St. Thomas University Affiliates With One Of America's Largest Medical Schools To Create Early Admission Programs

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Jun 18, 2024, 08:33 ET

STU, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine create paths for STU students to attend LECOM's schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, podiatry

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla., June 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Thomas University announced Tuesday the creation of Early Acceptance Programs (EAP) for students to attend Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and its schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and podiatry.

LECOM is one of America's most affordable medical schools, with one of the nation's largest enrollments for doctor of osteopathic medicine or D.O. degrees. The Doctor of Medicine or M.D. and the D.O. degrees are commensurate, but the D.O. practitioners take a whole-person approach to healing.

An undergraduate STEM student at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, FL works on a lab experiment. STU and Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine have created new paths for STU students to attend LECOM's schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and podiatry.

Under the terms of the new affiliation agreement between STU and LECOM, the medical school will admit up to five qualified St. Thomas University students enrolled in the D.O. early admission program each academic year. LECOM also will admit up to five qualified STU students into their pharmacy EAP, up to five students to their dental EAP, and a maximum of two students to the Doctor of Podiatric Medicine EAP.

Pending STU and LECOM admissions committee reviews, students can join the LECOM early admission programs between their acceptance to STU and their sophomore year of college, with some students potentially eligible to start their medical school career after just three years of undergraduate study. All STU students in the program are guaranteed to receive LECOM admissions interviews.

LECOM is known for its internal, family and emergency medicine programs. Depending upon the EAP specialization, students can choose between the university's Erie and Seton Hill, PA campuses, or locations in Elmira, NY and Bradenton, Florida. A Jacksonville, Florida campus is slated to open in 2026.

LECOM has a competitive admissions process that attracted 17,420 applications across its campuses in fall 2023 and accepted 706 or 4%.

With a fall 2023 enrollment of 4,334, LECOM is one of America's largest medical schools, aided by early admissions program affiliations with 184 colleges and universities nationwide (as of May 28) and tuition that is often approximately half that of other osteopathic medicine schools.

St. Thomas University also is rapidly growing and swiftly developing a reputation as one of the South's premier Catholic universities. The university's fall 2023 enrollment has rocketed to 6,455 students, up 50% from 4,302 students in fall 2018.

St. Thomas has set five straight enrollment records from 2018 to 2023 all since President David A. Armstrong, J.D., took office in August 2018. St. Thomas University is in the midst of a $123 million expansion program that features 400,000 square feet of new facilities, including a residence hall, athletic fields, and a new business school among other projects.

"St. Thomas University's new affiliation with LECOM dovetails with STU's mission of giving first-generation college students and other under-represented populations unique opportunities to fulfill the American dream of attending medical school," said St. Thomas University President David A. Armstrong, J.D.

About St. Thomas University
St. Thomas University (STU) is a private, non-profit Catholic institution committed to the academic and professional success of its students who become ethical leaders in our global community. Rich with cultural and international diversity, STU is the only Catholic, Archdiocesan university in Florida. On our beautiful campus and online, the university's College of Health Sciences & Technology, Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, Gus Machado College of Business, and Biscayne College for Liberal Arts and Social Sciences offer 61 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degree programs. In 2020, STU launched our Limitless five-year strategic plan, based on the pillars of limitless Devotion, limitless Opportunities, and limitless Results. The plan was conceived to provide students with a magical collegiate experience that incorporates mentoring faculty, character formation activities outside the classroom, and required real-world experience before graduation.

About Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
Founded in 1992, now in its 31st year, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) has grown to become one of the largest medical schools in the country. Enrollment in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, School of Pharmacy, School of Dental Medicine, School of Podiatric Medicine, School of Health Services Administration, and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences has surpassed 4,400 students at campuses in Erie and Greensburg, Pa., Bradenton, Fla., and Elmira, N.Y. LECOM consistently graduates more primary care physicians than any other U.S. medical college while maintaining one of the lowest tuitions of any private medical school in the country. The college is the core of the nation's only osteopathic academic health center, LECOM Health, a highly innovative, multifaceted health care and education system. Today nearly 17,000 LECOM alumni are providing health care to patients across the U.S.

Contact: Dan Axelrod | St. Thomas University | [email protected] | 305.474.2418

SOURCE St. Thomas University