIPS is a brand-new building with state-of-the-art simulators.

During the clinical years, students can perform their clerkships in facilities across the state, including Memphis, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Jackson, and Nashville, exposing them to a diverse patient population.

UTHSC is the statewide, public, academic health system. They’re focused on training the next generation of health care providers for Tennessee, caring for residents across the state, and researching cures for the diseases that most affect the people of Tennessee.

In other words, the institution places a heavy emphasis on accepting Tennessee residents who plan to live and practice medicine in Tennessee.

UTHSC also offers an accelerated 3-year MD program for students who already know what specialty they want to pursue and plan to complete their residency at UTHSC. The specialties offered are:

• Family Medicine
• Internal Medicine
• Internal Medicine-Pediatrics
• Neurology
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry

The program is designed to reduce student debt and give students a head start in their residency while also keeping students in Tennessee and increasing the number of physicians in Primary Care, as there is a shortage of physicians in these fields.

Median Academic Scores of Matriculants:

• Median GPA: 3.88
• Median MCAT: 511

University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine Secondary Questions.

In-State vs. Out-of-State Preference:

UTHSC shows an incredibly strong preference for in-state applicants. To be one of the handful of accepted out-of-state applicants, you’ll need to show notable ties to the state along with your intention to continue practicing medicine there.

East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine

East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine was founded in 1974 with the goal of training primary care physicians to serve rural communities in the Appalachian region, where the school is located in Johnson City.

What’s unique about ETSU is its smaller class size and 1:1 student-faculty ratio, which enables students to get to know their professors on a more personal level.

The curriculum is also unique. Known as TRAILS (Team-based Rural Applied Integrated Learning System), it focuses on early clinical experiences, interprofessional training and simulation, and various service learning and community outreach opportunities.

TRAILS includes a 17-month pre-clerkship phase, 6 weeks of dedicated USMLE Step 1 study time, 12 months of Core Clerkships, 14 months of senior clinical courses with electives and selectives, as well as dedicated time for studying and taking the USMLE Step 2.

Just like Tennessee’s other state school, UTHSC, ETSU places a strong emphasis on accepting people from Tennessee to serve the people of Tennessee.

Median Academic Scores of Matriculants:

• Median GPA: 3.87
• Median MCAT: 509

East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine Secondary Questions.

In-State vs. Out-of-State Preference:

East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine shows a strong preference for in-state applicants.

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Located in the heart of Nashville, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine was founded in 1874 and is a highly ranked institution with a strong national reputation, thus making it the most competitive school to get into in Tennessee.

VUSM’s Curriculum 2.0 is highly personalized and designed to avoid rote memorization as well as competition between students.

The preclinical curriculum is only 13 months, so students will start their clinical clerkships as soon as the summer after their first year. In year 2, each student is placed with a Master Clinical Teacher in each clerkship who will train and evaluate them in one-on-one clinical situations. Students will participate in all six core clerkships.

Years 3 and 4 are called the Immersion period, where they can design their own schedule with a blend of elective clinical experiences, research blocks, and more. This individualized approach allows students to define and explore the areas of medicine that are most relevant to their desired career path.

Each incoming class at VUSM is just under 100, and from there, the entering student body is divided into four Colleges—Batson, Chapman, Gabbe, or Robinson—made up of 24 students and two faculty members, and four corresponding Learning Communities. The Colleges are designed for career advice, wellness, and relationship building, and the Learning Communities gather each week to discuss topics like empathy, medical ethics, health care policy, and more.

Vanderbilt also has a wealth of research opportunities for those interested in a career in academic medicine.

Median Academic Scores of Matriculants:

• Median GPA: 3.96
• Median MCAT: 521

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Secondary Questions.

In-State vs. Out-of-State Preference:

Vanderbilt does not have an in-state preference, and tuition (outlined below) is the same for both in-state and out-of-state students.

Meharry Medical College

Meharry Medical College is a historically Black medical school (HBCU), but its student body also includes students from Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American backgrounds to represent the diversity of the US. Located in Nashville, Meharry focuses on serving minority and underserved populations and closing the gap in health disparities through community-based care.

