Baccalaureate/MD programs, for which students apply in high school, offer the chance to earn a bachelor’s degree and a doctor of medicine degree in one go—and to apply only once for both programs, bypassing the regular medical school application process.
Such programs range in length, from accelerated programs of six or seven years to standard-length programs of eight years (in which each degree takes four years to complete). Some take place at a single institution, while at others, students earn their bachelor’s from one school and their MD from another.
These programs are among the most selective in the US and require top attributes and achievements along many dimensions. So, what does it take to gain admittance to a BA/MD or BS/MD program?
Overview of Baccalaureate/MD Programs
First, let’s take a look at the features of baccalaureate/MD programs. While there are about 150 MD-granting medical schools in the US, there are only a few dozen combined baccalaureate/MD programs.
Admissions Information
Application Plans
Programs typically require students to apply by November or December of their senior year of high school, and notify students whether they’ve been admitted by around March or April. Some programs, like Brown University’s Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME), offer both Early Decision and Regular Decision application options; others, like Drexel University’s BA/BS+MD Early Assurance Program, have just one admissions deadline. Some programs, like Howard University’s BS/MD program, have students first apply to the university; once they’ve been admitted, they may be invited to apply separately to the baccalaureate/MD program. Other programs, such as the Penn State-Jefferson Accelerated Premedical-Medical (PMM), allow students to apply to the baccalaureate/MD program via their initial application.
Course Requirements
Programs may require applicants to have taken prerequisite courses prior to enrolling, such as, at Howard, two or more years of foreign language, biology, chemistry, physics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry and pre-calculus. Some have minimum GPA requirements in order to apply, such as 3.7 on a 4.0 scale at Hofstra University’s 4+4 Program or a 4.0 weighted high school GPA at the University of South Florida’s 7-Year BS/MD Program. Some programs require applicants to take the SAT or ACT, while others do not. For those that do, there’s often a minimum required score for each. (At the University of Central Florida, for example, applicants must earn a 1500 on the SAT or a 34 on the ACT in order to be considered for admission to the Burnett Medical Scholars Program.)
Interview Requirements
Depending on the program, students may be invited to interview around January or February. Some programs ask students to take a Situational Judgment Test (SJT) like Casper prior to applying, or, in the case of Brown, submit a video portfolio. (Some others have students take an SJT test during the undergraduate portion of the program as a requirement of advancing on to medical school.)
Selectivity
These programs are highly selective, with very small class sizes. Brown University’s, for example, accepts about 50 applicants per year; in 2021-2022, more than 3,500 students applied, so the acceptance rate was 1.5 percent. Drexel University’s program accepts around 60 students; for fall 2022, 2,705 students applied, for an acceptance rate of 2.3 percent. (Only 811 of those 2,705 applicants, though, met the minimum GPA, SAT/AC, and deadline requirements to be eligible.) Case Western Reserve University’s Pre-Professional Scholars Program in Medicine accepts 15-20 students per year; George Washington University’s Seven-Year Dual BA/MD Program accepts around 10 out of 1,000-1,200 applicants, for an acceptance rate of around 1 percent. Rochester University describes its Early Medical Scholars (REMS) Program as “the most competitive combined degree program at Rochester.”
Program Information
Program Length
Baccalaureate/MD programs range in length from six to eight years. In programs that last eight years—such as Case Western’s, Drexel’s, and Hofstra’s—each of the two degrees (the BA or BS, and the MD) takes the standard four years to complete that it would if students earned them separately rather than as part of a combined program.
Baccalaureate/MD Breakdown
In shorter programs, the time devoted to each degree varies widely. The seven-year Penn State-Jefferson program, for example, entails three years of college at Penn State followed by four years of med school at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC) College of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. At the University of South Florida’s seven-year program, students spend three years working toward their BS at the Judy Genshaft Honors College at USF; complete one year of overlapping BS/MD study at the Morsani College of Medicine; and spend the following three years completing their medical degree. At Howard University’s six-year program, two years are devoted to the BS degree, and the following four years to the MD. At the six-year University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine’s BA/MD Program, students devote three-fourths of the first two years to their BA and one-fourth to their med school coursework. The following four years are devoted primarily to med school coursework, but a fraction of the time is still devoted to completing BA requirements.
The Union College Leadership in Medicine program is unusual: it’s eight years total, but in the first four years, students earn two degrees—a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in healthcare management—before progressing on to medical school. These students thus graduate with three degrees rather than the standard two. (Union’s is the only baccalaureate/MD program in the country in which students earn a master’s degree in healthcare management in addition to a BS degree.)
Throughout this article, I will illustrate the attributes of a successful candidate to baccalaureate/MD programs via a deep dive into Union College’s program. To that end, I have interviewed Joanne Fitzgerald, director of the Leadership in Medicine Program at Union College, and Vernon Castillo, senior associate dean of admissions at Union College.
