MILLEDGEVILLE—The University of Georgia has announced that it will be opening a new public medical school on its Athens Campus.  

Many students in the medical field believe this announcement have several potential advantages for their future in the medical field. 

Georgia College is less than two hours away from the University of Georgia’s Athens campus. The liberal arts college is one of the few schools with a pre-medical mentorship program available to students.  

Due to the absence of a medical school near Georgia College’s Milledgeville campus, many students enroll in the school to be a part of the mentorship program. 

Dr. Ashok Hegde is a GCSU professor and is the program’s mentor. 

“They wanted to create a new medical school to train more physicians because Georgia has a shortage of physicians, just like many other parts of the country,” said Hegde. 

Augusta University is currently the only public medical school in Georgia. According to Hegde, 95% of the medical school’s yearly acceptances are in-state students.  

He believes this will be the same for the new medical school at the University of Georgia. 

“So that will enable Georgia students and undergraduates who want to pursue medicine as a career to have a little more opportunity,” said Hegde. “As people might know, entry into medical school is highly competitive.” 

Jin Yeong Kim is the president of the pre-med club here at Georgia College and a student under Dr. Hegde’s mentorship. She has appreciated her educational experience on campus and believes it has prepared her for a future in med school.  

“All of us are excited; Not in the sense that we all plan to go to Athens and apply to that medical school, but most of the students here understand because we are all from Georgia,” said Kim. 

Jin Yeong is a senior biology major here at GCSU and a native of Milledgeville. She believes that the city’s citizens are underserved in terms of their medical needs. 

With the opening of the new medical school, she hopes to see an increase in doctors for such areas in dire need.  

“We’ve all been excited because, you know, if more doctors can go through, then that means that the healthcare crisis in Georgia can be alleviated to a greater extent and maybe quicker and sooner,” Kim said.  

According to UGA’s newspaper, Red and Black, the University of Georgia medical school may begin enrolling students as early as 2026. 

If you would like to learn more information about the medical school at the University of Georgia or the pre-med program at GCSU, visit https://news.uga.edu/ or visit https://www.gcsu.edu/pre-med.