The University of Washington School of Medicine is Seattle's only MD school in AAMC's counts; the LCME has accredited it since 1945, and its next full survey is due in 2025-26 (LCME). In 2025-26 it drew 5,275 applications for 280 first-year places, about 19 per seat, and Washington residents sent 17.6% of those applications while making up 51.4% of the entering class (AAMC FACTS).
Nearly 23% of the school's 2025 entering students come from a rural county and 18.6% are first-generation college students (UW Medicine Alumni Association). Washington's other MD school, Washington State-Floyd, took 80 new students in 2025-26, every one from Washington (AAMC FACTS).
Facts about Seattle
| School | City | LCME accreditation | Next full survey |
|---|
| University of Washington School of Medicine | Seattle | Full, since 1945 | 2025-26 |
Accreditation: LCME directory.
- Nearly 23% of the University of Washington School of Medicine's 2025 entering students are from a rural county, and 18.6% are first-generation college students. (UW Medicine Alumni Association)
- UW Medicine's primary training sites for residents and fellows in Seattle are UW Medical Center–Montlake, UW Medical Center–Northwest, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle Children's Hospital and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. (UW Medicine Alumni Association)
- Of the 250 UW School of Medicine graduates who applied to residency, 243 matched, and 38% will stay in the WWAMI region. (UW Medicine Alumni Association)
- More than 95 percent of UW School of Medicine acceptances go to applicants from Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho; out-of-region applicants are considered only with ties to a WWAMI state and a disadvantaged background or a demonstrated commitment to underserved populations. (University of Washington School of Medicine)
- UW School of Medicine applicants must take the MCAT no later than September 30 of the year before matriculation; for the 2027 academic year the AMCAS deadline is October 1, 2026, and the secondary application is due November 15. (University of Washington School of Medicine)
- UW's Foundations Phase runs 18 months at six sites, Seattle, Spokane, Anchorage, Bozeman, Laramie and Moscow, and applicants from outside the WWAMI states spend those months in Seattle. (University of Washington School of Medicine)
- UW's required clerkships total 42 weeks and can be taken anywhere in the WWAMI region; its Community-focused Urban Scholars Program for urban underserved care runs all four years and is available in Seattle only. (University of Washington School of Medicine)
Sources: LCME, directory of accredited U.S. programs (checked October 29, 2026); AAMC FACTS, Table A-1, 2025-2026 (checked October 29, 2026); UW Medicine Alumni Association, New school year, fresh updates (2025) (checked October 29, 2026); University of Washington School of Medicine, MD Admissions Requirements (checked November 1, 2026); University of Washington School of Medicine, MD Program Curriculum (checked November 1, 2026).
UW admits almost only from five states
More than 95 percent of UW School of Medicine acceptances go to applicants from Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho, the WWAMI states. Applicants from elsewhere are considered only if they have ties to a WWAMI state and come from an economically or educationally disadvantaged background or have shown a commitment to serving underserved populations (UW School of Medicine admissions).
That explains the shape of the AAMC numbers: Washington residents sent under a fifth of the applications but hold just over half of the seats (AAMC FACTS), and the rest of the class comes overwhelmingly from the other four WWAMI states. Students spend the first 18 months, the Foundations Phase, in their home state; the six sites are Seattle, Spokane, Anchorage, Bozeman, Laramie and Moscow, and the few students from outside the region spend those months in Seattle (UW School of Medicine admissions).
The UW calendar, from MCAT to secondary
UW asks applicants to take the MCAT no later than September 30 of the year before matriculation. For the 2027 academic year, AMCAS applications are due October 1, 2026, and the secondary application, letters included, is due November 15; the optional CUSP application inside it closes November 1 (UW School of Medicine admissions).
A September 30 sitting is the last one UW takes, but it falls a day before the AMCAS deadline and leaves no room to retake. We plan Seattle students' test date months earlier, from their first full-length practice test, so a second sitting is still possible before the cut-off if the first one falls short.
Once admitted, the MCAT sciences feed straight into the Foundations blocks, which end with the Consolidation and Transition to Clerkships courses, the time UW sets aside to prepare for USMLE Step 1 before the Patient Care Phase. Required clerkships total 42 weeks and can be taken anywhere in the WWAMI region, and the Community-focused Urban Scholars Program runs all four years in Seattle only (UW School of Medicine curriculum).