Degree and Major Requirements
Programs differ in whether they offer students a BA, a BS, or a choice between either type of bachelor’s degree prior to the MD. In addition, while some programs—like Brown’s and Case Western’s—allow students to choose whatever college major they’d like, in others, specific majors are required. At Howard, for example, students must earn a BS in either biology or chemistry; at Drexel, they must major in biological sciences, chemistry, or biomedical engineering.
Course Requirements
Major aside, programs often require baccalaureate/MD students to take specific courses in college that prepare them to tackle medical school coursework. At Case Western, though students can choose any college major, they must complete a roster of courses in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics/statistics, and behavioral sciences. FAU students must complete a Special Topics in Medicine course in their first year and a specialized pre-health course (such as a medical internship) in their second or third year. UMKC mandates that students take specific courses during each semester of their enrollment. (Fall of year one, for example, means taking the medicine courses Medical Terminology, Learning Basic Medical Sciences, and Fundamentals of Medical Practice; the arts and sciences courses Functional Anatomy with Lab and General Chemistry I with Lab; and two General Education Requirements.) Drexel states that students must “complete a rigorous plan of study which includes at least 14 credits and two STEM courses each quarter.”
Requirements for Med School Matriculation (Once You Are in College)
The benefits of earning a baccalaureate/MD degree include potentially spending less time total on the two degrees, and bypassing the regular medical school application process. As Case Western puts it, students are thus “relieved of much of the anxiety and uncertainty associated with pre-professional studies. Consequently, they feel free to undertake challenging courses of study and pursue a variety of interests as they prepare for professional studies.”
However, this doesn’t mean that once you’ve enrolled in a baccalaureate/MD program, you’ll automatically advance to medical school! Programs have specific and often rigorous requirements that students must meet during the college portion of the degree in order to matriculate at medical school. And some programs, like USF’s, do require students to submit an application to their companion med school in the course of their undergraduate studies. This all makes sense, given the rigor of medical school education and the impressive transcripts, scores, and research/clinical experiences necessary to be admitted to these programs under normal circumstances.
MCAT Requirements
Some programs, like Brown’s, Rochester’s, and Union’s, don’t require baccalaureate/MD students to take the MCAT at all in order to advance to medical school. Many, though, require it. Drexel mandates a minimum score of 513 (with a breakdown of 128 in each section except for Critical Analysis and Reasoning, which can be 127). Hofstra requires that students earn an MCAT score equivalent to the 80th percentile on their first sitting. Stony Brook’s Scholars for Medicine Program requires “a cumulative MCAT score comparable to the national average of medical school matriculates.” Other schools don’t require the MCAT, but mandate that if students do take it, they achieve a certain score. At Case Western, for example, students who opt to take the MCAT must achieve a score above the 94th percentile.
Minimum GPA Requirements
Programs may also mandate that students maintain a certain GPA while completing the college portion of the combined degree. The Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine Bachelor’s/MD Dual Degree Program, for example, requires that students maintain a 3.7 for both their cumulate undergraduate average GPA and their cumulative science GPA. At Hofstra, the minimum overall and science GPA requirements are 3.6. At Stony Brook, BA students must achieve a minimum GPA of 3.4 in order to advance to medical school.
Other Requirements
Programs may have other demands as well, such as service or research requirements. At Drexel, undergrads must complete at least 100 hours of service as well as a six-month co-op in research, clinical, or health informatics; health law; or bioengineering. At FAU, students are required to amass a minimum of 50 hours of clinical experience per semester in years two and three; amass 50 hours of volunteer work per year throughout the undergraduate experience; complete laboratory research that culminates in an abstract for a poster or oral presentation; and serve in a leadership role during years two and three. USF students must complete at least 60 hours of medical observation and 60 hours of community service by the end of year two, and at least two semesters of research throughout their undergraduate years.
Interviews and Recommendation Letters
Students may be asked to interview, submit a Situational Judgment Test like Casper, and/or submit recommendation letters in order to advance on to medical school. At both UCF and USF, for example, students must provide two letters of recommendation from faculty as well as interview with the programs’ respective medical schools in order to matriculate.
A Closer Look at a Selection of Baccalaureate/MD Programs
To give you a sense of the range of what these baccalaureate/MD programs entail, on the next page is a breakdown of three very different programs’ characteristics and requirements. Note that the Union College Leadership in Medicine Program with Albany Medical College is unique in that, in total, three different institutions are involved: Union College for the BS, Clarkson University for the MS or MBA, and Albany Medical College for the MD. (Program requirements may change, so check school websites to confirm details.)
