It is very important to note that medical schools in the United States and Canada each individually determine their own entrance requirements, including prerequisite coursework or competencies. Each medical school also sets its own rules about acceptable courses or course equivalents. Therefore, it is essential that you check the premedical requirements both for your state school(s) and any other medical school where you think you may apply when planning your curriculum. Click here to see a document with the current prerequisites at accredited medical schools in the U.S. Click here to see a document that details which schools will accept AP credit in partial fulfillment of their prerequisites.
In addition to medical school course requirements, all medical schools currently require that you sit for the MCAT exam. A new format of this exam will be introduced in the spring of 2015 (for more information about the new MCAT see below). In preparation for MCAT 2015 we recommend:
1 year of General Chemistry and General Chemistry Lab
1 year of Cell and Molecular Biology and Biology Lab
1 year of Organic Chemistry and Organic Chemistry Lab
1 year of General Physics and Physics Lab
1 semester of Introductory Psychology
While these courses are those recommended to prepare you for the MCAT, there are indeed additional requirements set by individual schools.
Additional Information on Requirements:
Most medical schools require a year of English – emphasizing skill acquisition in writing.
Many medical schools currently require mathematical competency focused in areas covered in calculus and statistics. We therefore recommend that all students complete a semester of calculus and one of statistics.
A number of medical schools require a semester of biochemistry and an increasing number will likely add it as a requirement in the future. Although our introductory biology sequence covers many of the foundational concepts of biochemistry, we cannot at this time guarantee that all medical schools will accept this in fulfillment of a prerequisite requirement. We will be continuing to engage in conversations with individual schools to assess this and will keep you updated regarding these conversations.
A smaller subset of schools require more than one year of introductory biology. Many recommend specific advanced level classes. If you are a Texas or California resident, you should pay particular attention to your state school requirements as they are among the schools that require the additional biology.
A few schools have also begun to add social and behavioral science courses into their requirements including, but not limited to, psychology and sociology.
PLEASE NOTE: It is your responsibility to keep up to date with prerequisite requirements for the schools to which you intend to apply. These are subject to change from year to year. Check the current edition of the MSAR (Medical School Admission Requirements), which is updated annually and released in April, for the most up-to-date information. Most medical schools also list their requirements in greater detail on their individual websites. For links to these pages please go here: