Texas Medical & Dental Schools
Application Service (TMDSAS)

Education & Admissions Test Requirements

Education Requirements
for Medical and Dental School Applicants

• Applicants must have completed a minimum of 90 semester hours (or 134 quarter hours) at an accredited U.S. or Canadian college or university.
• Baccalaureate degrees are highly desirable. However, exceptionally mature students without a degree, who have outstanding academic records, superior performance on the respective admissions test and highly desirable personal qualifications may be considered for admission. The applicant must have completed at least 90 undergraduate semester hours before the anticipated date of enrollment.
• Applicants must complete the prescribed coursework listed in the table below. A grade of at least C must be earned in each of the required courses. The only exception is Advanced Placement credit which can be used to meet the prescribed coursework.
• Applicants are encouraged to complete their prerequisite coursework with letter grades rather than using a pass/fail option.
• Advanced placement credit is accepted only if the college/university granting the credit lists the specific course(s) and number of units granted per course on an official transcript. Lump sum credit is NOT accepted.
• Graduate courses DO NOT satisfy the minimum 90 hour requirement, nor will graduate level courses satisfy any of the prescribed course requirements
• For those persons invoking the Academic Fresh Start provision, more information can be found at the Academic Fresh Start section on the Other Topics page of this website.
• Credit hours earned on the quarter system carry two-thirds the numerical value of those earned on the semester system.

Prescribed Courses

Veterinary School Applicants

Required prerequisite course information for veterinary school can be found on the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine's website

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Medical and Dental School Applicants

BIOLOGY 14 semester hours (12 semester hours of lecture & 2 semester hours of formal lab) or 21 quarter hours (18 quarter lecture hours & 3 quarter lab hours) of Biology are required. The coursework must be applicable toward a science degree. Includes all Biology courses applied toward Baccalaureate degree in traditional science fields, such as General Biology, Zoology, Botany, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Ecology, Immunology, Parasitology, Ornithology, Anatomy & Physiology, Entomology, Pathophysiology, Marine Biology and Herpetology. Biochemistry will be accepted towards satisfying the 14 hour Biology requirement. Texas Tech University HSC will only accept biochemistry if it is taught in the Biology department. For UT School of Medicine at San Antonio, 3 of the 14 hours of required Biology coursework MUST BE Biochemistry (taught in either a biology or chemistry department). Courses for non-science majors or for health career majors (Nursing, Pharmacy or Allied Health Sciences) ARE NOT ACCEPTED.

GENERAL CHEMISTRY 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours of General Chemistry, as required for college science majors, including the corresponding laboratory experience are required. (8 semester hours = 6 hours of lecture & 2 hours of lab; 12 quarter hours = 9 hours of lecture & 3 hours of lab). Must be a course that is applied toward a baccalaureate degree in any traditional science field. Should include familiarity with analytic and volumetric techniques. Inorganic courses include General Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Quantitative Analysis. Courses for non-science majors or for health career majors (Nursing, Pharmacy or Allied Health Sciences) ARE NOT ACCEPTED.

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours of Organic Chemistry, as required for college science majors, including the corresponding laboratory experience are required. (8 semester hours = 6 hours of lecture & 2 hours of lab; 12 quarter hours = 9 hours of lecture & 3 hours of lab). Must be a course that is applied toward a baccalaureate degree in any traditional science field. Should include familiarity with analytic and volumetric techniques. Courses for non-science majors or for health career majors (Nursing, Pharmacy or Allied Health Sciences) ARE NOT ACCEPTED.

BIOCHEMISTRY Required ONLY by UT Dental Branch at Houston, UT School of Medicine at San Antonio and Baylor College of Dentistry. However, it is strongly recommended by all other TMDSAS schools. 3 semester hours or 5 quarter hours of Biochemistry is required. Must be a course that is applied toward a baccalaureate degree in any traditional science field. UT School of Medicine at San Antonio: This requirement may be used to fulfill the Biology requirement of 14 hours. The course may be taught in the Biology, Biochemistry or Chemistry department. Cannot be an introductory course. Baylor College of Dentistry AND UT Dental Branch at Houston: This requirement is in addition to the Biology requirement of 14 hours and may not be used to fulfill the Biology requirement. The course may be taught in the Biology, Biochemistry or Chemistry department. Must have a grade of C or better.

PHYSICS 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours of Physics, as required for college science majors, including the corresponding laboratory experience are required. (8 semester hours = 6 hours of lecture & 2 hours of lab; 12 quarter hours = 9 hours of lecture & 3 hours of lab) Includes all physics courses applied toward a baccalaureate degree in any traditional science field. Courses for non-science majors or for health career majors (Nursing, Pharmacy or Allied Health Sciences) ARE NOT ACCEPTED.

ENGLISH 6 semester hours or 9 quarter hours of college English are required. Any course accredited by the English Department that fulfills a general education English requirement of a baccalaureate degree will be accepted. Remedial or developmental courses or "English As a Second Language" courses ARE NOT ACCEPTED. The UT Medical Branch at Galveston WILL NOT ACCEPT upper level writing intensive courses taught in departments other than English to satisfy the requirement.

