Qualification of Applicants

Selection of candidates for acceptance into the special master's program in physiology is based on overall undergraduate college performance (and post-baccalaureate performance if applicable), MCAT scores, CV, letters of recommendation, personal statement, and an optional video essay.

• Successful applicants will normally have an aggregate undergraduate/post-baccalaureate GPA of 3.0 or higher.
• Successful applicants will normally have an MCAT score in the top tertile (≥67%), i.e. 504 or above.
• The admissions committee asks for letters of recommendation from three individuals (at least two letters must be from university/college faculty).
• Applicants are expected to provide a résumé/curriculum vitae detailing educational, professional and extracurricular experiences. 
• The applicant's written personal statement should define their interest in the program. Although applicants can use their personal statement from their medical school application, we encourage students to include a description of their goals for this program in terms how it will address perceived deficiencies in their overall application to medical school.
• Applicants are normally (though not universally) US or Canadian citizens or US permanent residents. Exceptions may be made depending on the stated aims of the applicant regarding their medical school application. If you are not a US or Canadian citizen or a US permanent resident, you are invited to include in your personal statement an outline of your plans to gain matriculation into medical school.

Our previous MS students have often suggested that applicants have experience in an undergraduate or post-baccalaureate Biochemistry course before applying to our program. There are two reasons for this suggestion: first, beginning in 2015 the MCAT will incorporate principles of biochemistry into the exam and second, major components of the M1 curriculum already assume a fundamental knowledge of the discipline.

Students accepted in our program generally fall into one or more of the following categories: 1) those who have a significant gap in time from when they were undergraduates; 2) those who did not emphasize biomedical sciences as an undergraduate; 3) those who have poor undergraduate GPAs that do not accurately reflect their academic potential; 4) those who were trained in undergraduate institutions that may not have an adequate reputation for their graduates to be admitted into medical school. For these groups of students, success in our master's program can provide a greater level of confidence to medical school admissions committees relating to the quality of the individual, separate from that of the undergraduate institution or from a checkered history of performance or commitment.