This study is an attempt to model the similarities of 84 medical schools with respect to their orientations toward applicants qualified for research and applicants interested in delivering primary care or locating in non-urban settings. These characteristics are defined in 17 institutional variables. The patterns of insti(utional similarity are described by two modeling techniques: cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. Multidimensional scaling confirmed that there were essentially two dimensions of difference among medical schools with respect to the 17 variables studied. It appears that there are fewer medical schools with preference for research-oriented students with goals to provide health care directly to patients and in geographic areas currently underserved. Cluster analysis identified four groups of schools as characteristically different from one another. Subsequent analysis of data for schools in each group served to identify each group's distinguishing attributes. Research-oriented schools appear to form a distinct class of institutions. Other schools form three classes according to the degree of their preference for students oriented toward primary care service. A simultaneous presentation of the scaling and clustering models provides the most complete picture of medical school similarities with respect to preferences for students who would provide medical services directly through primary care delivery or indirectly through medical research. (SPG)