Student enrollment at UNMC set another record high for the 18th straight year with 3,970 students enrolled for the 2018-19 school year, an increase of 62 students or 1.6 percent over last year’s record of 3,908.
“We are very pleased to see our student body size increase for a record 18th year,” said Dele Davies, M.D., UNMC senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean for graduate studies. “This increase reflects our strong commitment to continue addressing the demand for highly skilled health care providers in rural and urban Nebraska as well as our ongoing commitment to providing the highest quality training environment, faculty and staff for our students in order to help meet this need.
“While there was an increase across-the-board in most of our programs, we saw significant growth in our doctor of nursing practice, allied health and graduate studies programs in particular.”
UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., said UNMC’s strong enrollment numbers bode well for the state’s long-term health care workforce needs. “Many of our graduates stay in Nebraska, or return after their residencies, and provide critical health care access and services. We celebrate this record enrollment as we continue to build the workforce necessary to sustain the state’s rural and urban communities.”
Below are enrollment highlights. Note that some students are in dual programs.
College of Dentistry
The College of Dentistry admitted 51 new dental students and 24 new dental hygiene students. The total student enrollment is 280, including 36 post-graduate students. Hometown demographics of the incoming dental class is 20 rural students, 30 urban students and one international student. For dental hygiene, it’s 15 rural and nine urban students. There were 602 applications for the 51 slots in this year’s dental class.
College of Medicine
There are 132 new students entering their first year of medical school, bringing the total enrollment to 524, which includes 39 students in the M.D./Ph.D. Scholars Program. The new students in the college, 82.6 percent of whom are Nebraska residents, were selected from a total of 1,865 applicants.
College of Nursing
A total of 1,056 students are enrolled through the college’s five campuses in Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, Norfolk and Scottsbluff. The biggest growth in enrollment came in the doctor of nursing practice program, from 136 students to 151 (11 percent).
College of Pharmacy
The college admitted 61 new students with an average GPA of 3.64. Seventy-nine percent of the new students are Nebraska residents with 53 percent coming from rural areas. The new students bring the total enrollment in the four-year program to 245 students.
College of Public Health
Enrollment in the college is 185 for its professional programs, which includes 154 master’s degree students and 31 certificate/non-degree students. Of the 65 incoming students, 58 percent are residents of Nebraska and non-resident students are represented by 18 different states and 8 different countries.
College of Allied Health Professions
A total of 632 students are enrolled in the college, including online students. The college has increased its enrollment at the Health Science Education Complex in Kearney from 80 last year to 102 this year. Overall enrollment increased by nearly 6 percent. The college has students in 12 different health profession education programs.
Graduate Studies
Enrollment for Graduate Studies is 496 students, representing a 4 percent increase over last fall.
Graduate Studies offers advanced instruction leading to a master’s degree in science and doctor of philosophy degrees in health-related areas, with about 80 percent of UNMC graduate students enrolled in Ph.D. programs.
|Munroe-Meyer Institute
Munroe-Meyer Institute provided interdisciplinary training, course work, and practicum experiences to 334 students. Trainees included 50 undergraduate students, 23 master’s level students, 44 doctoral level students/interns, 18 post-doctoral fellows, and two parent advocates.
There are 564 resident physicians training at UNMC.