Meharry’s curriculum, updated in 2018, is called Next S.T.E.P. (Successfully Training Equipped Physicians) and is designed to educate students through common clinical problems and diagnosis-based schematic presentations. Next, S.T.E.P. decreases the number of lectures and replaces them with active learning methodologies, such as team-based teaching.

Meharry has affiliations with Vanderbilt University Medical Center through the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance (MVA), a cooperative initiative between Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center aimed at addressing health disparities.

In 2021, 85% of medical, dental, and graduate students received financial aid.

Median Academic Scores of Matriculants:

• Median GPA: 3.55
• Median MCAT: 505

Meharry Medical College Secondary Questions.

In-State vs. Out-of-State Preference:

Meharry Medical College does not have a preference for in-state students.

Thomas F. Frist Jr. College of Medicine

Thomas F. Frist Jr. College of Medicine is a medical school in Tennessee. Located on the Belmont University campus in Nashville, the college aims to educate students to consider the whole patient, with a deep understanding of the socioeconomic and systems factors that affect patient care.

The curriculum features three phases: The Foundation Phase, the Clerkship Phase, and the Individualization Phase.

The Foundation Phase is years 1 and 2 and lasts 18 months. Core clinician educators and scientist educators work side-by-side with faculty to educate students in large and small group settings to completely integrate the basic sciences with clinical medicine. The emphasis during this time is on active and self-directed learning as well as weekly simulation experiences.

The Clerkship Phase is year 3 and takes 12 months. Students rotate through the six core clerkships. After each core clerkship concludes, students will return to the FCoM campus for an ICP 2 focus week that emphasizes interprofessional education and whole-person care.

The Individualization Phase is divided into two periods, the first taking place during an eight-week block between the first and second year, when students can complete one to two non-clinical or research electives. The second period begins right after students complete the core clerkships and is made up of 13 one-month course blocks of advanced clinical rotations, electives, and a Transition to Residency capstone course.

FCoM places a strong emphasis on the many forms of diversity and their impacts on improving health outcomes, as well as creating culturally competent physicians who will have the tools to understand how biases in themselves, peers, teachers, and institutions affect patient care.

Median Academic Scores of Matriculants:

• Median GPA: 3.64
• Median MCAT: 509

In-State vs. Out-of-State Preference:

List of Osteopathic Medical Schools in Tennessee (DO)

1. Lincoln Memorial University – DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine

Lincoln Memorial University – DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine

Located in Harrogate by the Cumberland Gap mountains, with additional sites in Knoxville, Lincoln Memorial University – DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (LMU-DCOM) opened in 2007 and has a largely traditional osteopathic curriculum that emphasizes educating students to become primary care physicians who employ the osteopathic principles.

The first two years focus on preclinical sciences, combining traditional lecture-based didactic presentations and laboratory exercises with interactive, team-based learning sessions. Although the class size is large—225 at the Harrogate campus and 200 at the Knoxville campus—students work in small teams of up to eight members.

The final two years focus on clinical experiences. Students complete 21 clinical rotations throughout these years, each in a four-week block. The curriculum offers significant exposure to the health disparities faced by medically underserved and rural populations, as well as strategies for addressing these barriers.

LMU-DCOM has clinical rotations available at 43 different core hospitals throughout the southeastern United States, including sites in Arizona, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, and more. Depending on your preferences and whether or not you have a family or partner, this could potentially be destabilizing, as you could be sent to any of those 43 locations to complete a clinical rotation.

Average Academic Scores of Matriculants:

• Average GPA: 3.4
• Average MCAT: 501

Tennessee Medical School Locations

Vanderbilt, Meharry, and Thomas F. Frist Jr., College of Medicine are all located in Nashville, which has a population of 689,725 according to the most recent census. Along with being the state capital, it’s the most populous city in Tennessee and the fourth most populous in the southeastern US.

UTHSC’s main campus is in Memphis, but it also has campuses in Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville. Memphis has a population of 621,056 and is about three hours away from Nashville.

