The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine is the medical school of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences. It is one of two medical programs in Canada that operates on an accelerated 3-year MD program instead of the traditional 4-year MD program, along with the University of Calgary.

In 2021, McMaster ranked 11th in the world and was tied for second in Canada in the clinical and health category of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In 2012, McMaster ranked 14th in the world and 1st in Canada in medicine, according to the Times Higher Education Rankings.

The school received 5,605 applications for the Class of 2025, the most applications of any medical school in Canada, and had an acceptance rate of 3.6%. The average cumulative GPA of entering undergraduates in the Class of 2027 was 3.92 and the average MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) score was 129, a score in the 95th percentile. Unlike many other medical schools, McMaster's medical school does not drop any courses or years in their GPA calculation, and only uses the CARS section of the MCAT in their admissions evaluation. Students also have to write the CASPer admissions test, first developed by McMaster in 2010.

Since its formation in 1965, the school has used the small-group, case-based learning curriculum invented at McMaster, which is now known as PBL or problem-based learning. In addition, the school was the first in the world to institute a 3-year M.D. program in 1969, with classes being held year round. In the 1980s, McMaster developed and coined the term "evidence-based medicine" as a way to approach clinical problem solving. McMaster also developed the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) system in 2001 for medical school admissions which has been adopted as part of the admissions process for professional schools around the world. In 2010, McMaster developed the CASPer test for medical school admissions, which has been adopted by over 70 medical, dental and nursing schools worldwide.

History McMaster University had long been a target of proposals for a medical school. As early as 1892, Trinity Medical College in Toronto had sought affiliation with McMaster. In the 1930s, Dr. C.E. Cooper-Cole and Dr. Gordon Murray were invited to become the first professors of medicine and surgery at the university. However, the plans were later shelved. In 1956, Sir Francis R. Fraser, wrote the Fraser report and concluded that McMaster could feasibly host a medical school. At the same time, the Ontario government had expressed the opinion that Ontario would need an additional medical school by 1966. The main driving force behind the project was Harry Thode, at the time the vice president of the university and later, the president. By 1965, the first dean of the new medical school John Robert Evans, was appointed. By 1966, the first five faculty members, John Robert Evans, William Walsh, Bill Spaulding, James Anderson and Fraser Mustard were recruited. The school would welcome its first class in the fall of 1969, graduating its first students in May 1972.

Facilities and teaching sites

The school is located at McMaster University's main campus in Hamilton, Ontario, housed within the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery, a building built in 2004 and the adjacent Health Sciences Centre. The DeGroote facility is shared with the Centre for Function Genomics, Centre for Gene Therapeutics, Institute for Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Research, Robert E. Fitzhenry Vector Laboratory, Centre for Asthma and Allergy Research (Allergen) and North American Headquarters for West Nile studies, as well as the Bachelor of Health Sciences undergraduate program.

In 2016, the medical school opened the David Braley Health Sciences Centre, a 192,000 square foot building, to be used by the Family Medicine department, Hamilton Public Health and other various academic divisions of the medical school.

The medical school currently operates three campuses: the main Hamilton campus; the Waterloo Regional Campus located on the Health Sciences Campus of the University of Waterloo in downtown Kitchener, Ontario; and the Niagara Regional Campus located on the main campus of Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. All three campuses offer the same curriculum and lead to the same degree, but differ in patient populations and teaching locations.

McMaster's teaching hospitals are divided into two major hospital groupings: Hamilton Health Sciences, recently ranked 2nd in Canada among research hospitals and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

+McMaster University teaching hospitals Institution Main specialty Number of Beds Affiliated research arm Hamilton General Hospital Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Trauma, Rehabilitation, Neurology, Neurosurgery 607 David Braley Cardiac, Vascular and Stroke Research Institute, Population Health Research Institute St. Joseph's Hospital Charlton Campus Nephrology, Urology, Pulmonology, Thoracic Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology, Ophthalmology 700+ Father Sean O'Sullivan Research Centre, Brain Body Institute, McMaster Institute for Surgical Invention, Innovation and Education, Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, McMaster Institute of Urology, Hamilton Centre for Kidney Research St. Joseph's Hospital West 5th Campus Psychiatry 305 McMaster University Medical Centre and McMaster Children's Hospital Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics 405 Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre Oncology, Orthopedic Surgery, Hepatobiliary Surgery 228 Escarpment Cancer Research Institute St. Peter's Hospital Rehabilitation, Geriatrics 250 The school is also affiliated with the following Ontario hospitals, where students rotate and train during their clerkship: St. Mary's General Hospital Grand River Hospital Joseph Brant Hospital Brantford General Hospital Cambridge Memorial Hospital West Lincoln Memorial Hospital Niagara Health System (Greater Niagara, Niagara-on-the Lake, Port Colborne Campuses) Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital Grey Bruce Health Services Norfolk General Hospital Brampton Civic Hospital Markham Stouffville Hospital Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital Southlake Regional Health Centre

