MCAT

The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is required and is used along with other data to predict success in preclinical course work.

Certain exclusions apply for the MCAT requirement. Applicants from the BS/MD program who meet specific program criteria are exempt from the MCAT requirement.

The MCAT must be taken within three calendar years prior to matriculation. Applicants are encouraged to review the Profile of Entering Students to determine competitiveness for acceptance.

GPA

A minimum overall GPA of 3.0 is preferred. 

Students participating in a pathway program that has minimum GPA requirements must maintain the GPA requirements defined for that program.

Letters of Recommendation must be provided from a premedical committee or from three faculty members who have taught the applicant.

If three individual letters are provided, two of these recommendations must be from science professors and one of the three must be from the applicant's major department.

Letters of recommendation from other persons of the applicant's choosing are welcomed.

We participate in the AMCAS Letter Service and receive letters electronically.   All letters must be submitted to AMCAS by December 15 of the year prior to matriculation.

These technical standards for admission are set forth by the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine (MUJCESOM) to establish the expectations and requisite abilities considered essential for students admitted to its educational and training programs to achieve the levels of competency stipulated by MUJCESOM, its accrediting agency (the Liaison Committee on Medical Education of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association), and the Higher Educational Policy Commission of the State of West Virginia.

A practicing physician must possess the physical, mental, behavioral, and social competencies to function in a variety of clinical situations and to render a broad spectrum of patient care in multiple and varied settings.

Accepted students must be able to perform the academic and clinical competencies to meet the full requirements of the school’s curriculum.

Accepted students with disabilities which may compromise their educational process and their ability to practice medicine or which might compromise the educational process of their classmates may be required to undergo appropriate evaluation to assess their ability to meet the school’s competencies and/or continue in the program.

The academic and clinical competencies of the school’s curriculum include the capacity to observe and communicate and demonstrate sufficient motor ability to perform physical examinations and basic laboratory and diagnostic procedures. Students must demonstrate emotional stability, exercise sound judgment, work effectively in stressful situations, and have the intellectual ability to synthesize data and solve problems.

Applicants for admission to MUJCESOM who are invited for an on campus interview are required to certify on the day of their interview that they understand and are able to meet the Technical Standards described herein with or without reasonable accommodations. A description of the actual disability and the need for accommodations should not be disclosed at this time. Reasonable accommodations can be made for accepted students with appropriately documented disabilities. An accommodation is not reasonable if it poses a direct threat to the health or safety of self and/or others, if making it requires a substantial modification in an essential element of the curriculum, if it lowers academic standards, or poses an undue administrative or financial burden. Except in rare circumstances, the use by the candidate of a third party (e.g., an intermediary) to perform any of the functions described in the Technical Standards set forth would constitute an unacceptable modification.

As an accepted student who has a disability and needs accommodations should initiate discussions with the MUJCESOM Office of Medical Education as soon as the offer of admissions is received and accepted. It is the responsibility of an accepted student to provide sufficiently current information documenting the general nature and extent of his/her disability and the functional limitations proposed to be accommodated. The student must recertify that he/she is able to meet the Technical Standards with their specific accommodations. The School of Medicine reserves the right to request new or additional information.

Candidates for admission to the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine must meet the following Technical Standards:

• Must be able to obtain, process, and learn information presented in classroom, laboratory, and clinical experiences, including but not limited to lecture, anatomical dissection, and simulated and real treatment situations;
• Must be able to acquire information from a variety of sources, including but not limited to texts, journals, written documentation, videotapes, films, slides, and advanced media resources;
• Must have the mental capacity to, in a timely manner, assimilate, learn, and communicate large volumes of complex, technically detailed information, to perform clinical problem-solving, and synthesize and apply concepts and information from different disciplines to formulate evaluative and therapeutic judgments;
• Must be able to measure, calculate, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information;
• Must be able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and understand spatial relationships of structures;
• Must be able to process information in a timely manner;
• Must be able to solve clinical problems in a timely manner;
• Must be able to observe simulated and real patients accurately close at hand and at a distance;
• Must be able to assess verbal and non-verbal communication from others;
• Must be able to demonstrate effective, efficient, and sensitive verbal, non-verbal, and written communication skills with faculty, peers, patients, and other members of the health care team from different cultural and social backgrounds;
• Must be able to consistently perform a complete history and physical exam on any patient regardless of the patient’s race, religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, age or sexual orientation.
• Must be able to tolerate long periods of sitting as well as long periods of physical activity;
• Must be able to manipulate parts of, or whole bodies of, simulated and real patients;
• Must be able to tolerate close physical contact with patients for instructional purposes while maintaining professional deportment;
• Must possess the emotional health necessary for the full use of intellectual abilities, the exercise of sound judgment, and the effective completion of all responsibilities attendant to the educational expectations, assessment and treatment of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with patients, family members, colleagues, and others;
• Must be able to endure physically and mentally stressful workloads and function effectively and professionally under stress;
• Must be able to adapt to changing environments and expectations;
• Must be able to prioritize activities effectively;
• Must possess adequate sensory function to fulfill the minimum competency objectives for auscultation, percussion, and other physical assessment and treatment procedures commonly used in the medical practice;
• Must have the capacity to learn, model and abide by the professional competencies of the profession;
• Must have the ability to record examination and diagnostic results clearly, accurately and efficiently, and communicate them effectively to the patient and colleagues.