East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine is located in Johnson City, which is more rural and has a population of 72,514. Johnson City is about four hours away from Nashville and over seven hours away from Memphis.

LMU-DCOM has campuses in Harrowgate and Knoxville. Harrowgate is a small college town with a population of only 4,419. It’s an hour and 20 minutes away from Knoxville. Knoxville’s population is 195,889, and the city is two hours and 45 minutes away from Nashville and six hours away from Memphis.

How Much Is Medical School Tuition in Tennessee?

So, how much does medical school cost in Tennessee?

Tennessee Tuition Costs (2023 Data From MSAR)

View the most recent AAMC tuition data.

• Additional fees not included.

You also need to factor in the cost of medical school applications, which can compound across primary fees, secondary fees, exam fees, study resources, and interview travel costs.

Plus, there are many other financial factors to consider, including housing, transportation, food, exercise, and events. Fortunately, the cost of living in Tennessee is one of the lowest in the country.

What It’s Like to Go to Medical School in Tennessee

Tennessee is known for its beautiful weather, rich culture, friendly spirit, and affordable cost of living.

The state is home to over 7 million people and boasts a variety of landscapes, offering great outdoor opportunities in different regions, such as hiking, camping, fishing, and kayaking. It has seven national parks, including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, offering stunning mountain views, and over 50 state parks, including Cumberland Falls State Resort Park.

Tennessee offers a wide range of experiences depending on the region. The size, culture, landscape, and opportunities vary greatly between cities like Harrogate, Nashville, and Memphis.

For example, Nashville is the birthplace and heart of the country music scene. It’s home to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, as well as the Grand Ole Opry, which is the world’s longest-running radio show venue, featuring country music’s superstars as well as aspiring stars all on the same stage every week.

But it’s not only about country music. Tennessee is also home to Bonnaroo, one of the largest music festivals in the world, with around 80,000 attendees each year.

If you’re a foodie, Tennessee is nationally-renowned for its BBQ joints and slow-smoked meats like lip-smacking brisket, pulled pork, and ribs. Memphis, in particular, is known for its BBQ; the city is home to the annual World Championship Barbeque Cooking contest.

On the downside, the weather can be extreme. The state is located in Tornado Alley and sees an average of 50-60 tornadoes every year. It’s also prone to hurricanes, flooding, and severe storms in general. The climate can get very hot, humid, and muggy in the summer, but the winters are generally mild.

How to Apply to Tennessee Medical Schools (MD)

The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) is the AAMC’s centralized medical school application processing service and the primary application method for first year entering classes for most US allopathic medical schools—and Tennessee is no exception.

Regardless of how many MD schools you want to apply to in Tennessee or the rest of the country (except Texas), you only need to submit one set of application materials to AMCAS, and the system handles the rest.

Here’s what you need to know about applying to med schools in Tennessee.

1 | Application Requirements

Your primary application involves several different components, and each is vital to your acceptance.

The primary must include your college transcripts, a high GPA and MCAT score, a narrative-driven personal statement, strong letters of recommendation, and a comprehensive and varied Work and Activities section.

At the time of this article, East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine requires Acuity Insights, and Thomas F. Frist, Jr., College of Medicine at Belmont University requires the PREview exam. These requirements change frequently and can change at the last minute, so continue to check the requirements of each school you’re applying to, leading up to application season.

Acuity Insights consists of the Casper test as well as Duet. Casper is a computer-based situational judgment test designed to assess who you are beyond your hard skills and grades, focusing instead on soft skills such as empathy, interpersonal communication, professionalism, ethical decision-making, and bedside manner. Duet is a value-alignment assessment that compares what applicants value most in a program to what programs have to offer.

The AAMC PREview Professional Readiness Exam is another situational judgment test similar to Casper but designed and administered by the AAMC. Just recently released, the test is made up of a series of hypothetical scenarios that students may be faced with in medical school.

Two to four weeks after you submit your primary application, you can expect to receive a secondary application. However, unlike the primary application, you will submit your applications directly to each of the schools you received them from. It’s important to note that in Tennessee, each school may have unique essay prompts focusing on their mission and values, requiring tailored responses from applicants.