Educational influence The medical school is a pioneer in its teaching and admissions philosophies through the Program for Educational Research and Development. McMaster created a revolution in health care training by pioneering the problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum, which has since influenced health care education worldwide. The instructional strategy focuses on student-driven learning, which occurs in groups. Most medical schools in North America have adopted PBL in varying degrees into their curriculum.

In the early 1990s, the School of Medicine developed the personal progress index (PPI) as an objective method for assessing acquisition and retention of knowledge for students in the medical program. The PPI is administered at routine intervals to all students in the program, regardless of their level of training, and plots students' increases in scores as they move through the program. Students typically score under 15% on their first write, and increase 5-7% with each successive write. Students are able to monitor the changes in their scores and receive formative feedback based on a standardized score relative to the class mean. Due to the overwhelming success and research supporting the use of the PPI as an evaluation tool, it is now used in Canada, US, Europe, and Australia.

In 2004, McMaster developed the multiple-mini interview to address long standing concerns over the standard panel interviews as being poor reflectors of performance in medical school.Barrick MR, Mount MK. The Big 5 personality dimensions and job performance: a meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology 1991, 44:1-26. This format uses short, independent assessments in a timed circuit to obtain aggregate scores in interpersonal skills, professionalism, ethical/moral judgment, and critical thinking to assess candidates. The MMI has consistently shown to have a higher predictive validity for future performance than traditional interviews.Hofmeister M, Lockyer J, Crutcher R. The multiple mini-interview for selection of international medical graduates into family medicine residency education. Med Educ. 2009 Jun;43(6):573-9. By 2008, the MMI was being used as an admissions test for the majority of medical schools in Canada, Australia, and Israel, as well as other medical schools in the United States and Asia.

In 2010, McMaster began using a computer-based simulated test known as CASPer as an admissions tool at the pre-interview stage. This is an assessment of interpersonal and decision-making skills that is more reliable, and predicts much more validity than standard autobiographical submissions. The test involves several video clips lasting 1–2 minutes in length, followed by situational challenges and self-descriptive questions that may or may not be related to the preceding video clip.

Admissions The acceptance rate for McMaster University's medical school was 3.8% in 2017. The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine received over 5200 applications in 2014 for a class size of approximately 200 students. The average GPA of entering undergraduates in the Class of 2017 was 3.83 and the average MCAT verbal score was 11 (95th percentile).

Curriculum The program is divided into two parts: the pre-clerkship curriculum and the clerkship curriculum, each spanning half of the three years. The pre-clerkship curriculum is divided into five medical foundations, where students meet with a faculty member twice a week in a small group setting for teaching. Learning is done using the problem-based learning approach, where students set objectives, complete independent research, and then use their small group sessions to teach others, ask questions, and challenge one another with the guidance of their tutor. Students also complete clinical skills and professional competencies training at this time. Students are not graded during pre-clerkship. Evaluations are given at the end of each medical foundation. Feedback from the students' tutors is given on tests and the PPI (personal progress index test) provides the student with a sense of their progress during pre-clerkship.

The clerkship curriculum consists of a rotating schedule. Students move through various medical disciplines. These include: Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery, Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Anesthesia, and a number of elective blocks for specialties of interest to the individual student. In their third year, students apply to the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) for residency training after completion of the MD Program.

Students are allowed to take an enrichment year that can last up to twelve months. Students can pursue academic work during that period, including research. In addition, up to 40% of the time is available for clinical electives. Students can also pursue a master's degree at McMaster or other universities during that period.

98% of McMaster graduates matched to a residency position in the first iteration of the match in 2016.

International health electives