adoption of special recruitment strategies. A study of medical services in Ontario, released in August 2005, found that for the first time in many years, the region's level of medical services had improved over the previous year. Construction on both campuses began in mid-2004, and the buildings were completed in August 2005. NOSM accepted its charter class of 56 students in September of that same year and the school was officially opened by Premier Dalton McGuinty on 13 September 2005. The school received full accreditation from the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) in February 2009. The fictional Boréal Medical School, the setting of the Canadian medical drama television series Hard Rock Medical, is based on the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Admissions The Northern Ontario School of Medicine is one of only two medical schools in Canada outside of Quebec (along with University of Ottawa) that does not require an MCAT score to be considered for admission. Furthermore, the only academic prerequisite is a university undergraduate degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0 out of 4.0 (the mean GPA of the 2013/2014 entering class was 3.83). To help further its social accountability mandate, NOSM does take into account where candidates are from and whether they have studied or worked in Northern Ontario or other rural or remote places. For each entering class since the schools inception in 2005, approximately 90-95% were from Northern Ontario. Each year, approximately 2000 applicants compete for the 64 spots in each class (36 at the Sudbury campus and 28 at the Thunder Bay campus). Applicants request their preferred campus at the time of their interview. Hospitals Fully affiliated teaching hospitals: Health Sciences North – Sudbury Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre – Thunder Bay Larger community teaching hospitals: South Muskoka Memorial Hospital – Bracebridge LaVerendrye Hospital – Fort Frances Huntsville District Memorial Hospital – Huntsville Sensenbrenner Hospital - Kapuskasing Lake of the Woods District Hospital – Kenora Temiskaming Hospital – New Liskeard North Bay General Hospital – North Bay West Parry Sound Health Centre – Parry Sound Sault Area Hospital – Sault Ste. Marie Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre – Sioux Lookout Timmins and District Hospital – Timmins The students also go to communities in the north such as Hearst, Smooth Rock Falls, Cochrane. Health Sciences Library The Northern Ontario School of