FAQs for Pre-Health Students

For health professions programs KU doesn't offer, Explore Health Careers is a great place to start!

Academic Support Services, including low-cost tutoring for many introductory courses.
Social Service Opportunities, e.g., Center Community Outreach.
Research Opportunities, for example, Center for Undergraduate Research.
Student Organizations, including more than a dozen medically-related clubs.
Related courses, e.g., HEIM 210 Introduction to Health Care and many U ndergraduate Biology Courses.
Related Study Abroad Programs.
Application Assistance, including essay reviews and practice interviews.

Anyone who applies and is accepted to KU is welcome to be a premedical student!

If students attempt 30 or more hours, and earn a KU GPA of less than 2.80 GPA, then premedical interest codes will be removed from their records..

We also encourage such students to seek career counseling to find more compatible interests, and/or academic support counseling, to improve their academic performance.

From KU Endowment:

"There are a limited number of KU scholarships available for premedicine students. Some require the recipient to have financial need, as verified by the FAFSA. Some require the recipient to reside in a specific Kansas county. All require the recipient to be scholarship-eligible as defined by KU Scholarship Grids. Please consult this grid to learn how much you will be eligible to receive. There is one general scholarship application for KU, so it is not necessary to apply for a premedicine scholarship separately. If you are eligible for a scholarship, KU will assign a scholarship to you, whether it be specifically for premedicine, or a more general purpose."

Many departments offer awards and scholarships for some of their majors, for example, Undergraduate Biology.

Some KU schools offer scholarships, for example, the School of Engineering.

There are some state and private scholarships, and it’s well worth conducting free searches for external scholarships.

And, some employers have scholarships for the children of their employees

You can find KU equivalencies for transfer courses, and credit awarded for test scores, on the Admissions CredTran System.

It's fine to take English, mathematics, and social sciences and humanities that meet KU Core General Education Requirements.

We usually recommend waiting until after graduating high school to take natural science courses for college credit, partly because natural sciences are sequential, and you'll transition between courses more smoothly if you complete all of a sequence back-to-back at the same college or university.

The KU School of Medicine accepts AP credit for entry requirements, but some medical and many dental schools do not.

For the 2017 entering School of Medicine class, the average overall GPA was a 3.78. Please understand this is an average, not a minimum, and many candidates are accepted with somewhat lower GPA's. For more information, see the Association of American Medical College's MCAT and GPA Grid for Applicants and Acceptees. And, remember that admissions decisions are made by people, who consider many other factors.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), for the entering 2017 application cycle, 265 candidates who attended KU applied to U.S. MD-granting medical schools, and 125 were accepted (47%). This is slightly above the national acceptance rate of 43%. Additionally, 27 candidates matriculated at DO-granting medical schools, and some were accepted to international medical schools. So, about half the candidates who applied were accepted to medical schools.

Many colleges advertise misleading rates inflated by discouraging less competitive candidates from applying, converting small numbers into big percentages, including data from years ago when admission was easier, and talking about only those "qualified candidates" who met a GPA standard to be part of a formal premedical program, only those who applied through a premedical office (less competitive candidates often apply independently), and/or only those "recommended" by an advisor or "approved" by a health sciences committee. So, it's easy to manufacture a 90% or higher acceptance rate.

Behind the curtain of statistics, whether or not one is accepted depends mostly on one's own effort and abilities, rather than where one goes to college. As the saying goes, "Wherever you go, there you are.

As an example, for the entering 2017 application cycle, candidates who attended KU were offered acceptance at the following U.S. medical schools:

Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) Granting

Creighton University School of Medicine
Duke University School of Medicine
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Indiana University School of Medicine
Keck Sch. of Med.University of Southern California
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
Medical College of Wisconsin
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Rush Medical College
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota
Texas A&M Uni. System HSC Col. of Medicine
The University of Oklahoma
The University of Toledo College of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
UT Southwestern
UT Southwestern (AMCAS)
University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson
University of Arkansas College of Medicine
University of Chicago - Pritzker
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
University of Colorado School of Medicine
University of Illinois at Chicago-College of Medicine
University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine
University of Kansas
University of Michigan Medical School
University of Minnesota Medical School-Minneapolis/Duluth
University of Missouri - Kansas City
University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine
University of Nebraska College of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
University of Utah School of Medicine
University of Washington School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine
Yale School of Medicine

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) Granting

Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University
Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine
A.T. Still University - Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine at New Mexico State University
Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University
Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences College of Osteopathic Medicine
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
Lincoln Memorial University–DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine
New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine
Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine - Utah

The KU School of Medicine shows a strong preference for Kansas residents, but does not select on the basis of whether or not a candidate completes an undergraduate education at KU. The medical school also shows favor for residents of other states who have significant Kansas ties, and one way to establish a tie is to attend a college or university in Kansas.

While it's possible to complete requirements for admission to other medical schools on the KU-Lawrence Campus, the KU School of Medicine considers only applicants who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States or have an approved DACA status.