The popular wisdom is that it is the least difficult to get into schools such as podiatry, osteopathic medicine, and optometry; next comes dental school; and finally, it is not quite as hard to get into pharmacy as into medical school. The UK College of Pharmacy is, in terms of national reputation (for whatever that's worth), very near the top. The medical and dental schools at both UK and U of L are (nationally speaking) not particularly outstanding; however, all med/dent/pharm schools have to meet very high standards, so you should not attach very much importance to the national reputation business.

The UK and U of L medical schools rank applicants on a 100 point scale; they have a limited number of slots for first-year students; after the point-ranking, they start with the highest numbers and admit applicants until they run out of available slots. The procedure used by other schools is not exactly the same, but will be pretty similar.

Overall GPA: 20 points.  4.0 GPA = 20 points, and so on.

Science GPA: 20 points.  This probably means any course offered within the EKU College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences. The upshot of this is that your grades in science courses are counted twice (given double weight) in the total 100 points.  Notice that how many science courses you take makes no difference here. Fewer courses with higher grades will give you more points than more courses with lower grades!  Naturally, an A in every course, regardless of how many or few, is best.  This also means that it is very important for you to work extra hard to get A's in your freshman-sophomore basic science and math courses!

MCAT Score: 20 points for your scores on the Medical School Admission Test (MCAT), or Dental or Pharmacy School Admission tests (DAT, PAT).  The MCAT is scored in four  categories on a scale of 1 to 15 (except for the essay, which uses an 11 point scale).   7's are considered low, 8's are "OK," and you should feel quite good if you get 9's or better.  These are all-day tests, and one of the four categories is an essay on a non-science topic, with an emphasis on well-organized answers and good reasons offered in support of your assertions. HON 102 Rhetoric students, please take note!

Everything Else: 40 points. This includes letters of recommendation (the ones from science teachers and premed committees carry the most weight), extracurricular activities (health-related and other), work experience, undergraduate research experience, motivation and other personal characteristics such as communications or people skills and general knowledge about the world  as revealed in a personal interview at the medical school.  This is the biggest part of the scoring, and your track record can make quite a difference.  Every now and then one hears of applicants with super GPA's and MCAT scores who aren't admitted because the interview showed that they hadn't thought seriously about their life goals, and their track record showed that they had done little or nothing to prepare themselves for a medical career except take courses and make high grades.  That's just not enough.  Look at what the professional schools say on their websites about the kinds of people they want to accept!
                                                           (Back to main menu)