Pre-Med Specific

The MCAT is offered January - September, but the timing in which you take the MCAT is usually dependent upon your timeline for applying to medical school. Your advisor can help you get a better idea of when you should plan to complete the MCAT based on your individual goals. For students looking to matriculate straight into medical school after graduating from Northwestern, this typically means taking the MCAT during spring quarter of junior year at the latest. Those looking to take one or more gap or bridge years will have more flexibility with their MCAT timing.

HPA recommends planning to study 3-4 months, ideally 16-20 hours a week, before taking the MCAT exam. HPA recommends reviewing the AAMC “How to Create a Study Plan for the MCAT” online resource to come up with a plan that's right for you.

For MD programs, ideally any time in June. Consult with an advisor about using your spring quarter grades or not. For TMDSAS, apply in May (you are allowed to send in your spring quarter grades later). For DO programs, apply in June or July (you have to wait for your spring quarter grades).

HPA recommends getting access to the AAMC Medical School Admissions Requirements (MSAR) database in the winter of the year you intend to apply to med school.

• The MSAR is updated every spring and provides information and data of each medical school.
• Applicants may also use the 3 year acceptance/matriculate handout to see medical schools by region and get a sense of where NU applicants have been accepted and matriculated over the past 3 cycles.
• Applicants should also note in-state preferences, GPA and MCAT ranges and aspects of each med school.
• Beyond using geography and GPA/MCAT ranges to choose a school, they should also be able to articulate why they are choosing to apply to that school (a common secondary and/or interview question).
• Please also ask your health professions advisor for a Selecting Medical Schools handout. 

Yes, most Northwestern students choose to take one or more gap years between graduating and matriculating to medical school – more than 80%.  Folks choose to take a gap year for many reasons, including wanting more flexibility for completing pre-med coursework and/or the MCAT, the opportunity to work and earn money before attending school, pursuing a fellowship opportunity, getting involved in different organizations like the Peace Corps or Teach for America, or choosing to pursue a post-baccalaureate program to improve their academic profile ahead of applying to medical school.

Northwestern University does not offer a committee letter, medical schools are aware of this and do not hold it against NU applicants.

Applicants should ask a recommender 4-8 weeks (or more) before the letter is due (letters are needed in July for MD programs). The first time an applicant talks to a recommender should not be to ask for an LOR, they should have been cultivating this professional relationship over time. Because many science faculty write letters for a large number of pre-med students, we encourage you to have these conversations early in the year you plan to apply.

First, review the requirements for letters for each school you’re interested in or planning to apply to. How many letters are required and who should they come from? Letters from faculty (STEM or non-STEM), physicians, PI’s, supervisors, etc. are frequently permitted/required from medical schools.

Ideally, those writing letters for you will know you well enough to write a strong letter. However, letters shouldn’t come from family members. The same can be said for family friends unless you worked for that individual or you have a professional relationship that they can speak to in a letter.

Some of your recommenders may already be familiar with the LORs process for medical schools, but it’s still best practice to provide them with the following materials to help them should they need it and to ensure you end up with the best possible letter.

• Updated resume. See Northwestern Career Advancement (NCA) for a resume review.
• Transcript
• Personal statement
• The AAMC Guidelines for Writing a Letter of Evaluation
• A Thank You for supporting you

A gap/bridge year occurs when an applicant wants to apply at the end of their senior year, rather than their junior year to medical school.  The medical school application cycle is approximately a 15 month process. If students want to start medical school immediately after they graduate, they need to apply in the June of their junior year.

Yes, more than 70% of Northwestern undergraduates in the regular MD application cycle (excludes HPME/NUPSP applicants) take at least a year or more between undergraduate and medical school.

Reasons for taking a gap/bridge year include:

• Need to improve science GPA before applying
• Need to improve MCAT score and/or want more time to study for MCAT
• Need more experience in health care setting
• May not be sure if that they want to be a physician
• Would like to pursue other opportunities before starting medical school
  (fellowships, travel abroad, other graduate work)

In general, medical schools want you to follow your own interests during your gap/bridge year.

• Most applicants build upon the skill set they have been developing during college.
  • Someone who has research experience may look for research jobs.
  • Someone who has tutored may look for teaching fellowships.
• If you plan on using your gap/bridge year experience to correct a major deficit in your application, we would encourage you to strengthen your application first before submitting it. This may mean applying in another cycle than the one you intended.
• If you are working in a non-healthcare position, continue to show your commitment to medicine by volunteering in a patient-care environment (hospitals, community health clinics, etc.).

