Before applying, medical schools expect that applicants develop certain competencies through undergraduate coursework, especially in the sciences, to provide the foundation for studying medicine. Most medical schools currently require that students complete at least one year of college coursework including both lecture and lab components in biology, general/inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics to meet their admission requirements. Science and medicine are changing, however, and some medical schools are considering changing their admission requirements and how they evaluate applicants. It has been proposed that medical schools eventually move away from course based admission requirements toward competency based admission requirements, in order to allow greater flexibility in the types of courses that students take to prepare for medical school.

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Although a few schools have moved in this direction, it is unlikely that many schools will fully abandon course based requirements in the near future. For most premed students, we recommend using the indiana university school of medicine's course requirements as a basic, initial guide for planning while beginning to research additional requirements for other medical schools where they may want to apply. The section below outlines many of the common course requirements for admission to medical schools. Students should research the requirements for the schools where they intend to apply.

Students can consult the individual medical school websites for information on their admission requirements. The guide produced by the association of american medical colleges, medical school admissions requirements provides information on admission requirements for allopathic medical schools. The american association of colleges of osteopathic medicine publishes an osteopathic medical college information book that provides information on admissions requirements for osteopathic medical schools.

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Students also may consult with an advisor at the health professions and prelaw center on premedical coursework. Most medical schools will not require that you complete all required coursework before you submit the application for admission most will simply require you to complete all required coursework before you matriculate to enroll in the school. However, before taking the mcat exam you should be sure to complete the necessary coursework in the sciences for building competencies in the areas covered on the exam. You should not view your premedical coursework as simply part of a checklist of tasks to get out of the way before applying to medical school. You should view your premedical coursework as a means to build critical competencies that will be vitally important for the mcat exam, success in medical school, and your future practice as a physician. Your performance in premedical science courses will be viewed by admissions committees as a predictor of your ability to cope with the rigorous demands of medical school. Medical schools have expectations that students who are building the necessary competencies should be able to excel in their premedical science coursework, generally earning a rsquo s in most premedical science courses, with occasional b rsquo s.

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If you are earning c rsquo s, d rsquo s or f rsquo s you cannot be regarded as developing the necessary competencies for success and you may need to reevaluate whether medical school is the path for you. For examples of some useful gpa calculators, including some that will help you discover what future grades you will need to achieve a given target gpa, click here. Consult the page on academic record and grades for more information on how medical schools evaluate applicants.

For more information on the competencies required for success in medical school please see the repo rt, ldquo scientific foundations for future physicians. Rdquo advising appointments at the health professions and prelaw center are focused on helping students prepare for admission to professional school. You should periodically meet with your assigned advisor either a university division advisor or an advisor in the academic department that offers your major to plan your schedule and discuss how to best work admission prerequisites into your undergraduate degree plan. Your assigned advisor has expertise on the curricular requirements for your degree and is the best person for you to consult on most questions regarding your class schedule to make sure you are making good academic progress. most medical schools require a minimum of one year of biology, including lecture and lab.

Additional optional courses that may provide further background for the revised mcat 2015: biol m 250 for background on prokaryotic biology and biol m 430 for background on viruses. general/inorganic chemistry most medical schools require one year of general/inorganic chemistry, including lecture and lab. As of 2015, general/inorganic concepts will be tested in the biological and biochemical foundations of living systems and the chemical and physical foundations of biological systems sections of the exam. recommended courses to fulfill common requirements and prepare for the mcat: chem c 117 and chem n 330 organic chemistry most medical schools require one year of organic chemistry, including lecture and lab. As of 2015, organic chemistry concepts will be tested in the biological and biochemical foundations of living systems and chemical and physical foundations of biological systems sections of the exam. recommended courses to fulfill common requirements and prepare for the mcat: chem c 341, 342 and 343 many universities offer a sequence of two semesters of combined lecture and lab in organic chemistry, but the iu bloomington chemistry department offers a lab course, chem c 343, that is separate from the lecture courses chem c 341 and 342. Most medical schools will accept chem c 343 alone as fulfilling the laboratory portion of the requirement for one year of organic chemistry.

