In February 2015, the Urban Universities for HEALTH (Health Equity Alignment through Leadership and Transformation of the Health Workforce) learning collaborative site team at the University of Cincinnati held focus groups seeking to understand the contributing factors of underrepresented minority students' decision to study within the Academic Health Center colleges of Allied Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Students identified university and program-level factors as contributing to their perception of a student-centered, quality educational experience. This "pulse check" project with the undergraduate and graduate health-care students affirmed the efficacy of many current recruitment practices and retention strategies. Participant feedback provided rich process improvement data for the Academic Health Center leadership, and the larger urban universities learning collaborative.