The Emory University School of Medicine is the graduate medical school of Emory University and a component of Emory’s Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center. Before it was established as the Emory School of Medicine in 1915, the school first began as the Atlanta Medical College. Founded in 1854 by a group of physicians led by Dr. John G. Westmoreland, the college began during unfavorable financial conditions along with competition of three other medical schools opening in the state, driving up competition for students. Despite these challenges, the Atlanta Medical College continued operation until August 1861 when classes were suspended due to the Civil War. Several years later, the College merged with the Southern Medical College, leading to the creation of the Atlanta College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1898. The College existed for 14 years before another merger took place, this time due to encouragement from the Council of Medical Education. The Council promised that if the Atlanta College of Physicians and Surgeons merged with the Atlanta School of Medicine, they would receive a Class A rating. After the merger, the American Medical Association began pressuring medical schools to align with universities in order to improve the quality of medical education nationwide. Just two years after the formation of the second version of the Atlanta Medical College, the College combined with Emory University, which was in its initial stages of development and sought to add medical education to its offerings. On June 28, 1915 the Emory School of Medicine was established. Emory University School of Medicine is located on the university's main campus in the Druid Hills neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The medical school offers a full-time Doctor of Medicine degree program, Masters programs in Anesthesiology and Genetic Counseling, degrees in Physical Therapy and Physician Assistant training, joint degree programs with other Emory graduate divisions, graduate medical education, and continuing medical education. Emory University School of Medicine traces its origins back to 1915 when the Atlanta Medical College (founded 1854), the Southern Medical College (1878), and the Atlanta School of Medicine (founded 1905) merged. With an acceptance rate of 7% in the Doctor of Medicine Program (2018), Emory University School of Medicine is consistently ranked among the top institutions for biomedical education, clinical care, and research in the United States. Admission and societies In 2017, the entering class of 143 medical students hailed from 65 different colleges and had