ROANOKE – Forty-two new medical students started at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Monday. For the first time, the class of 2021 is made up of more women than men: 22 women and 20 men.
The first day of school includes the annual tradition of a class picture on the front steps.
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A little more than a third of the class is from Virginia, 14 percent from North Carolina, and the rest of the class is from 11 other states.
"It seems really exciting. Everyone is so kind. All the professors are very, very excited about what they can provide to us. So far it's really encouraging especially since it's a small class I feel like it will be easy to make friends here," said Lauren Cashman.
The medical school is highly competitive. More than 4,403 applied and 307 of those people were interviewed to get the class of 42.
This is the eighth class at the Roanoke school. The building can only accommodate a class of 42 students so right now, there are no plans of adding more spots in the coming years.