In July of 2019, NYU opened a brand-new medical school, NYU Long Island School of Medicine, on the campus of NYU Winthrop Hospital, in Mineola, New York. Here are five things you need to know about the region’s newest medical school as it welcomes its first class.

1. Tuition Costs $0

A year after NYU School of Medicine launched the first top-ranked MD program to award full-tuition scholarships to all students, NYU Long Island School of Medicine launches with the same full-scholarship model. Of the dozen medical programs nationwide specializing in primary care medicine, it’s the only one that spares students the annual burden of tuition.

2. Primary Care Is the Focus

To address the national shortage of primary care physicians, the school is training future doctors who are committed to careers in internal and community medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and general surgery. It received more than 2,400 applicants for 24 spots.

3. School’s Out in Three Years, Not Four

NYU Long Island School of Medicine will be the first medical school in the nation to offer an exclusive three-year MD program. Factoring in the tuition benefit, savings on cost-of-living expenses, and the opportunity to begin practicing 1 year earlier, students stand to save $417,000.

4. Talent Stays Local

Matriculated students receive conditional acceptance to an NYU Winthrop residency slot in primary care through the National Resident Matching Program. “There’s a high correlation between where primary care doctors do their residency and where they wind up practicing,” says founding dean Steven Shelov, MD, MS.

5. NYU Langone Health Is Family

After the merger of NYU Langone hospitals and NYU Winthrop Hospital this September, the new school will be affiliated with NYU Langone Health, a relationship that offers clinical experiences and future professional opportunities for its graduates. “NYU Long Island School of Medicine will serve a special role in the history of our institution as it prepares the next generation of physicians to meet the needs of our evolving healthcare system,” says Robert I. Grossman, MD, dean of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and CEO of NYU Langone Health.