How to be a strong candidate for medical school
College of Health
Select a major that gives you a unique path and perspective
Elements of a strong pre-med application
Medical schools take a holistic approach in considering applicants.
They consider
- Experiences in health care, clubs, service organizations, leadership roles, job shadowing and more.
- Attributes such as personal history, hardships and resiliency, critical thinking skills, cultural competency and diversity.
- Metrics such as GPA (recommend 3.2+), grade trends and MCAT score (recommend 501+), sciences requirements.
It’s important to
- Build excellent relationships with professionals and faculty who might serve as references.
- Engage in extracurricular activities. Choose three to four activities that you're passionate about and consider ones that align with your interests such as patient care, community building, sports or arts.
- Convey your passion for health.
What to major in for pre-med?
For most health professions, your specific major isn’t as important as pre-requisite courses and hands-on experience. This gives you the freedom to major in something you enjoy and find inspiring.
Majors
College of Health majors that include some requirements for medical school:
Kinesiology
The pre-therapy and allied health option offers professional tracks that include pre-requisites for physician assistant, athletic training, medicine and nursing.
Nutrition
Many pre-medical competency courses are built into the nutrition and health sciences option requirements.
Public health
All courses required to apply to pre-professional programs or medical school can easily be included in any public health option.
Courses required for medical school
Most medical schools require the following courses:
- 1 year general chemistry
- 1 year organic chemistry
- 1 year general biology
- 1 year general physics
- At least one math course; preferably also statistics
- Social science courses (consider HDFS courses)
- Humanities
Online courses, study abroad and international science courses are usually not accepted by medical schools for completing prerequisites.
Most medical schools highly recommend:
- Anatomy and Physiology (included in the college’s kinesiology degree)
- Genetics
- Biochemistry
- Cell and Molecular Biology
- Physiology
How to choose extracurriculars for medical schools
When considering extracurricular activities for your medical school application, three or four in-depth experiences where you gain valuable lessons are more important than trying to check off a wide range and number of activities.
Show you care
Medical schools care about what you care about.
This means your experiences could be:
- patient- or people-focused,
- contribute to building community,
- be sports-related,
- or be physical activities,
- or creative or artistic pursuits.
It's your opportunity
Extracurricular experiences are an opportunity for you to:
- Explore your interests,
- test out your natural inclinations for certain activities,
- better understand medical practice and daily demands,
- assess your ability to communicate and empathize with diverse people,
- and evaluate your willingness to put others’ needs ahead of your own.
Medical schools value commitment to the health care field.
To be a strong applicant, we recommend at least one year of health care related experiences.
Review this example pre-med timeline so you’re well-positioned to achieve your goal of attending medical school.
Take advantage of pre-med resources
Attend application seminars, the pre-medical orientation seminar, and a personal statement workshop.
A medical preceptorship program will immerse you in a clinical environment with a physician mentor to give you a firsthand look into the profession.
More resources
- Pre-med Listserv: Subscribe to the pre-med email list for information about upcoming events, application workshops, campus visits, etc.
- Minority Association of Pre-Med Students: (MAPS) is a club that is committed to supporting underrepresented minority students pursue medical school.
- Pre-Med Society: Join the Oregon State University chapter of the AMSA Pre-Medical Society.
- Premedical Orientation Class - BI 109: Take this class winter term of your first year. You’ll learn about the application process, the MCAT, admissions, volunteer opportunities, etc.
- Is pre-med right for me? A guide to help you think about if pre-med is the right path for you.
We’re here to help you plan for medical school
If you're interested in attending medical school, meet with the College of Health pre-med advisor toward the end of your first year, or as soon as possible, to learn about and prepare for the application process.
By working with the COH pre-med advisor, you will also establish a mentoring relationship, a critical part of the process.
Please read
Advising
Advising appointments can be made by calling the College of Health's Office of Student Success at 541-737-8900.
Are you a current College of Health student interested in pursuing medicine? Please complete the Pre-med Initial Interest form.