Applications for next year’s first year class are up and some of that boost may be due to TCU’s plans to launch a medical school with some slots reserved for its graduates.

TCU has partnered with the University of North Texas Health Science Center to offer a medical doctor program with classes to begin in 2018.

“The addition of a medical school may well have the effect on our academic reputation that the Rose Bowl had on our athletic pedigree,” said Ray Brown,  TCU’s dean of admission.

The school plans to accept 60 students per class with 20 slots reserved for TCU graduates, said Chancellor Victor Boschini.

Brown said the medical school is one of many factors that make TCU attractive.

“Premed is perhaps the fastest growing population of prospective students in the country at the moment,” Brown said. “So yes, more students are heading that way, but that would be true at most colleges in the U.S.”

This increase in premed students could also be because of the high number of TCU students who get accepted into medical schools.

“TCU has gained a bit of a reputation as a ‘doctor factory’,” Brown said. “We have put a lot of students into medical school, particularly given our size.”

Some first-year premed students said they are looking forward to the new medical school.

“I know that I was really excited to hear, that after I accepted my letter, we were getting a medical school,” said Kaelin Dickey, a first-year biology major.

Even with the addition of the medical program, some students said they will go somewhere else.

Dickey said she could see some students going to TCU for medical school, but others might opt for a school that has more established reputation.