If you succeed in intriguing admissions committees, you could receive an interview invitation at any point between the end of August and the spring of the following year.

2 | Application Deadlines

The AMCAS application opens during the first week of May, with submissions typically happening at the end of May or early June. So, if you want to start medical school in the fall of 2027, you must begin the application process in the spring of 2026.

While there are technical deadlines for when to apply, they do not reflect reality. This is because applications are reviewed on a rolling (continuous) basis, which means they are evaluated as they are received. The first people who submit their primary receive the first secondaries. The first to submit their secondaries receive the first interview invites. Schools only have so many spots, so delaying submitting your application hinders your chances of acceptance.

Apply as soon as submissions open for your best chance of medical school acceptance, and this goes for submitting your secondaries and booking interviews as well.

We cannot state this enough: Applying as soon as submissions open is essential to your success. And that also goes for submitting your secondaries and securing interviews. For the vast majority of medical schools throughout Tennessee and the country, interviews begin in September and can run all the way through March of the following year.

Here’s what you should be working on month-by-month: Medical School Application Timeline and Monthly Schedule. (Updated every application cycle.)

How to Apply to Osteopathic Medical Schools in Tennessee

Applying to osteopathic (DO) medical schools in Tennessee is much the same as applying to MD schools. Just like the MD application, the DO primary application requires your transcripts, MCAT score, personal statement, letters of recommendation (evaluation), and an experiences and achievements section.

However, instead of applying through AMCAS, you’ll apply through the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service (AACOMAS).

The other major difference is that to apply to osteopathic schools, you must be familiar with and have experience in osteopathic medicine. The DO personal statement asks you directly why you want to pursue osteopathic medicine specifically. Plus, you must include at least one letter of evaluation from a DO.

Learn more about the DO application process with our AACOMAS Application Guide for DO Schools.

Tips for Acceptance at Tennessee Medical Schools (MD and DO)

1 | Tailor Your Secondaries

Each school in Tennessee has unique essay prompts that focus specifically on its mission and values. This means you’ll need to do your research and determine what you have to offer each school.

The state schools show a strong preference for in-state applicants, as the goal of both of these schools is to create physicians who will stay and practice in the state. If you’re out-of-state but wish to study at one of the state schools, make yourself more appealing by emphasizing your love of the state as well as your plans to live and practice there after your education is complete.

Meharry and Thomas F. Frist Jr., College of Medicine both place a strong emphasis on diversity and educating physicians to be culturally competent, as well as the socioeconomic factors that influence health. Highlighting your own diverse background as well as your passion for and experience with serving medically underserved communities and addressing health disparities could make you a more compelling candidate.

2 | Develop a Cohesive Application Narrative

Schools in Tennessee often emphasize a holistic review process, considering not just academic achievements but also life experiences, background, and personal attributes. This means schools are looking at a great deal more than just your GPA and MCAT score. Tennessee admissions committees want to get to know who you are. Who is the person behind the achievements? What adversity have you faced on your journey to medicine? What’s your story?

This is why it’s key to develop a common theme to tie your application together. Your personal statement, letters of recommendation, Work and Activities, and secondaries must come together to create a cohesive narrative woven throughout your application.

If you claim to be passionate about addressing health disparities in your personal statement, how is your passion reflected in your extracurriculars? Because if it’s not, adcoms will doubt your authenticity.

Developing this kind of narrative takes a great deal of time, so don’t procrastinate. Get started as soon as possible.

What do you need admissions committees in Tennessee to know about you? What’s driving your ambition to pursue medicine? Is it witnessing and living with health disparities firsthand? Is it the death of a loved one who might have been saved by better access to healthcare? Whatever the theme is, make sure each component of your application reflects and builds on it.

Do not repeat yourself. Use each component to deepen and expand on your narrative.

3 | Research Each City

Each city and region in Tennessee has its unique characteristics, so it’s imperative that you research what each location has to offer in terms of lifestyle and opportunities.

Tennessee is divided into three geographic regions according to the state constitution and state law. They are known as the Grand Divisions of Tennessee: West Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and East Tennessee.

