Which Medical Schools Are in New Jersey?

The MD class sizes are from the AAMC's Table A-1 for 2023-24, and the MD average MCAT^®s are as tallied by Shemmassian Consulting. Rowan-Virtua's numbers are from AACOM's school profile for 2024-25: 269 first-years at Stratford and 31 at Sewell, with a mean MCAT^® of 507.9 and a mean GPA of 3.72. The LCME lists RWJMS in Piscataway, while Shemmassian and Rutgers Health use New Brunswick, so you'll see both town names.

The 4 MD averages are within 4 points of each other. For current medians, the source of record is the AAMC's MSAR, and the MSAR guide covers whether it's worth the money.

The AAMC's Table A-4 counts 936 New Jersey residents who started at an MD school in 2023-24. New Jersey had 613 first-year MD seats that year, and Table A-1's in-state shares put about 463 of those seats in the hands of New Jersey residents.

New Jersey's MD seats and its own students

First-year MD students, 2023-24

That leaves about 473 of the 936, or 51 percent, who started MD school in another state. If you're weighing schools next door, the New York medical schools guide covers that state's options.

Table A-3 counts 1,911 New Jersey applicants to MD schools in 2023-24, so about 49 percent of them started at an MD school that year. Some of the rest went to DO schools, which these tables don't count.

Every New Jersey MD school drew between 4,558 and 6,176 applications for its 2023-24 class, and New Jersey residents sent 20 to 28 percent of them. Multiplying Table A-1's percentages gives these estimates of how many applicants enrolled:

These count students who enrolled, not acceptances, so your odds of an acceptance are higher than the table suggests. The gap is still large. At NJMS, roughly 1 in 10 in-state applicants enrolled, compared with about 1 in 155 from out of state, even though the school's admissions FAQ says it "gives equal consideration to in-state and out-of-state applicants."

Hackensack Meridian is the exception. It's the only private MD school in the state, and 51.9 percent of its first-year class came from New Jersey, the lowest share of the 4. If you're applying from out of state, it's the New Jersey MD school where your odds are closest to a resident's.

NJMS and RWJMS are becoming one school. The Rutgers Board of Governors approved a single medical school accreditation, under the name Rutgers School of Medicine, on July 10, 2023, according to Rutgers Health's integration page. The plan keeps two co-equal campuses, one in Newark and one in New Brunswick, under one founding dean, Amy P. Murtha.

For applicants, the change is in how you apply. Once the merger is accredited, you'll send one AMCAS submission and one secondary to Rutgers School of Medicine, and you can apply to both campuses or just one. NJBIZ reported in 2023 that the first class was expected to enroll in the 2028 academic year, and RWJMS's admissions page lists an anticipated accreditation in 2027. Until then, the LCME still lists them as two programs, so check both schools' sites before you build your AMCAS list.

• NJMS: The AMCAS deadline is December 1, and the secondary and letters are due December 15. Secondary fee waivers go only to applicants approved for the AAMC's Fee Assistance Program, and the fee assistance guide covers how to qualify.
• Hackensack Meridian: The AMCAS deadline is December 1, and the secondary is due December 8. The secondary fee is $100, per the school's admission process page, and the MCAT^® must be taken by September 30 of the year before you'd start.
• Cooper: The dates and deadlines page lists November 15 for AMCAS and December 15 for the secondary and letters, about two weeks ahead of NJMS and Hackensack Meridian on AMCAS.
• Rowan-Virtua: You apply through AACOMAS. The primary deadline is February 1, 2027, the supplemental deadline is March 15, 2027, and the supplemental fee is $90, with a waiver available for financial need. The latest MCAT^® it accepts for this cycle is January 31, 2027.

Rowan-Virtua's admissions FAQ says candidates "should have a science GPA of 3.50+, a BBFL of 126+ and an MCAT^® score of 505+," where BBFL is the Bio/Biochem section score. It doesn't say admissions favors residents, and AACOM's profile shows 175 of Stratford's 269 first-years, or 65 percent, came from New Jersey in 2024-25.

Cooper and Hackensack Meridian are both less than 15 years old. Cooper opened in Camden in 2012 through a partnership between Rowan University and the Cooper Health System, per Wikipedia. Hackensack Meridian was established in 2015 with Seton Hall University, became independent of Seton Hall on July 3, 2020, and earned full LCME accreditation in February 2023. Its Nutley campus is on the former Hoffmann-La Roche headquarters site.

NJMS is the oldest school on the list. Shemmassian dates it to 1954 and RWJMS to 1962.

The Rutgers rates are from its RWJMS and NJMS fee schedules, Cooper's and Rowan-Virtua's from Rowan's 2026-27 bursar table, and Hackensack Meridian's from its cost of attendance page, which adds $3,660 in student fees. The table leaves out fees, health insurance and living costs, and the new federal loan caps limit how much of the total you can borrow.

If you're a New Jersey resident, Rutgers is the cheapest option, and Hackensack Meridian costs $26,540 more a year in tuition. If you're from out of state, Hackensack Meridian has the lowest tuition of the 5, by $2,505, and the MD vs DO guide covers how Rowan-Virtua's degree compares 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 Rowan-Virtua profile, the AAMC's 2023-24 FACTS tables, the Rutgers and Rowan 2026-27 tuition schedules, Hackensack Meridian's cost of attendance page and each school's admissions pages. Deadlines, tuition and class profiles change every cycle, so check each school's site and the MSAR before you finalize a list.