Our People

At Rochester, our students come from many backgrounds. But they have some amazing things in common: they are driven, accomplished, caring individuals, each with a unique story of their own.

Diversity - Ever more equitable. Ever more inclusive. Ever better.

We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable, racially and socially just affirming culture at the University of Rochester. We are guided by the idea of moving away from diversity or equity and inclusion as an isolated initiative to Equity and Inclusion as a catalyst for institutional excellence. The University of Rochester Medical Center aspires to make every person feel safe, welcome, and supported at all times; to be a place where everyone, regardless of identity or challenges they face, is lifted up to become their best and healthiest selves; to serve as a powerful force for eliminating racism, division, and exclusion in our communities and beyond.  Our five-year plan to achieve this vision reflects input and ideas from medical students, residents, trainees, faculty members, and staff across the Medical Center, along with supportive groups and individuals from the Greater Rochester community. It calls us—as individuals and collectively as an institution—to build, recruit, nurture, exemplify, and engage in the work of being anti-racist.

Equity & Anti-Racism Action Plan

Our five-year plan to achieve this vision reflects input and ideas from medical students, residents, trainees, faculty members, and staff across the Medical Center, along with supportive groups and individuals from the Greater Rochester community. It calls us—as individuals and collectively as an institution—to build, recruit, nurture, exemplify, and engage in the work of being anti-racist. We welcome you to explore our anti-racism plan in further detail.

Class Profile

Here are some statistics to give you an idea of who makes up our student body.

• Class size is 105 students
• Average age is 24
• Age range is 21 - 37
• About 51% are women
• From 34 different states
• From 124 different colleges and universities
• 61% are science majors
• About 67% take a year or more off before entering medical school
• 7% are MD/PhD (NIH-funded MSTP)
• 50% participate in an international medicine project
• Mean GPA is 3.82
• Mean MCAT score is 516
• 10% have advanced degrees (master’s and doctorates)

Class Profile Information

Our students have developed the Rainbow Book  to highlight resources for the LGBTQ Community.

Class Code of Conduct

We, the Class of 2026, present this Code of Conduct as the tenets we chose to foster and uphold. 

Through thoughtful conversation, consideration, and action, we endeavor to create a compassionate community that uplifts people of all backgrounds and identities. We vow to respect ourselves, our colleagues, our patients, and our profession.

We promise to advocate for marginalized communities and embrace environmental stewardship. We pledge to confront our own biases and celebrate diversity by making space for all voices to be heard. We will strive to honor our patients’ wishes and dignity.

We acknowledge past injustices and aim to dismantle persistent systems of oppression that create barriers to equitable healthcare. As future leaders in the community, we will actively promote anti-racism and anti-discrimination.

We commit to a lifetime of collaborative learning as we strive to be ever better for our patients. We will promote accountability in a manner that sees mistakes as a component of growth.

As we advance the field of medicine, we will nurture the humanity of ourselves and our communities. As a class, we vow to uphold integrity and be intentional in our thoughts, words, and actions.

^{Each year during orientation, the incoming medical school class writes their code of conduct which is displayed in the Ryan Case Method Room to remind the future physicians of the values and guidelines they plan to abide by.}