MU School of Medicine Selects Nine Students as Bryant Scholars
College sophomores from rural areas are on track for early admission to medical school
Nine sophomores from four Missouri undergraduate institutions have been selected for early admission through a program at the MU School of Medicine.
In conjunction with the MU Area Health Education Center (MU-AHEC), the MU School of Medicine offers the Bryant Scholars Pre-admissions Program to encourage young people from rural areas to pursue a medical education. Studies have shown that students from rural backgrounds are substantially more likely to practice in rural areas than students from urban backgrounds.
Those students selected for early admission through the program are Ethan Crider and Lauren Decker from Drury University; Kayla Easton from Missouri State University; Phillip Beck who attends Missouri University of Science and Technology; and James Hart, Kassie Hyde, Charles Jones, Lauren Miles and Morgan Stout, who are sophomores at University of Missouri.
As members of the fifteenth group of Bryant Scholars, these students are assured acceptance to medical school as long as they meet and maintain certain requirements during their undergraduate years.
“We are proud of our current Bryant Scholars and enthusiastically welcome these newly selected students to our program,” said Kathleen Quinn, PhD, Program Director, MU-AHEC. “Programs like this help us in our mission to improve health care in rural Missouri. By recruiting more students from rural areas and offering them opportunities throughout their medical education to spend time with physicians in these areas, we believe more of our graduates will return to smaller communities to live and practice.”
During their remaining three years of undergraduate course work, the MU School of Medicine will provide these students with opportunities designed to enhance their education, including summer and winter retreats that focus on preparing them for medical school.
The pre-admissions program is one of five MU School of Medicine Programs designed to bolster the physician shortage in Missouri’s rural counties. MU-AHEC offers four other programs during medical school as part of the MU Rural Track Pipeline Program. The programs give students the opportunity to train and work in a rural community; exposing them to the life of a rural physician in the hope they will return to practice in rural Missouri. MU Rural Track Pipeline Programs include: the Bryant Scholars Pre-Admissions Program, the Summer Community Program, the Rural Track Clerkship Program, the Rural Track Elective Program and the Missouri Physician Placement Service.
Requirements for the pre-admissions program include: students must be residents of Missouri; have an ACT score of 30 or higher or 1330 on the SAT; and demonstrate evidence of high academic achievement during high school and also during the first year of college evidenced by a college cumulative GPA 3.3 and a cumulative math/science GPA of 3.3. Participating students must be enrolled at Drury University, Truman State University, Southeast Missouri State University, Missouri State University, Missouri University of Science and Technology or the University of Missouri. Students must be a graduate from a rural high school as designated by the National Center for Education Statistics and express a commitment to practicing rural medicine.
