Outcomes and Strategic Plans

Graduation Rates by Entering Year

Overall graduation rates are the number of students that start out in medical school who then graduate at the end of six years. Although 89-95% of our students graduate within four years, many factors can impact a student not completing in four years. These may include an illness or injury that puts the student behind, academic failure, moving to a five-year program of study, suspension, withdrawal, or dismissal for integrity violations, etc. Des Moines University students have a very high graduation rate compared to many schools across the country.

*Graduation rates as reported to date; students have six years to complete the program.

Internship and Residency Match Rates

Matching to an internship or residency after medical school is very important. Although not every student decides to go on to a residency right away (some finish a master’s program or dual enrollment program, others volunteer for international missions, some do general medical officer duty in the military), the majority of the students enter the match in hopes of gaining a residency in the specialty they would like to pursue. There are far more applicants for residencies than there are residency spots. This makes the competition for graduate medical education (GME) fierce for some specialties. Des Moines University has had a high match rate, and this past year 100% of all graduates matched into an internship or residency.

Board Pass Rates

DMU pass rates on COMLEX board exams  consistently exceed the national average. Board exam results provide an important measure of knowledge for review as part of the graduate medical education (residency) application process. Three-year averages represent the most recent three years of data.

NA – National Average

Strategic Plans

Download the COM Strategic Plan  or COM Research Strategy 2020