it is strongly recommended that all premed students currently complete a biochemistry course before medical school. as of 2015, biochemistry concepts will be tested more extensively in the biological and biochemical foundations of living systems and the chemical and physical foundations of biological systems sections of the mcat exam. recommended courses to fulfill common requirements and prepare for the mcat: chem c 383 or chem c 483 a survey in one semester for the non biochemistry major or chem c 484 and 485 a two semester sequence for biochemistry majors. Chem c 484 and 485 cover many of the same concepts from chem c 483, but in greater detail. if you plan to take only one biochemistry course prior to the mcat you should take chem c 383 or 483. Chem c 484 taken alone will not cover all the biochemistry material for the revised mcat exam. social and behavioral sciences while only a small number of medical schools have formal requirements for a specific number of credit hours in social and behavioral sciences, virtually all recommend some coursework in these disciplines in order to develop an understanding of human behavior and society. As of 2015, the revised mcat exam will test concepts from psychology and sociology in the psychological, social and biological foundations of behavior section of the exam. In addition, the critical analysis and reasoning skills section of the revised mcat may include passages from cross cultural studies anthropology, communication and culture, etc.

recommended courses to fulfill common requirements and prepare for the mcat: for psychology content on the revised mcat. General coverage of concepts to be tested can be obtained by taking psy p 155 or psy p 101 and 102. Psy p 101 and 102 in combination will provide the most comprehensive coverage of the concepts to be tested on the revised mcat exam as of 2015. for sociology content on the revised mcat, general coverage of concepts can be obtained by taking any introductory course in the sociology department.

Courses from anthropology and communication and culture may also be beneficial. math and statistics the majority of medical schools have no specific math requirement. However, many of the required science courses at iu bloomington have math prerequisites that students must meet before enrolling, most undergraduate degree programs require math, and strong math skills are important for success in premedical coursework. Of the medical schools with a math requirement, some specify one or two semesters of calculus as of 2013 only 13 of the allopathic schools in the u.s.

Some of these medical schools will allow substitution of a statistics course in place of the second semester of calculus. While the association of american medical colleges has advised that not all students will need to complete a statistics course before the revised mcat, completion of one course in statistical methods may be beneficial for preparation for medical school and the revised mcat. recommended courses to fulfill common requirements and prepare for the mcat: for fulfilling calculus requirements.

Math m 211 for schools requiring one semester of calculus and math m 212 for schools requiring a second semester of calculus. Some schools are willing to substitute a statistics course for the second semester of calculus. Require calculus. for preparing for statistical reasoning content on the revised mcat.

stat s 303 applied statistical methods for the life sciences is a course specially designed by the iu department of statistics to help students prepare for statistical reasoning content on the revised mcat exam. Other options include stat s 300, psy k 300, spea k 300, math k 310 or psy k 310, or any other statistics course at the 300 level. please note: very few medical schools require a course in statistics, although coursework in statistics will be beneficial for success on the revised mcat. the majority of medical schools in the united states require one or two semesters of english as of 2014, 88 of the allopathic medical schools in the u.s. since english coursework is so commonly required, if you plan to apply to a variety of medical schools, you should make plans early on in your college education to complete two semesters of english coursework. some medical schools will accept two semesters of literature while there are some that will require that at least one of the courses be a writing course. Although some students are exempt from the indiana university english composition requirement on the basis of sat or act scores, you should be aware that an exemption from a requirement is not considered to be equivalent to course credit by most medical schools and would not be accepted in place of college credit. Most, but not all, medical schools will accept courses that fulfill intensive writing requirements at indiana university, although many will only accept intensive writing courses outside of the sciences. When you apply to medical school you may be required to submit documentation such as a course description or syllabus to the medical school verifying that the course fulfills a writing requirement at indiana university.