Special Admission Requirements
The pre-medicine program at JMU outlines a set of courses, activities and competencies that commonly serve as prerequisites for admission to doctoral-level programs in medicine (M.D. and D.O.). Strong candidates for medical school must demonstrate excellence in the sciences, thinking and reasoning skills, intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies, and involvement in meaningful extracurricular activities related to medicine.
For pre-medicine students, excellence in academic preparation encompasses completion of requirements for a selected major program of study, a strong foundation in the sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, psychology and sociology) and mathematics, as well as success in advanced course work. With basic science preparation, students in any major are equally prepared for acceptance to medical school. Access to timely information and appropriate guidance is an increasingly important element of a pre-med student’s academic preparation and development.
Declaring Pre-Medicine
Incoming first year and transfer students can declare pre-medicine without verification from Pre-Professional Health Advising.
Current students will need to submit a declaration request form to Pre-Professional Health Advising.
Declaration requests from current students who have completed 13 or more credit hours in biology, chemistry, physics and math at JMU will be approved only if the student’s overall GPA and science GPA (biology, chemistry, physics and math) are 3.00 or above.
Access to Pre-Medicine Advising
Declared pre-medicine students have access to pre-medicine advising. Once students complete 13 or more credit hours in biology, chemistry, physics and/or math course work at JMU, they will be subject to performance queries twice a year. Students who achieve and/or maintain an overall GPA and a science GPA (biology, chemistry, physics and math) of 3.00 or above retain access to advising with emphasis on excellence in advanced course work, intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies, leadership, research, service, and health-related experience.
Students whose performance queries reveal an overall GPA < 3.00 and/or a BCPM GPA < 3.00 are at very high risk of not being admitted to medical school. Targeted advising will focus on developing academic skills and career exploration. Those who are unable to attain or maintain an overall GPA and a BCPM GPA of 3.00 or above will have the pre-medicine declaration administratively dropped. Since the pre-medicine program is not a major this action will have no impact on a student’s degree program.
Students who wish to re-enter the pre-medicine program may re-declare if their overall GPA and BCPM GPA are both above 3.00. This standard will apply to students who either requested to drop the pre-medicine program voluntarily or were dropped administratively.
