As the state’s flagship medical school, statewide growth of medical education is a priority at the Medical College of Georgia.
The educational experience is anchored by MCG’s main campus in Augusta, as well as regional clinical campuses for third- and fourth-year students, a four-year campus in Athens in partnership with the University of Georgia and another four-year campus in Savannah in partnership with Georgia Southern University.
Expanding partnerships with physicians and hospitals throughout Georgia ensures that students experience the full spectrum of medicine, from urban tertiary care hospitals to small-town primary care practices.
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
The Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership is a four-year medical school campus of the Medical College of Georgia. The AU/UGA Medical Partnership combines the significant instructional and research resources of UGA, the birthplace of public higher education, with the expertise of Georgia’s flagship medical school, the Medical College of Georgia.
GS/AU Partnership
MCG Savannah is a partnership between Augusta University and Georgia Southern University. Students will complete their preclinical training on the Armstrong Campus at Georgia Southern University and will continue with their clinical training across the Southeast Clinical Campus.
Northwest Campus
With the opening of the residential campus, students now spend most of their clinically-intensive third and fourth years with physicians in Rome and Dalton and throughout Northwest Georgia.
Southwest Campus
The foundation for MCG’s Southwest Campus was laid decades ago as clinical sites were established in multiple locations. The student experiences at these sites led to the formal development of MCG’s first clinical campus, with all clerkships available and multiple elective opportunities offered.
Southeast Campus
The Southeast Campus of the Medical College of Georgia gives 3rd-year and 4th-year students a distinctive experience in one of the state's most historic regions. At Brunswick's Southeast Georgia Health System, students find enthusiastic, accomplished physicians and first-class facilities that offer a blend of urban and rural medicine with an abundance of one-on-one learning experiences.
AHEC
A partnership coordinated by Augusta University, the Georgia Statewide AHEC Network is a complex, multi-disciplinary effort which responds to the problems of health professionals supply and distribution in rural and underserved areas of the state.
The expansive and largely rural state of Georgia is among the top 10 states in the nation for population size and growth yet ranks 39th in the number of active physicians per 100,000 population, according to the 2017 State Physician Data Book of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
The physician shortage is exacerbated by the reality that, like the general population, Georgia's physicians are aging with the state ranking 35th in the percentage of active physicians age 60 and older.
To help address the need for more doctors, in 2006 the AAMCAssociation of American Medical Colleges called for a 30 percent increase in medical school enrollment. The year before, in 2005, MCGMedical College of Georgia had opened its first clinical campus in Southwest Georgia, the Southwest Campus based at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, GA. The Southwest Campus is strategically located in a relatively rural area of the state where physician shortages are most acute. Data confirm that physicians who come from and/or train in rural areas are more likely to practice in rural areas.
In 2007, MCG announced the Southeast Campus, which is now based at St. Joseph's/Candler Health System in Savannah and the Southeast Georgia Health System in Brunswick.
In January 2008, the University System of Georgia Board of Regents accepted a medical education expansion plan for the state calling for the university's medical college to expand statewide, including opening the four-year Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership in Athens. This campus focuses on small group learning approaches leveraging its small class size. The first 40 freshman students started at the Medical Partnership in fall 2010. This enabled growth of MCG's class size from 190 to 230 students.
Later in 2010, officials from Rome, GA, and Augusta University announced establishment of the Northwest Campus, which became operational in 2013.
Today, MCG's diverse educational clinical experiences include more than 350 urban and rural sites across Georgia where students experience the full spectrum of medicine.
Interest in Georgia's public medical school is strong, with 3,563 applications for 264 positions in the class of 2022.
In July 2024, MCG's class size grew to 304, putting it on track to be the 4th or 5th largest class at 1,092 with students enrolled at our new MCG Savannah Campus.
MCG also plans to establish its fourth regional clinical campus, for third-and fourth-year students in Atlanta, at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in 2025.
