No matter how the medical school admissions landscape has changed over the years, one thing has remained constant: GPA and MCAT scores are the foundation of every application. And regardless of how many medical schools point to their holistic admissions process, the trend of ever-increasing stats among matriculating students shows no signs of slowing down.
In other words, while your written materials, such as your medical school personal statement, AMCAS Work and Activities section, letters of recommendation, and secondaries are incredibly important for getting into med school, they cannot overcome low stats.
The question of where to apply to medical school to maximize your odds of admission can only be reliably answered if you’re aware of each school’s matriculating students’ average MCAT and GPA. So, if you’re wondering whether your stats are “good enough” for a given school or you simply want to know—statistically speaking—the easiest medical schools to get into, you need to know the numbers.
Because the process of finding this information can be incredibly tedious, we decided to do the heavy lifting for you. Specifically, we visited every US medical school’s admissions website to find the average GPA, average MCAT score, and (when reported) minimum MCAT score to help ensure that your application efforts are not wasted on schools where you’re unlikely to be competitive.
Without further ado, here is the complete list of U.S. medical schools, including the average GPA and average MCAT scores by school.
(Note: Students often observe discrepancies between the data below and those reported on MSAR. These discrepancies are largely attributable to the fact that medical school websites often report different stats than MSAR, including:
- Whereas MSAR reports median GPA and MCAT, many schools report mean GPA and MCAT.
- Schools typically report data on students entering the first-year class (i.e., matriculating students), but the default MSAR setting is “all accepted applicants.”
- MSAR is published in the Spring of each year. On the other hand, medical schools may update their website with average GPA and average MCAT data at any time. This may lead to MSAR and medical schools reporting data on different classes.)
nova southeastern university college of osteopathic medicine requirements
Applicants for admission must meet the following requirements prior to entry:
1. Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university. A minimum of 90 semester hours of accepted work from a regionally accredited college or university may be considered for admission.
2. Completion of the following with a grade of C (2.0) or higher:
- 8 semester hours of Biological Science with laboratory (includes biology, embryology, genetics, microbiology, physiology, etc.)
- 8 semester hours of General Chemistry with laboratory
- 8 semester hours of Organic Chemistry with laboratory
- 8 semester hours of Physics with laboratory
- 6 semester hours of English/Humanities (must include 3 semester hours of English)
- 3 semester hours of Biochemistry
These are minimum academic requirements for admission. Students are encouraged to take additional courses such as immunology, physiology, behavioral sciences, and the humanities.
3. Minimum cumulative and science GPA of 3.0.
4. Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) with scores no more than three years from the date the application is submitted. This examination evaluates the applicant’s knowledge of biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, reading comprehension, and quantitative reasoning. We strongly recommend that the examination be taken in the spring of the junior year, so that, if applicants feel that the test scores are unsatisfactory, they may retake the examination in the fall of the senior year. January scores for repeat attempts may not be considered. Only the best set of test scores will be considered. All scores should be transmitted directly to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service.
5. Letters of recommendation from:
- A physician (M.D. or D.O.)
- Pre-professional committee, or if such a committee does not exist, then three letters of recommendation are needed (two from science professors and one non-science professor) Examples of a non-science letter include but are not limited to English, Psychology, Mathematics, and Humanities.
Letters should be signed or submitted on official letterhead. Letters are to be submitted directly through AACOMAS portal. Absence of required letters to complete an applicant’s file may delay the review of an application.
Any variations of the admissions requirements can be approved by the dean.