West Tennessee holds more farmland and is generally flat, with its big city being the larger and more metropolitan Memphis. Middle Tennessee’s big city is Nashville, and its landscape is a mix of flat farmland and mountains. East Tennessee is much more mountainous, and its largest city is Knoxville.

Knoxville is known for its lower cost of living, lower crime rate, a love of bluegrass music, and a myriad of outdoor activities. Memphis is known for the blues and its culinary (BBQ) scene, though it is a bit more pricey and has a higher crime rate—which is largely true of any major city. Nashville is known for country music, its high “transplant” population (people who have moved to the state but did not grow up there), and gentrified neighborhoods.

East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee offer very distinct patient populations with unique cultural and clinical aspects to all three.

East Tennessee tends to be more rural, with a slower pace of life, although many tourists visit this part of the state each year. You’ll find much more diversity in the patient population in Middle Tennessee (Nashville) and West Tennessee.

Middle Tennessee is a mix of urban and rural populations and flat and mountainous landscapes, whereas West Tennessee is primarily known by outsiders for Memphis, but it’s also full of parks, rivers, lakes, and farmland.

These differences are why it’s so critical you do your research. While many schools ensure you have opportunities to rotate across the state, it’s important to determine where you want to live and which patient population you’re most passionate about serving.

Bottom Line: Is Going to Medical School in Tennessee Right for You?

Medical schools in Tennessee vary from nationally recognized institutions like Vanderbilt, which accepts students from across the country, to state institutions like UTHSC, which are dedicated to educating in-state applicants to serve the people of Tennessee.

But beyond the school’s resources and individual medical programs, it matters whether or not you enjoy the environment and community you’ll call home.

Pros of Medical School in Tennessee

• Tennessee is rich in natural beauty, from rolling farmland in the west to towering mountains in the east
• The state has four distinct seasons
• It’s known for having very friendly people
• Vanderbilt and UTHSC offer extensive research opportunities
• Some schools offer clinical rotations in various hospitals and locations throughout the state
• Tennessee has many attractions, including the Tennessee Titans, Memphis Grizzlies, Nashville Predators, University of Tennessee Volunteers, country music in downtown Nashville, blues on Beale Street in Memphis, and the Great Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee.
• The cost of living is generally low

Cons of Medical School in Tennessee

• Vanderbilt is highly competitive, making it challenging to gain admission.
• Some schools are in smaller cities (e.g., Harrogate, Johnson City), which may offer fewer opportunities, such as jobs for spouses
• Aside from Vanderbilt, some schools may not have as strong an academic reputation as those in other parts of the country.
• While Tennessee has a diverse population, the southern culture may be a significant change for people from other regions.
• Some schools have a notable preference for in-state applicants.
• Tennessee can get hot and humid in the summer and sees many severe storms, tornadoes, and other natural disasters each year.
• The crime rate in Memphis is quite high.

Tennessee is known for its rich and diverse cultural history, passion for music, from bluegrass to country to the blues, music festivals, friendly citizens, phenomenal food, and beautiful and varied landscape.

The state also offers the opportunity to serve a wide variety of patient populations, hone your research skills, and work to decrease health disparities. If you’re passionate about this kind of healthcare (and fall-off-the-bone slow-cooked ribs), Tennessee could be the state for you.

What Adcoms Are Looking For

Regardless of which state you apply to, admission committees are looking for resilient, mature, and well-rounded students who will enrich the student body of their school. As always, keep in mind that passion and dedication are a must—do not simply check off boxes because you think it’s what adcoms want to see.

Med School Insiders can help you craft a standout application that will get you noticed by Tennessee medical schools, as well as any schools at the top of your list. We have a range of services to suit your individual needs, from one-on-one guidance to application editing to mock interviews.

Whether you need a comprehensive application strategy, detailed essay feedback, or interview preparation, our services are tailored to meet your individual circumstances and goals. Don’t leave your medical school dreams to chance—contact us today to find out how you can transform your application from good to truly memorable.

Thank you to Matthew Spence, MD, from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, for being our Insider contributor for this guide.