UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
Admission Requirements
Medical schools vary in the courses that are required. Thus, you should familiarize yourself with the requirements of the medical schools that you are considering. These should include all medical schools in your state of residence, or schools that give preference to residents of your state, your ethnic group or your religion as indicated later in this memo.
In general, medical schools require an understanding of the basic principles of science - commonly requiring one year of biology, two years of chemistry (including organic chemistry), and one year of physics - all of these to be accompanied by a laboratory experience. Mathematical competence is valued, and some schools require a year of mathematics. (Math must be taken by CWRU premedical students because of the nature of our physics courses.) Communication skills are also valued, and a year of English is often required. Studies in the humanities and in the social and behavioral sciences are also suggested, and sometimes required. The table gives you an idea of the frequency with which specific courses are required:
Subjects Required by 10 or More of 112 U.S. Medical Schools stating requirements
Subject required [# of schools]
- Physics [109]
- Biology (or choice of biology or zoology) [106]
- Inorganic chemistry [107]
- Organic chemistry [108]
- English [74]
- Calculus [19]
- College mathematics [17]
- Humanities [19]
Thirteen of the 125 U.S. medical schools do not indicate specific course requirements and are not included in this list. Three schools (Caribe, Ponce and Puerto Rico) require Spanish.
AP credit is accepted by the majority of medical schools, though there is often the stipulation that you must take some work in college in the same field in which the AP credit was earned. There are a few medical schools that do not accept AP credit to fulfill premed requirements. For these schools, your AP credit is not "lost" - you get to start at a higher level in college than without the AP credit, but you still take the required number of hours in each field in college.
Information on the requirements, tuition, application procedures and curriculum of individual medical schools, can be found in the book, Medical School Admission Requirements, published by the Association of American Medical Colleges. A copy of the most recent edition is available in the reception area in the office of Undergraduate Studies, 102 Baker. You may order your own copy from:
Association of American Medical Colleges
Membership and Publications Orders
2450 N. Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20037-1129
Payment of $25.00 plus $5.00 postage and handling must accompany your order.
You can also get a lot of information from the AAMC web site: http://www.aamc.org.
Another very comprehensive, informative book, is Kenneth V. Iserson's Get Into Medical School. It covers topics as varied as the difference between the M.D. and D.O. degrees, minority applicants, non-traditional applicants, MCATs and application procedures, evaluating schools, foreign medical schools, financial information, etc. The price is $31.95, plus $3.00 postage. It can be ordered from: Galen Press, PO Box 64400-J7, Tucson, AZ 85728-4400 (1-800-442-5369).
Note for students in the Pre-Professional Scholars Program in Medicine: The courses you are expected to take if you plan to attend CWRU Medical School are listed on page 79 of the 1998-2000 General Bulletin. Students entering as freshmen in 1999 are expected to obtain a GPA of 3.6 or better by the end of the fourth semester and for the remaining undergraduate semesters. PPSP students are not required to take the MCAT; but if they do take it, they are expected to obtain a total score of 32 or higher. (The figures given are equivalent to the mean GPA and MCAT total of CWRU students accepted at the CWRU School of Medicine.) Pre-Professional Scholars do go through an application process, and will be advised of the details at the appropriate time. (The criteria are different for PPSP students enrolled prior to the fall of 1999.)
The required PPSP courses, plus an additional semester of English, plus the MCAT, will allow you to meet the requirements of most other medical schools. PPSP students are under no obligation to attend the CWRU School of Medicine.