CALCULUS/STATISTICS 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours of college Calculus or Statistics is required. The Calculus/Statistics requirement is not required for dental schools. The calculus course can be any calculus course taught by a Math or Physics Department. Business Calculus or any Pre-Calculus courses ARE NOT ACCEPTED. The Statistics course should be taught in the Math Department. Individual medical schools may consider statistics courses taught in other departments on an individual basis.

 

Foreign Coursework

State law requires that academic work taken at foreign colleges, universities or preparatory schools shall be excluded from the calculation of the grade point average for students seeking admission to graduate or post-baccalaureate professional school.

TMDSAS does include courses from foreign schools that appear as transfer credit on the transcript of an accredited U.S. college or university ONLY IF individual specific course credit is granted by the U.S. school. Lump sum credit with no specific course and hour identification is not accepted.

Copies of transcripts or other credentials from foreign schools MUST be provided to TMDSAS in order to distribute to the medical and dental schools where they are evaluated based on criteria established by the Admissions Committee at the respective school. Consideration of coursework from schools outside the U.S. or Canada requires an evaluation by a certified educational credentials evaluation service. Courses taken at a Canadian university are not included in the overall GPA calculated by TMDSAS but are evaluated at the respective TMDSAS schools.

The following guidelines that may affect international students are provided to assist in application decisions:

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas It is recommended that undergraduate coursework be completed at or credited through a regionally accredited US or Canadian college or university. At least 45 semester hours, including all pre-med prerequisites must have a grade assigned by an accredited U.S. or Canadian college or university. Exceptions to this policy are made only for foreign applicants who are applying to the combined MD/PhD Program.

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston The University of Texas Medical School at Houston The University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio Texas A&M University College of Medicine Texas Tech University School of Medicine University of North Texas-College of Osteopathic Medicine The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston The University of Texas Dental School at San Antonio Baylor College of Dentistry - Texas A&M University Health Science Center Required to complete at least 90 undergraduate credit hours at an accredited U.S. or Canadian college or university. Transfer credit from a school outside the U.S. or Canada will apply to this requirement if individual courses appear on the transcript of an accredited US or Canadian college or university - lump sum credit is not allowed. Required pre-medical/pre-dental courses must be actually taken at an accredited U.S. or Canadian college or university. Transfer credit from a school outside the U.S. or Canada will not apply to the required courses.

Admissions Tests

 

All admission test score(s) MUST be reported directly to TMDSAS by the testing agency. Scores submitted from your personal score report will not be accepted.

Applicants that plan to take the MCAT/DAT in the Fall, (as indicated by answering "yes" to Question 1b in Section 5 of the application) must release the scores to TMDSAS. Any change to that plan MUST be immediately reported to TMDSAS in writing by regular mail, email or fax. Failure to do so will cause your application to be incomplete which could affect the review of your application at one or more of the participating schools.

 

Dental School:

The Dental Admission Test, DAT, is required for admission to dental school. The DAT must be taken within the last five years. A test score from a DAT taken before 2004 will not be considered for the 2009 entry year application. The DAT must be taken before December 1 of the application year to be considered for the current application cycle. Dental schools begin making offers of admission December 1st; therefore, waiting to take the DAT until that late date will delay any consideration for admission until after your test scores are released.

Applicants are required to request their DAT scores be released to each of the dental schools they are applying with. All DAT scores released to the three Texas dental schools will automatically be sent to TMDSAS.

Information regarding the DAT can be obtained from their website: http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/index.asp

 

Medical School:

The Medical College Admissions Test, MCAT, is required for admission to most medical schools. Only MCAT scores from the previous five years will be considered for the current application cycle. Scores from years prior to 2004 will not be considered.

We strongly encourage taking the MCAT exam in January, April or May so that your application will be completed and in the applicant pool for the start of the interview season. The interview season generally begins at the end of August and closes sometime in early December. Applicants who wait to take the examination for the first time in July, August or September may find action on their application delayed until late in the admission season.

Applicants MUST release their MCAT scores to TMDSAS as soon as they become available to the applicant. This is done by using the MCAT Testing History (THx) System. From the MCAT Testing History System, select [Send All of My Scores], then select [Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service] (4 th on the list under [Application Services]). Applicants MUST request that the scores of ALL tests taken be released to TMDSAS.

More information regarding the MCAT can be obtained from their website: www.aamc.org/students/mcat

 

Veterinary School:

The Graduate Record Exam, GRE, is required for admission to veterinary school. The GRE examination will not be changing this year (2007); therefore, applicants MUST take the GRE by September 30, 2008. GRE scores prior to October 2002 cannot be used or considered.

All applicants will be required to stay informed of any future changes to the GRE requirements by visiting the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine website often.

Scores must be submitted directly to Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine using the institution code #6812. Failure to do so will disqualify the applicant from consideration during the current cycle.

Information regarding the GRE can be found on their website: GRE Website