If you are working in a patient-care environment, continue to show your service orientation by volunteering in a non-healthcare setting (tutoring kids, volunteering with a food pantry, etc.).

Yes, but it can be challenging during the interview season (approximately September – February, although some schools may interview in August and be finished by December/January).

• Do you have the budget to return for interviews, maybe multiple times?
  • Medical schools may not have the flexibility to accommodate your travel schedule.
• Do you have the freedom from your abroad commitment to return for interviews?

If there are budget or commitment concerns, we encourage students to consider moving their application to the next year and being fully invested in their abroad experience.

Clinical experience is any experience that involves the care and treatment of patients and ideally one in which you can observe the patient/doctor relationship. Most pre-health students will engage in some form of clinical experience before enrolling in a health professions program.

Medical schools want to be confident that you:

• have a good understanding of the realities of medicine
• are service-minded and people-oriented
• are committed to the practice of medicine

Clinical experience allows pre-health students to get a firsthand look at what it’s like to work in a healthcare setting and to see the qualities and characteristics it takes to provide care. It also allows pre-health students to test and confirm that this is right work setting and profession for you.

Volunteer Match, the HPA Opportunities Database and the Service and Volunteering page all show clinical volunteering opportunities that are available to our students.

Remember that clinical experiences do not have to take place at Northwestern or in Chicago to be valued -- you can find additional experiences at community clinics, nursing homes, hospitals, or other medical facilities elsewhere, too!

Yes, of course! Remember, this is about slowly building your experience, not jumping into everything at the same time. If you plan accordingly you can engage in a wide range of valued experiences over 3+ years.

Med schools prefer to see a consistent record of service over time to demonstrate an applicant’s Service Orientation core competency.

• All schools will value service in a medical/clinical setting
• Some schools may also wish to see service in a non-medical/clinical setting.
• Many schools will not have a required number of hours, but we recommend at least a year of volunteering before applying to medical school (one shift a week, ideally)

Shadowing resources include:

• Northwestern University Clinical Apprentice Program (NU-CAP)
• NEXT (Northwestern Externship Program)
• Northwestern Network Mentorship Program
• Personal Network (friends/family/your own physicians)

We recommend creating a long term plan utilizing our pre-med coursework handout and the NU Undergraduate Course Catalog to check pre-requisites. Things to keep in mind that may apply to your course plan:

• Biochemistry requires CHEM 210-1 or CHEM 212-1 or CHEM 215-1.
• Neuroscience 202 (the first required Neuro core course) requires Bio 201 and either CHEM 132-0 or co-enrollment in CHEM 152-0 or CHEM 172-0.
• Chemistry sequences can only be started in the fall quarter or taken in summer.

When required courses need to be completed will depend your medical school goals and long-term plan (i.e. gap/bridge year(s), no gap/bridge year). Feel free to consult with a health professions advisor about a long-term course plan.

The math requirement can vary greatly among medical schools. Credit for a full year of math is recommended, typically two quarters of calculus and one quarter of statistics.

Additionally, statistics is strongly recommended for MCAT preparation, and is recommended/required by some medical schools.

For the most part, we advise you to stick to the chemistry sequence you placed into via the assessment and/or placement test provided by the chemistry department.

If you have placed into organic chemistry and received AP credit for the full general chemistry sequence, it is generally acceptable to begin your pre-health studies with organic chemistry. However, please be aware that there is no uniform policy regarding AP credits across medical schools. The vast majority of medical schools will accept AP credit for general chemistry requirements, but some will expect you to take additional upper level science coursework or upper level chemistry coursework if you choose to use AP credits for the general chemistry sequence. If you are in this situation and do not plan to take additional upper-level science coursework, it may be best to begin with the CHEM 171/172 sequence.

If you have placed into organic chemistry without AP credit for general chemistry or with only partial AP credit for the general chemistry sequence and do not plan to take additional upper-level chemistry coursework beyond organic chemistry, we strongly advise beginning with the advanced general chemistry sequence (CHEM 171).

