Education Requirements for Medical School
- Applicants must have completed a minimum of 90 semester hours (or 134 quarter hours) at a regionally accredited US or Canadian college or university.
- All pre-medical requirements listed in the table below must have been completed at a regionally accredited US or Canadian university/college. Foreign coursework will not count towards meeting any of the prerequisites, even if transfer credit has been given for them by a US or Canadian school.
- Each required course, listed in the table below, must be completed with a grade of C or better. Courses taken Pass/Fail or Credit/No Credit will not count towards meeting the requirement.
- Advanced placement credit is accepted only if the school 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 90 hour requirement OR the required coursework.
- All required coursework must be completed before or by the time of enrollment into the medical school.
- 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 prescribed course requirements are the minimum requirements for admission to medical school. Applicants are best served to take additional upper-level course work so they are better prepared for the academic rigors of medical school.
Undergraduate Course Requirements
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES |
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 Biological Science are required. Includes all Biological Science courses applied toward Baccalaureate degree in traditional science fields, such as General Biology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Ecology, Immunology, Parasitology and Anatomy & Physiology. |
|---|---|
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). Should include familiarity with analytic and volumetric techniques. Inorganic courses include General Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Quantitative Analysis. |
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). |
BIOCHEMISTRY |
3 semester hours or 5 quarter hours of Biochemistry are required ONLY by UT School of Medicine at San Antonio, Texas Tech University HSC School of Medicine and Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine. However, it is strongly recommended by all other TMDSAS schools. Must be a course that is applied toward a baccalaureate degree in any traditional science field. UT SOM at San Antonio and Texas Tech University HSC SOM: Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine: |
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. |
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 writing intensive courses taught in departments other than English to satisfy the requirement. |
CALCULUS |
The following schools require 3 semester hrs (5 quarter hrs) of either Calculus OR Statistics: Medical Schools Requiring 3 Sem. hrs. Calculus OR Statistics: 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. |
STATISTICS |
The following schools require 3 semester hrs (5 quarter hrs) of Statistics to fulfill the math requirement (Calculus will not be an option to meet this requirement): Medical Schools Requiring 3 Sem. hrs. Statistics: The Statistics course should be taught in a Math or Statistics Department. Individual medical schools may consider statistics courses taught in other departments on an individual basis with appropriate documentation from faculty. Refer to the Approved Statistics Courses List for a complete list. To seek approval for any course not on the list, submit a course syllabus, course listing and course description to TMDSAS for review. |