Characteristics of a Successful Baccalaureate/MD Candidate
As you might expect, given the rigor of baccalaureate/MD programs, students well-positioned to be admitted to such programs must have transcripts and resumes at least as impressive as other college applicants’. But what in particular makes high school students stand out to baccalaureate/MD program administrators?
Rigorous Coursework
If college students applying to med school need to demonstrate a passion for science and medicine, as well as for helping people, high school students applying to baccalaureate/MD programs need to demonstrate the very same—but earlier. Not only should high school coursework be rigorous and grades high, but your curriculum should favor the sciences. Rochester, for example, seeks students with at least a 3.95 unweighted GPA who rank in the top three percent of their graduating class and have taken “an exceptionally rigorous high school math and science curriculum, including calculus, biology, and chemistry.” USF urges applicants to “complete a rigorous high school curriculum, including advanced coursework in biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics (calculus and statistics are preferred). Additionally, since the MCAT (medical college admissions test) now includes a section on psycho-social foundations of behavior, students are also encouraged to complete courses in the social and behavioral sciences.”
As Joanne Fitzgerald, director of the Leadership in Medicine Program at Union College, puts it, students in the program “have got to have the intellectual goods.” This means both having the academic background and the intellectual capacity to keep up with such a demanding program. Her colleague, Vernon Castillo, senior associate dean of admissions at Union College, adds that applicants “have to have excellent grades, especially in their math and science courses.” If their high schools provide a class rank, students must be at the top of their class. (Beyond academic background, Fitzgerald notes that certain personality traits and skills are necessary to succeed. These include grit and resilience, organization, maturity, and the ability to solve problems independently: “This is a tough program, and there’s a lot of pressure.”)
Science Research
Participating in a high school research program is a huge plus. These programs, which can last anywhere from one to all four years of high school, involve conducting original research in science, math, engineering, and/or social science. Students are often expected to conduct research over the summer before senior year, which they can do with mentors they’ve sought out individually or in organized pre-college summer research programs. The research culminates in a 20-page scientific paper that is submitted to national competitions such as Regeneron and ISEF.
Clinical Experience
Another way to demonstrate your strong desire to enter a career in medicine at this early stage is to amass clinical experience—that is, experience working with patients. Students can, for example, work for an ambulance corps or EMT program, or volunteer at a hospital or nursing home. GW seeks applicants who have “had some experience in the medical profession, hopefully working directly with patients.” In addition, students can gain valuable experience shadowing physicians as a way to gain more exposure to the medical field and observe qualities they would like to emulate in their future careers as physicians. Union College and Albany Medical College, which partner for the Leadership in Medicine Program, see clinical experience, which is a prerequisite for entry, as a type of informed consent: before embarking on the program, students have gotten as accurate a taste for what being a doctor is like without actually being one, and believe they are up for the challenge. “The medical college wants to make sure that students are genuinely interested in medicine” far beyond simply attending a rigorous program like Union’s, Castillo says.
Volunteer Work
Future doctors are expected to care not only about aiding patients, but also about helping people more broadly. Thus, volunteer work outside of the medical profession—which demonstrates compassion and a sense of responsibility to others—also reflects well on baccalaureate/MD applicants. As with students accepted to the most selective colleges, those accepted to baccalaureate/MD programs are advised to show heavy involvement in extracurricular activities they’re passionate about, and that involve leadership skills.
Motivation for a Career in Medicine
Though applying to a baccalaureate/MD program would seem to indicate an early and intense desire to become a doctor, it’s important that you explicitly demonstrate this desire clearly in your application. GW seeks students who “are fully committed to being a doctor”; Rochester seeks students who “are passionate about a career in medicine.” Applications often specifically ask students to speak to this issue; UMKC, for example, prompts applicants to answer the question, “What motivates you to pursue a career in medicine?” Stony Brook asks, “What aspects about medicine intrigue you? Describe how these aspects influence your life.” Either way, applicants would do well to write in persuasive, compelling, and detailed prose about why they wish to serve as physicians.
“I believe they need to be intrinsically motivated,” Fitzgerald says of students who are apt to succeed in Union’s Leadership in Medicine Program. “It’s got to be in them. They’ve got to know for sure they want to be a doctor.” Students who are told by parents that they have to be doctors may or may not truly desire this career path, “and you can see the difference,” she says.
She adds: “To be able to go through this gauntlet, you really have to want the goal. It’s not just something you want to try out.”
If you are working with students who may be interested in applying to baccalaureate/MD programs, first ascertain how sure they are that they absolutely want to be a doctor. If they’re pursuing such programs for prestige or parental pressure, this path is probably not right for them! They will have ample opportunity to decide to become doctors while in college if they so choose. If, however, they are genuinely driven to become a physician, I hope the above tips will help you guide them toward strong and authentic applications.
By Julie Raynor Gross, EdM, MBA, CEP, IECA (NY)