Medical schools in and around Seattle
| School | Degree | 2025-26 applications | Applicants from Washington | New students | New students from Washington | Women |
|---|
| U Washington | MD | 5,275 | 17.6% | 280 | 51.4% | 58.6% |
| Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine | DO | AACOMAS (not in AAMC data) | | | | |
Total for the one Seattle-area MD school: 5,275 applications, 280 first-year seats, 19 per seat (AAMC 2025 FACTS, Table A-1, AAMC short names; DO schools apply through AACOMAS, outside AAMC's data).
Seattle's DO option: Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Yakima (founded 2005, private). DO schools also accept the MCAT, so the same Seattle prep covers both routes.
Other Washington MD schools Seattle applicants weigh
| School | Applications | New students | From Washington |
|---|
| Washington State-Floyd | 1,574 | 80 | 100% |
Across all 2 of Washington's MD schools, 360 students started in 2025-26; the Seattle schools above account for 78% of those seats (AAMC Table A-1).
Of 1,051 Washington applicants in 2025-26 (Seattle included), 224 (21.3%) started at an MD school in Washington, 223 (21.2%) started out of state and 604 (57.5%) did not start at any US MD school that year (AAMC Table A-5).
Washington pre-meds by the numbers (the pool Seattle applicants are in)
| 2025-26 | Applicants from Washington | New students from Washington |
|---|
| Number | 1,051 | 447 |
| Average total MCAT | 507.6 | 511.8 |
| Average total GPA | 3.63 | 3.76 |
Washington's new students averaged 511.8 on the MCAT and a 3.76 GPA, against 507.6 and 3.63 for applicants (AAMC FACTS, Tables A-19 and A-20). New students led in every section, by 1.1 points in Chemical and Physical, Biological and Biochemical, and Psychological and Social, and by 0.8 in CARS, the narrowest gap (AAMC FACTS).
MCAT section averages for Washington applicants vs. new students
| Section | Applicants | New students | Gap |
|---|
| Chemical and Physical (CPBS) | 126.8 | 127.9 | +1.1 |
| Critical Analysis and Reasoning (CARS) | 126.2 | 127 | +0.8 |
| Biological and Biochemical (BBLS) | 127 | 128.1 | +1.1 |
| Psychological and Social (PSBB) | 127.7 | 128.8 | +1.1 |
Ten years of Washington medical school applicants, as seen from Seattle
| Year | Washington applicants | Washington new students |
|---|
| 2016-17 | 1,052 | 385 |
| 2017-18 | 1,072 | 433 |
| 2018-19 | 1,066 | 408 |
| 2019-20 | 1,135 | 448 |
| 2020-21 | 1,068 | 425 |
| 2021-22 | 1,352 | 442 |
| 2022-23 | 1,119 | 403 |
| 2023-24 | 1,067 | 456 |
| 2024-25 | 1,003 | 451 |
| 2025-26 | 1,051 | 447 |
Source: AAMC 2025 FACTS, Tables A-3 and A-4.
What MCAT score Seattle applicants need
AAMC's grid pools applicants nationwide over three cycles, 2023-24 to 2025-26, so it is not specific to Washington or to any one school (AAMC FACTS, Table A-23). Read it with Washington's own averages: the average applicant (507.6, 3.63) sits in the 506-509 band of the 3.60-3.79 row, where 45.4% were accepted, and the average new student (511.8, 3.76) sits in the 510-513 band of the same row, at 60% (AAMC FACTS, Table A-23).
That 14.6-point step is the biggest between neighboring bands anywhere in the row; the next two bands add only 6.7 and 4.6 points (AAMC FACTS, Table A-23). GPA moves the odds too: in the 510-513 band, applicants above a 3.79 GPA were accepted 70.5% of the time against 60% in the 3.60-3.79 row (AAMC FACTS, Table A-23). Washington's new-student average of 511.8 is only 0.3 below the national 512.1, so the bar for Seattle applicants is essentially the national one (AAMC FACTS, Tables A-16 and A-20).
National AAMC grids (acceptance by MCAT and GPA, six years of averages): MCAT tutoring by city.
How many people in Seattle search for MCAT tutoring
Seattle-Tacoma WA is 78th of 209 US metro areas on Google Trends for the share of searches about the MCAT over five years, with 15 of 100, in the upper half (retrieved October 2026). The city-named tutor search is tiny: Semrush counts 20 US searches a month for “mcat tutor seattle”, against 1,600 for “mcat tutor” (October 2026).
5.0
