USF Health welcomes record-breaking incoming class of medical students

The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine today welcomed the strongest incoming class in its history, with a record-breaking academic profile that places the students among the most accomplished in the nation.

The 140 students of the Class of 2030 arrived with a median MCAT score of 521, equal to the 98th percentile nationally, or the Top 2% of all test-takers based on current national scoring data. It represents the highest median MCAT score ever recorded by an incoming class at the University of South Florida.

New college highs were also achieved for GPA, with a median overall GPA of 3.98 and median science GPA of 3.99. Taken together, the new cohort's academic credentials stand alongside the strongest at any medical school in the country.

This year's class arrives as the Morsani College of Medicine continues to receive national recognition for its educational rigor, research growth and clinical excellence. Earlier this year, the school earned the highest Tier 1 rating for research from U.S. News & World Report, one of only 16 medical schools nationwide to receive the designation. USF became the first medical school in Florida to achieve Tier 1 status in 2025 and is the only one in the state to have held the honor in consecutive years.

Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, executive vice president of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, said the class's outstanding qualifications reflect a decade-long rise in the competitiveness of incoming students, who have continued setting new standards for academic excellence year after year.

"We are thrilled to welcome such an extraordinary class," said Dr. Lockwood. "These remarkable students had their choice of outstanding medical schools, and we are honored they chose USF Health. We are committed to providing them with an innovative, rigorous curriculum and supportive, insightful faculty who are deeply invested in their success."

While the Class of 2030 enters medical school with an extraordinary record of achievement, students say the numbers are only one part of their story.

Students arrive at USF with a wide range of backgrounds, interests and life experiences. Some begin medical school after years spent conducting research in laboratories or serving on patient care teams. Others were drawn to medicine through moments of illness, caregiving, mentorship and community service that showed them the difference devoted doctors can make in people's lives. Despite their unique paths, uniting them all is a shared desire to become physicians who provide compassionate, patient-centered care for those most in need.

The class draws from communities across Florida and the nation and includes students from leading universities throughout the country. Sixty-six students attended undergraduate institutions ranked among the nation's Top 30 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Sixty-eight attended Florida colleges or universities and 35 graduated from USF, making it the most represented university in the class.

Outside of their studies, the students bring a breadth of personal talents and interests, ranging from embroidery, cooking and bouldering to cricket, pickleball, programming and filmmaking. Seventy-nine percent of the students speak at least two languages, while 38% speak three or more.

Meet a few of the remarkable students from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Class of 2030

Nicholas Beskow

USF already feels like home for Florida native Nicholas Beskow.

Originally from Naples, he grew up in a close-knit family shaped by his parents, who immigrated from Argentina and instilled in him the importance of relationships and building community. Those values set him on his path to medicine.

Beskow attended USF as a National Merit Scholar, studying molecular biosciences and graduating from the Judy Genshaft Honors College as part of the accelerated BS/MD program. While an undergraduate, he served as a peer mentor and developed lifelong friendships with classmates, many of whom are now fellow first-year students at the Morsani College of Medicine.

He also built close relationships with USF mentors and faculty. Beskow served as a lead research assistant in the I-HOPE Lab, which focuses on pediatric health promotion in oncology and obesity, and worked on research projects in genetic counseling with Deborah Cragun, PhD, professor in the USF College of Public Health.

Those relationships convinced him the Morsani College of Medicine was the right place to continue his training.

"Everyone I've met at USF has been so supportive of each other," Beskow said. "It does not feel like a competitive environment. It feels like a team."

Beskow begins medical school interested in family medicine, inspired in part by his father, a family medicine physician. He sees the specialty as a natural fit for his interest in public health and preventive care, as well as his desire to build lasting relationships with patients and communities.

"Tampa feels like home," Beskow said. "It feels like I was a puzzle piece outside of the puzzle, and when I came to Tampa, it fit perfectly."

Kaleigh Delbridge

Kaleigh Delbridge entered college leaning toward a career in medicine, but she wanted to be sure the profession was right for her.

So as an undergraduate at Baylor University, she took every opportunity to gain experience in the field. She was part of Baylor's Medical Ethics Discussion Society, worked in psychology and dementia research labs and served as a genetics learning assistant.

She also worked as an emergency department scribe, where she said one patient encounter confirmed the kind of physician she wanted to become.

Delbridge remembers watching as her attending physician sat down with a patient who had lived for years with chronic illness and autoimmune disease. The emergency department was getting busier, but rather than rush to the next patient, the physician spent nearly 30 minutes talking with the patient about her concerns, previous tests and thoughts about the best path forward.

"Watching that provider-patient relationship develop right in front of me cemented what I wanted to do," Delbridge said.

Delbridge and her older sister, Abigail, a pediatric resident at USF Health, are the first in their family to enter medicine. After years spent working toward the goal, Delbridge said beginning her first day of medical school felt like a surreal moment.

"To finally be starting at a program like USF, meeting my classmates and seeing everything become real, it feels incredibly special," she said.

Siddharth Chitta

Siddharth Chitta was exposed to scientific research early in life through the cancer research careers of his parents.

But during middle school, a family experience in health care showed him how his interest in science could connect with the personal relationships at the heart of medicine.

His mother was injured in a car accident and needed spinal surgery. As Chitta watched her physicians care for her, he saw a side of medicine that felt deeply human.

"I realized medicine was science with a personal aspect," Chitta said. "I wanted to be in a field where I could do breakthrough research and work on something impactful, but also interact with people. I really saw that in medicine."

Born in Buffalo, New York, Chitta grew up in Jacksonville and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He spent much of his undergraduate career in research, including work at Mayo Clinic and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He served as biology director of Science Olympiad at the University of Pennsylvania and worked as part of the Weber Lab team investigating T-cell function to enhance cancer therapeutics.

He brings that research experience to USF as one of five incoming students in the MD/PhD program, an intensive eight-year path that trains physician-scientists to bridge clinical care and groundbreaking biomedical research.

Chitta said choosing the Morsani College of Medicine for that journey was an easy decision. Not only did it allow him to be closer to home, but it offered him access to an expansive academic health environment that includes USF Health, Tampa General Hospital and Moffitt Cancer Center.

"USF felt like the right place to pursue both sides of what I want to do," Chitta said. "It gives me access to incredible research and clinical opportunities. For someone who wants to bring science closer to patients, that combination was really important."

MD CLASS OF 2030 BY THE NUMBERS

• 140 students
• 521 (Top 2% nationally) median MCAT score
• 3.98 median GPA
• 3.99 median science GPA
• 66 (47%) attended a Top 30 ranked university for their undergraduate degree
• 35 (25%) received undergraduate degrees from the University of South Florida
• 53 (38%) speak three or more languages

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