The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a private, nonprofit, research-intensive medical school in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City, United States. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of the integrated healthcare Montefiore Health System (Montefiore Medicine) and also has affiliation with Jacobi Medical Center.
Admission to Einstein is highly competitive, with one of the lowest acceptance rates among medical schools in the United States (3.3% in 2021). Einstein ranks 13th among top U.S. medical schools for graduate success in academic medicine and biomedical research (i.e., awards, publications, grants, and clinical trials), and its NIH funding per investigator consistently ranks among the highest in the nation (7th among US universities in 2019).
Einstein offers a M.D. program, a Ph.D. program in the biomedical sciences and clinical investigation, and two Master of Science (M.S.) degrees. In 2021, the MD program matriculated 183 students from 9,773 applicants. Einstein’s MD program employs a holistic admissions process; the median undergraduate GPA of matriculants is 3.83, and the median MCAT score is in the 93rd percentile.
The Medical Scientist Training Program at Einstein is one of the oldest, largest, and most distinguished MD/PhD programs in the U.S. Einstein was one of the original three MD/PhD programs to be awarded funding from the National Institutes of Health in 1964, and has received continuous funding since then. The program is currently training over 100 MD/PhD students.
The college is named for the world-renowned physicist and humanitarian Albert Einstein.
History
Einstein used to be the medical school of Yeshiva University. Samuel Belkin, then-president of Yeshiva University, began planning a new medical school as early as 1945. Six years later, Belkin and New York City Mayor Vincent Impellitteri entered into an agreement to begin its construction with funding from Henry H. Minskoff and Phillip Stollman. Around the same time, physicist and humanitarian Albert Einstein sent a letter to Belkin. He remarked that such an endeavor would be "unique" in that the school would "welcome students of all creeds and races". Two years later, on his 74th birthday, March 14, 1953, Albert Einstein agreed to have his name attached to the medical school.
The first classes began September 12, 1955, with 56 students. The first dean was Irving London. It was the first new medical school to open in New York City since 1897. The Sue Golding Graduate Division was established in 1957 to offer Doctor of Philosophy degrees in biomedical disciplines. The Medical Scientist Training Program, a combined MD–PhD program, was started 1964. The Clinical Research Training Program, which confers Master of Science degrees in clinical research methods, began in July 1998.
In February 2015, Yeshiva University announced the transfer of ownership of Einstein to the Montefiore Health System, in order to eliminate a large deficit from the university's financial statements. The medical school accounted for approximately two-thirds of the university's annual operating deficits, which had reached about $100 million before the announcement. On September 9, 2015, the agreement between Yeshiva and Montefiore was finalized, and financial and operational control of Albert Einstein College of Medicine was transferred to Montefiore. Yeshiva University continued to grant Einstein's degrees until 2018, as the medical school achieved independent degree-granting authority in the spring of 2019.
Student body
There are 183 first-year medical students in the Class of 2025. 9,773 people applied for seats, and 1,200 were interviewed. 60% of the class identify as women and 20% identify with groups underrepresented in medicine. Ages range from 21 to 34 with an average age of 23.5. 16% of students were born outside the United States and students come from 17 U.S. states. Students have an excellent track record of volunteer service.