New York—With more than 90 percent of Yeshiva University graduates employed, in graduate school—or both—within six months of graduation, according to a recent Career Center survey, it’s no surprise that many choose to continue their academic journeys at a remarkable rate: US News & World Report recently ranked Yeshiva University second in the country among colleges with the highest percentage of graduates pursuing advanced degrees within one year of graduation.

However, the rates at which graduates are being accepted to schools in their fields are even more astounding: this year, 93 percent of students applying to medical school, 96 percent of students applying to dental school and 100 percent of students applying to law school have been accepted.

According to Dr. Brenda Loewy, director of pre-health advising at Stern College for Women, the rates reflect the uniqueness of the YU student body: “Our students are extremely motivated and they are used to working hard because of the challenges of balancing a dual curriculum. They have a dream and they are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it.”

At YU, students hoping to pursue medical or dental school also gain access to research opportunities and faculty mentorship that help set them apart from other applicants. “Our faculty in biology, chemistry and physics are conducting state-of-the-art research, often with grant money, and they reach out to students to include them in that research and list students as authors on the papers they write together, which is very impressive,” said Loewy. “Faculty also help students network to find research positions with their collaborators in other top-notch institutions, like the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York University and Mount Sinai Medical Center.”

But above and beyond their pursuit of research opportunities, students make time for meaningful work outside the classroom. “The students are engaged in myriad activities that we propel them toward early and consistently,” said Lolita Wood-Hill, director of pre-health advising on the Wilf Campus. “College EDge is a wonderful example of how our students engage with the larger Washington Heights community, helping teens whose backgrounds, cultures and languages are very different from the YU community to get a college education. Such sharing of themselves highlights the unique values of YU.”

For Estee Robin, a biology major with a concentration in molecular and cellular biology who will be attending Rutgers New Jersey Medical School this fall, the support from YU faculty and staff has made all the difference. “I always knew that I had a support team standing behind me the whole way through,” she said.

Noah Kirschner, a biology major who will be attending Einstein in the fall, remembered how Wood-Hill personally called the deans of two schools he hadn’t heard back from during the application process. “The next day the schools reached out to me to arrange interviews,” he said.

For law school hopefuls, YU also provides unique access to programs that give students their first real taste of the field—and an edge in the application process.

“Our Yeshiva University Undergraduate Judicial Internship Program places our undergraduate students in judges’ chambers, something almost no other undergraduate school does,” said Dina Chelst, esquire, director of pre-law advisement at YU. “They not only sit and observe but participate in the legal process, which is unbelievable. Students can also participate in the Frontiers in Contemporary American Law program, a course taught by experts at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law that exposes them to many different areas of law.”

Like the pre-med advisors, Chelst works hard to identify and meet with students early in their undergraduate careers to set them up for success. “We discuss their trajectory for taking the LSATs, which doesn’t always occur to students when they begin their studies, and plan out their reach schools and safety schools,” she said. “I review multiple iterations of their essays with them. I also foster relationships with law schools to make sure our students’ applications get the most positive review they could be given.”

Ariella Muller, a political science major and biology minor, felt her undergraduate experience and the close advising she received from faculty and staff at YU played a critical role in helping her obtain law school acceptances from top-ranked programs like Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and—of course—Harvard. “The Frontiers in Law program gave me exposure to actual law school classes and helped me realize that I would enjoy law school—it played a major role in my decision to pursue it,” said Muller, who ultimately hopes to practice international or intellectual property law.

Whether their ultimate dream is Columbia Law or Harvard Medical School, students know that they have a whole team of coaches cheering them on every step of the process—whether it’s an academic adviser calling a graduate school on their behalf or a Career Center counselor conducting mock interviews with them to make sure they’re comfortable and confident during the real thing.

“The one-to-one ongoing attention for students, as well as the collaborative efforts between the Career Center and the pre-professional advisors, is a key to their success,” said Marc Goldman, executive director of the Career Center.