The Rural Physician Program (RPP) is a program within Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (MSUCHM) that prepares medical students to be compassionate and caring and to work in rural Michigan once they become physicians. For the first 2 years of medical school, students are either at the East Lansing or Grand Rapids campus. For years 3 and 4, RPP students relocate to the city of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula. From Marquette, stuends participate in clinical experiences throughout the U.P., living and working in many different rural settings. The program was developed in 1973 with the purpose of decreasing the physician shortage in Upper Peninsula.