Skip to main content
St. Vincent Homepage

SVC grads' health profession school acceptance rates outpace national averages

SVC grads' health profession school acceptance rates outpace national averages

by Public Relations | December 23, 2024

LATROBE, PA – The numbers back up Saint Vincent College’s (SVC) reputation as an excellent starting point for students who plan to matriculate to medical, dental, optometry and other health profession schools.

Based on a five-year rolling average from May 2020 through May 2024, Saint Vincent graduates who applied to heath profession schools had an overall 95% acceptance rate.

  • 100% of SVC dental school applicants were accepted. According to the American Dental Education Association, the national average in the most recent (2022-23) data was 59%.
  • 100% of SVC optometry school applicants were accepted. According to the Optometry Centralized Application Service, the national average was 69%.
  • 97% of SVC osteopathic school applicants were accepted. According to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, the national average was 37%.
  • 92% of SVC medical school applicants were accepted. According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, the national average was 42%.
  • 83% of SVC veterinary school applicants were accepted. According to the Veterinary Medical College Application Service, the national average was 37%.
  • 50% of SVC allopathic school applicants were accepted. The national average was 44%.
  • For other types of schools—including physical therapy, pharmacy, chiropractic and podiatry—the combined SVC graduate acceptance rate was 100%.

“These results are right in line with the successes we have seen from our students in each of the 14 years that I have been here,” said Dr. Stephen Jodis, dean of the Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing.

“Our outstanding matriculation rates are worth bragging about,” said Dr. Michael Rhodes, associate professor of biology and chair of the Pre-Professional Health Committee. “Our students’ success is a testament to the quality of education offered by Saint Vincent, and the work our faculty do to teach, advise and prepare students for their professional careers.”

The Pre-Professional Health Committee, a group of faculty members and one physician, is an invaluable guide and mentor for students over their entire four-year careers at Saint Vincent. The committee conducts a comprehensive first-year student orientation program, maintains an extensive system of electronic resources, hosts speakers, and advises students about coursework, clinical exposure, service activities, leadership roles, entrance exams, applications and interviews.

Before students submit their applications to health professional schools, the committee assesses each applicant’s candidacy and prepares detailed recommendation letters, ensuring each student in well-positioned for success.

“The Pre-Professional Health Committee smoothed my road to school by ensuring I had all my prerequisites and prepared me to excel at the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test),” said Jenn Larnino, C’19, who is in her second year as a family medicine resident. “The biology department gave me a strong basis of knowledge. The research program gave me an opportunity to be published, which was a résumé booster. If I could do it all over, I would choose Saint Vincent again and again.”

Dr. Jennifer Schweinsburg is a critical care surgeon with the Level II Bristol Myers Squibb Trauma Center at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey. After graduating from Saint Vincent in 2012, she earned a medical degree from Temple University.

“Saint Vincent College gave me the tools to succeed in my application to medical school, throughout medical school and now in my career as a trauma surgeon,” Schweinsburg said. “I was able to immerse myself in a comprehensive shadowing experience that exposed me to several different medical specialties—an opportunity that medical students do not have until their third-year clerkships.”

For more information on the programs offered at Saint Vincent and our graduates’ matriculation to health profession schools, contact Dr. Michael Rhodes at michael.rhodes@stvincent.edu or Dr. Stephen Jodis, dean of the Boyer School, at stephen.jodis@stvincent.edu.

 

A student examines a detailed anatomical model of a human leg in a classroom setting.

Edina Prue, a senior health sciences major from Latrobe, will graduate from Saint Vincent College in May 2025 and has been accepted into Duquesne University’s Doctor of Pharmacy program.

 

Back to Top