Which Medical Schools Are in Colorado?

CU's class size is from the AAMC's Table A-1 for 2023-24, and its average MCAT^® is as tallied by Shemmassian Consulting. Rocky Vista's class size is also Shemmassian's, and its average MCAT^® is from AACOM's school profile. UNC's numbers describe its first class, from the university's announcement.

The CU average is 11 to 13 points above the two DO schools. For current MD medians, the source of record is the AAMC's MSAR, and the MSAR guide covers whether it's worth buying.

The AAMC's Table A-4 counts 285 Colorado residents who started at an MD school in 2023-24. Colorado had 181 first-year MD seats that year, all at CU, and Table A-1 shows 43.1 percent of that class were Colorado residents, or about 78 students.

That means about 207 of those 285 Coloradans, or 73 percent, started MD school somewhere else. That's a bigger share than Utah's 62 percent, which the Utah medical schools breakdown walks through.

Table A-3 counts 776 Colorado applicants to MD schools in 2023-24, so about 37 percent of them started at an MD school that year. Some of the rest went to DO schools, which these tables don't count.

CU drew 9,852 applications for its 2023-24 class, and only 7.1 percent came from Colorado residents, or about 700. That's about 90 percent of the state's 776 MD applicants, so about 9 in 10 Coloradans applying MD put CU on their list.

About 78 of those 700 in-state applicants enrolled, roughly 1 in 9. On the other side, about 103 of the 9,152 out-of-state applicants enrolled, roughly 1 in 89. These count students who enrolled, not acceptances, and the in-state and out-of-state splits are estimates built from Table A-1's percentages.

A few more things to know before you apply:

• The secondary costs $100. That's from CU's How to Apply page, which also says to expect a three- to four-week delay between submitting AMCAS and CU receiving your application.
• There's a Fort Collins campus. CU runs a four-year regional campus at Colorado State University in Fort Collins that admits 14 students per year. You apply through the regular CU process, and the branch can't take international applicants because of visa rules.
• Being a resident saves money. CU's 2026-27 rate table lists $48,904 in tuition for incoming MD students whether or not they're residents. Residents pay $164 in mandatory fees, while nonresidents pay $25,955, so the gap is $25,791 a year.

Rocky Vista opened in 2006 and admitted its first class in 2008. AACOM lists its Colorado address as 8401 S. Chambers Road in Englewood, while the AOA lists the campus as Parker, so you'll see both names. It also runs a DO campus in Ivins, Utah, and one in Billings, Montana.

From AACOM's profile:

• Stats: a mean MCAT^® of 504.4 and a mean undergraduate GPA of 3.61.
• Tuition: $66,604 for 2025-26, the same for residents and nonresidents. The 2026-27 rate is listed as TBA.
• Deadlines: You apply through AACOMAS. The primary deadline is April 30, 2027, and the supplemental deadline is June 16, 2027. Admissions are rolling, and AACOM's profile recommends applying early.

Shemmassian counts 36 percent of Rocky Vista's first-year class as Colorado residents, compared with 43.1 percent at CU in the AAMC's count.

UNC held its grand opening on July 24, 2026, and Becker's Hospital Review calls it the state's third medical school. Classes started July 27. The university's announcement gives this profile of the first class:

• 80 students from 21 states, with 54 percent of them Colorado residents.
• An average MCAT of 506 and an average cumulative GPA of 3.47.
• 44 percent from towns under 50,000 people, and 28 percent from groups underrepresented in medicine.

The school is pre-accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, a status UNC's College of Osteopathic Medicine page lists, and Becker's reports it got that status in December 2025. Its approved class size is 150, and UNC expects to reach it in fall 2028, so the next two classes should get bigger. Applications for the fall 2027 class are open now.

The $127.5 million building is near the center of UNC's Greeley campus, per Colorado Politics, and a 2024 state law paid for it. UNC's tuition and fees policy sets tuition at $55,000 a year for every student, plus $2,000 in fees in years 1 and 2 and $1,000 in years 3 and 4.

The CU figures add tuition and mandatory fees from its rate table, which excludes program and course fees. Rocky Vista's figure is AACOM's tuition number, and UNC's adds its first-year fee to tuition. None of these include rent or living costs, and the new federal loan caps change how much of that you can borrow.

If you're a Colorado resident, CU is the cheapest option, by about $7,900 a year or more. If you're from out of state, both DO schools cost less than CU's nonresident rate, and the MD vs DO guide covers how the two degrees compare in admissions and the residency match.

To see how your score lines up with the averages above, look it up in the PurpleCAT MCAT score guide.

Last verified November 4, 2026, against the LCME's accredited program directory (updated November 2, 2026), the AOA's osteopathic school list, AACOM's Rocky Vista profile, the AAMC's 2023-24 FACTS tables, the University of Colorado's FY2027 tuition schedule and UNC's College of Osteopathic Medicine pages. Deadlines, tuition and class profiles change every cycle, so check each school's site and the MSAR before you finalize a list.