Back to School: Largest Class Ever Arrives to UConn Health

This August, delivering on the promise of Bioscience Connecticut, the largest incoming class of medical and dental students ever arrived to UConn Health, plus 90 more graduate students.

August 14 marks a major milestone for UConn Health’s campus.

The largest class ever of new incoming students has arrived at both UConn School of Medicine and UConn School of Dental Medicine.

“Today is a key milestone of success for UConn Health as we deliver on our promise under Bioscience Connecticut to increase our class sizes by 30%,” says Dr. Bruce T. Liang, dean of the medical school. “We have reached this important milestone with the Class of 2023’s arrival and I thank the admissions teams for getting us here.”

Dr. Sharon Gordon, dean of the dental school, couldn’t agree more: “I want to thank the Admissions team,” says Gordon. “They have done a really amazing job recruiting this stellar Class of 2023.”

Dr. Donna Paolella, associate dean for admissions at the UConn School of Dental Medicine adds: “The UConn School of Dental Medicine Class of 2023 is an extraordinary class evident by their superior academics, service, leadership, and extracurricular activities. Our rigorous curriculum, newly-renovated dental clinics, state of the art technology, and our supportive community have allowed us to recruit these amazing students.”

“The medical school Class of 2023 is our most robust,” says Dr. Thomas Regan, assistant dean of admissions for the medical school. “The way we have changed our curriculum to team-based learning, added resources, and transformed our campus have really been a draw attracting a really high caliber of students.”

The new medical and dental students, and their numbers, are officially in:

Class of 2023 for UConn School of Medicine:
110 medical students
3,286 applicants
76% from Connecticut
38% UConn undergrads
24 average age
55 % female
45% male
20% underrepresented minorities
23% underrepresented in medicine

Class of 2023 for UConn School of Dental Medicine
54 dental students
1,286 applicants
48% from Connecticut
30% UConn undergrads
52% direct from undergrad
23.4 average age
50% female
50% male
26% underrepresented minorities
26% underrepresented in dentistry

In addition, 90 incoming graduate students are joining UConn Health including:

22 Biomedical Science Ph.D. students

6 M.D./Ph.D. students. Plus, 1 second-year medical student joins the MD/PhD program

4 Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Research students

15 Master of Dental Science students

40 Master of Public Health students

1 Ph.D. in Public Health student

1 student in the Young Innovative Investigator Program

“I give a warm welcome to all of our very talented incoming UConn Graduate School students joining UConn Health,” additionally shared Barbara E. Kream, Ph.D. associate dean of The Graduate School. “It is exciting to see these highly accomplished students begin the academic year in pursuit of their graduate degrees.”