Yes, but keep in mind:

• Ideally, medical schools would like to see applicants take their pre-med coursework at their home institution during the regular academic year.
• If an applicant needs to take pre-med coursework in the summer, we recommend only using one summer (don’t take pre-med courses every summer) and to take it at your home institution or an institution of similar rigor.
• It can be difficult for students to find summer courses that fit with our quarter schedule AND that can be transferred back to NU, if they are needed as pre-reqs for NU pre-med coursework.
• If a student does not need the NU credit, they do not need to have it transferred. Medical schools will require the official transcript from the original institution; they will not care if it is transferred to your home institution.

There is no uniform acceptance policy for AP credit for all medical schools.

• Most medical schools will accept AP credit but some may require or prefer that an applicant take upper level science coursework, in some cases from the same area of study, to replace the AP credit.
• Exceptions: A small number of schools have stricter requirements and do not accept AP or IB credits. Always check a medical school's admissions website to be certain of the most current policies.

None of our general chemistry sequences are “better” or “worse” than any other. We strongly recommend that you stick to the course sequence you placed into, as you want the course to be a good match for your existing knowledge and skill set. If you are struggling in the sequence you placed into, please talk with the Chemistry Department to ensure it is still the appropriate course placement for you.

Your choice of major and/or minor is not a factor in admissions decisions, and one major is not better in the eyes of medical schools than any other. We encourage you to choose a major that interests you!

Med schools engage in holistic review, so medical schools accept a range of GPAs; these ranges can differ by medical school. 

• We recommend using the MSAR to get a better sense of the science GPA and MCAT ranges for different med schools. 
• The academic performance is just one metric that a school reviews. The experiences and the reflections that an applicant puts forth in their application and discusses in their interview are highly valued.  Someone will not be a competitive candidate if they spent all of their time trying to maintain a high GPA, but at the expense of experiences that would have helped them test their decision and grow as a person.
• For the Fall 2023 cycle, 100% of the 3.0 and below accepted applicant pool had post-baccalaureate coursework.

Yes, one C will not prevent you from applying to med school. 

• We encourage students to talk with their professor about their academic performance. Can they identify why their performance resulted in that grade? How can they learn from that course and show improved performance in other courses? 
• Besides talking with the professor, using the academic support provided by ASLA would also be helpful. 
• While one C is not detrimental, a consistent performance of Cs could be. There are many pathways to completing the pre-med coursework and the coursework does not all need to be done at NU as an undergraduate. Sometimes taking a break from the coursework can be helpful.

HPA recommends first talking with the professor of the course to get a true sense of where the student is standing in the course.

• Does the professor have a recommendation regarding dropping the course?
• A student’s overall health is what is most important. It is not unheard of to drop a course, if after consulting with the professor and their college advisor, dropping the course seems to be the best course of action.
• Medical schools understand that taking a “W” may sometimes be necessary and a “W” is preferable to seeing an “F” on the transcript.
• If a student thinks they may earn a C or better, they may just want to stay in the course (see Question 6 above).
• Medical schools usually will not mind one “W”, but may have great concern if there is a pattern of always withdrawing from courses over several quarters.

You will need to do research regarding schools’ grading policies and assess their foundation in the course subject:

• Many medical schools, thought not all, have a “C” minimum grade requirement for their required courses.
• We encourage students to check for this minimum grade policy for the schools in which they are interested.
• If they earned a C- or lower and plan to apply to a school that has a minimum C grade policy, then they will need to retake that course (either here at NU or elsewhere).
• We would also recommend retaking the course if you feel that you do not have the foundation from that course.
• If you feel good about the foundation and there is no minimum grade policy, then we would recommend taking higher-level courses in that area (or in sciences in general) to show improvement.

If you do retake the course, the expectation is that you would show significant improvement.

Talk with your professor. In addition to talking with your professor, access the many resources provided by Academic Support and Learning Advancement (ASLA). For students looking for more one-to-one assistance you can make an appointment to talk with an ASLA staff member. You can speak to an ASLA staff member about fine-tuning your academic goals or study strategies, or about academic challenges you are facing? Meetings are 30 minutes long, and take place in the Main Library.

If you do retake the course, the expectation is that you would show significant improvement.

No. While we cannot predict every med school reviewer’s preference, in general, med schools value applicants who have engaged in research and scholarly endeavors outside of the classroom. They especially value seeing applicants pursue activities about which they are truly passionate.

A few places to find more information about research opportunities include:

• Attend a “Finding a Lab” workshop hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR)
• Review the OUR website and newsletter for opportunities
• Connect with OUR advisors
• Talk with friends who are already engaged in research
• Talk with faculty in classes about their research interests
• Use the Northwestern Scholars database to identify faculty engaging in research that appeals to your interests.

