Admissions Academic Requirements & Policies – Premed

Medical schools have varying and specific admissions requirements:

Medical schools also have varying policies for matriculation based on factors including state of residency and date of your MCAT and specific policies on financial aid. Note: Current applicants should refer to this spreadsheet when determining school list.

See our Premedical Information for Harvard Students: Timelines, Courses, & Resources (2023-2024) (pdf): This guide provides an overview of the academic requirements and application timelines for admission to U.S. medical schools.

Learn more about:

Financing Your Medical Education

General Resources

Special Funding Opportunities

  • The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans: Each Fellowship supports up to two years of graduate study in any field and in any advanced degree-granting program in the United States. Immigrants and children of immigrants are eligible. The Fellowship provides $25,000 in stipend support, as well as 50% of required tuition and fees (up to $20,000) for two years.
  • Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program (Army| Navy | Air Force)
  • National Health Service Corps: Opportunities for scholarship and loan repayment in exchange for primary care service in a high-need health professional shortage area. Site options may include rural health clinics, Indian Health Service (IHS) clinics, public health department clinics, hospital-affiliated primary care practices, managed care networks, prisons, and U.S. Immigration, Customs & Enforcement sites.
  • The National Hispanic Health Professional Student Scholarship: The scholarship is open to any student enrolled full time in the following accredited graduate programs- medicine (allopathic or osteopathic), dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, public health/policy, and physician assistant and is awarded to “students with outstanding academic records, leadership and who are committed to serving Hispanics.”

Information for Non U.S. Citizens or Non U.S. Permanent Residents

Gaining admission to U.S. medical schools and obtaining funding to pursue that education can be difficult for individuals who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Many medical schools will review the application of an international student without any bias, but many others, particularly state schools, admit few if any international students.

Financial Aid

Students who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents are not eligible for the federal government-sponsored loans that are used by most U.S. medical students to fund their medical educations. Some medical schools require that students prepay tuition or deposit money sufficient to cover one or more years of tuition and fees into escrow accounts.

A small number of medical schools have merit scholarships that are awarded without regard to U.S. residency status. Canadian students can often secure loans for medical school through the Canadian government. Some students may be able to secure loans or grants from their home countries, but this varies greatly from country to country.

This chart contains information about the financial aid policies regarding International Medical Students for the schools that accept Non-Canadian Applicants who are not permanent U.S. residents. The bottom of the chart also lists information regarding financial aid resources for medical school for international applicants.

See Med School Financial Aid Policies for International Students (xlsx).

MD/PhD Applicants

NIH-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) grants for MD/PhD positions are limited to U.S. citizens. However, there are some medical schools that exclude international students from their MD programs but will accept these students into their MD/PhD programs. Funding for these students comes from institutional funds, rather than MSTP grants. An AAMC chart (pdf) provides a summary of the MD/PhD programs, policies, and funding.

Information about Medical Schools that accept Non-Canadian Applicants who are not U.S. Permanent Residents

This chart contains information about the number of International Students who apply, are interviewed, and matriculate at U.S. Medical Schools: U.S. Medical School Admissions Information – Financial Aid policies, MCAT policies, and information about in-state, out-of-state, and international applicants.

Information for Canadian Students & Students Selecting Canadian Medical Schools

Canadian Students Selecting U.S. Medical Schools

  • Many U.S. medical schools consider Canadian applicants the same way they consider international applicants.

Canadian Students Applying to Canadian Medical Schools

There are 17 medical schools in Canada, all of which are described in Medical School Admissions Requirements (MSAR) published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). A much more comprehensive view of these schools can be obtained from “Admissions Requirements of Canadian Faculties of Medicine” (2024) published by The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) at Admissions Requirements AFM and from the individual school websites.  Residency match rates for the individual schools can be viewed on the website of the Canadian Residency Matching Service.

The General Information section of the AFMC guide provides an excellent starting point for understanding the process:

  • The number of places available is determined by provincial governments based on educational and financial resources as well as Canada’s future physician workforce requirement. Since the universities are under provincial jurisdiction, the majority of places in a faculty of medicine are allocated to permanent residents of the province in which the university is located.
  • An applicant must decide to which faculty or faculties of medicine application will be made. Obviously, the geographic location of a faculty of medicine is of critical importance to a prospective applicant. For those applicants who are free to move to any location where a place may be offered, chances of success in gaining admission may be considerably enhanced. Those who apply to only one faculty of medicine have the smallest chance of being offered admission. As the number of applications increases, so does the chance of being offered a place at a faculty of medicine.
  • The competition to enter a faculty of medicine is very keen so it is important that applicants ensure that they fully meet the entry requirements of each faculty of medicine to which they apply.

Information about the schools:

Language

The language of instruction at Laval University, the University of Sherbrooke, and the University of Montreal is French. The University of Ottawa teaches in French and English. The language of instruction at the other schools is English.

3-year versus 4-year programs

Most schools have 4-year programs. Laval University lists the program as 4-5 years. McMaster and Calgary both have 3-year programs.