You do not have to do any, but since we have so many research opportunities/resources at NU, we encourage you to try research.  Medical schools value the experience. Some students engage in research for a summer or an academic year and then decide that they would rather focus on other things, which is acceptable.  However, if students are truly interested in an MD/PhD pathway, we advise that they are active in research over multiple years and can show growth in their research skill set.

The NUPSP website is the best source to learn about the program’s requirements and application process. On average, about 50 students apply each year, and 10-15 are accepted. Once you’re assigned a pre-health advisor, you can discuss if NUPSP may be a good fit for you. The application is due at the end of fall quarter of your junior year.

Applicants should approach a recommender a minimum of 4-8 weeks before the letter is due; however, many students begin approaching recommenders in the quarter prior to discuss letters. The first time an applicant talks to a recommender should not be to ask for an LOR, you should have cultivated this professional relationship over time.

Application opens over the summer. Keep an eye out for an e-mail from Health Professions Advising notifying students when applications open. Health Professions Advising will notify students through our listserv when NU-CAP applications open and instructions on how to submit your application. You will need to fill out the in-take form on the Get Advising page, if you haven't already done so, to be included on our listserv and be notified about programs like NU-CAP.

Historically, juniors and seniors with limited shadowing experience have participated in NU-CAP.

The following programs aren't "shadowing programs" but they can connect a student with a physician and, in some cases, have led to shadowing opportunities. 

• Northwestern Externship Program (NEXT) - This is a 1-2 day shadowing opportunity (in-person or virtual). Registration for this program is in the fall. 
• Northwestern Network Mentorship Program (NNMP) - This program matches students with alumni mentors in a career field that they're interested in. 
  Once mutually established, the mentor-mentee pair then agree on goals and communication preferences, including whether they’ll speak by phone or meet in person and how often they’ll connect, whether it's once or multiple times throughout the year.
• Affinity Leaders and Learners (ALL) Mentorship Program - This program pairs undergraduate students and alumni by taking into consideration shared experience and affinity in the matching process. 

The NU Connections Programs match NU undergraduates with students in the DPT, MD and PA programs at the Feinberg School of Medicine. Matches then engage in a dialogue meant to better inform the student about their health track and what it's like to be a student in one of these programs at Feinberg School of Medicine.

Application opens over the fall quarter for the MD Connections Program and in the winter quarter for the DPT and PA Connections Programs. HPA will advertise when registration for these programs is open in our Events & Opportunities Newsletter.

Students registered with HPA are eligible for the NU Connections Program as long as they apply before the registration deadline.

Yes! Many pre-med students choose to study abroad during their time at Northwestern. We encourage you to plan ahead and begin to get an understanding of the available opportunities through the Global Learning Office website. Once you have an idea of the timing in which you’d like to go abroad, we can help you build your schedule around that experience. Keep in mind that, depending on your desired timeline, you may need to take a flexible approach to fitting in a study abroad experience.

Medical schools generally prefer that applicants take their courses at their home institution.  We typically advise students not to take pre-med coursework abroad, but there may be exceptions.  If an applicant does want to take coursework abroad, it has to be with a U.S. or Canadian-based institution for the courses/grades to be counted in AMCAS.

Whichever program sounds interesting to you and fits with your course planning, it does not have to be pre-med focused. However, Global Health minors/majors must do a public health focused study abroad experience approved by Global Health Studies.

Yes, if the institution that sponsored the study abroad program is in the US or Canada you will need to submit a transcript from that institution when you apply to medical school. When you apply to medical school you will include an official transcript from each institution for which you attempted coursework.

We recommend that you review and follow the AAMC Guidelines for Premedical and Medical Students Providing Patient Care During Clinical Experience Abroad and only choose a program that adheres these guidelines.

Remember, if you are not qualified to do something in the U.S., you certainly are not qualified to do it in another country.

From the above AAMC document: Many premedical students believe that the more in-depth clinical experience they have, the stronger their applications will be. However, taking on tasks that are beyond your training could make you look unethical, unknowledgeable about the health professions, irresponsible to admission committees, and may diminish or eliminate your chance for acceptance into medical school. Similarly, medical students who perform procedures beyond their training may negatively impact their chances of matching in residency programs.

You do not need to go abroad to engage in global communities, many cities have international populations in need of service.