Pre-med at UChicago

[Poplicola]

Many accepted students are undoubtedly considering medicine as a possible profession. UChicago’s pre-med/pre-vet/pre-dentistry/pre-optometry advising office, known as UChicago Careers in Health Professions (UCIHP), released this helpful FAQ on its website a few years back. They just recently updated this page with the latest stats:

https://careeradvancement.uchicago.edu/uchicago-careers-in/health-professions/pre-health-faqs

[Poplicola]

Usually about 150 entering first-years indicate that they are interested in medical school. Each year, we support approximately 100-125 students and alumni in their applications to medical school. It is important to remember that a big part of the college experience is exploring new interests—both academically and personally—and learning more about the various career paths that are possible.

When medical schools look at your GPA, they are evaluating the rigor of your undergraduate institution, the intensity of your course-load, and your overall grades. They DO recognize that UChicago is not a school that practices grade inflation, and take that into account—within reason. That is not to say that you can earn a 2.0 at UChicago and expect that to be held in the same regard as a 4.0 at another school. The mean GPA nationally for applicants accepted into MD programs in 2017 was 3.71. The mean GPA of UChicago students accepted into MD programs in 2017 was 3.60. Specific to the sciences, the mean accepted science GPA nationally was a 3.64 and the mean UChicago science GPA was a 3.53. It is clear from those results that the medical schools are valuing the rigor of the UChicago experience when they consider candidates.

Our students historically perform above the national average on their MCAT exam. The average MCAT score for accepted applicants nationally is 510.4. The UChicago average MCAT score for accepted applicants is a 513.8.

Over the past several years our acceptance rate has been between 79-88%. The national average over the same time period has hovered around 40%.

This list will certainly vary from year to year, but we usually see a large number of acceptances at: University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Northwestern University, New York University, Emory University, University of Michigan, Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Clinic, Tufts University, University of Southern California, Albert Einstein Medical College, and the University of Illinois.

Thought admitted students might find this information helpful. UCIHP is a lot more transparent now than it was when I was an undergrad in Hyde Park. Having personally worked with UCIHP applying for medical school in the past two to three years, I can confidently say that Joni is doing an outstanding job leading UCIHP. If you have any questions about being a pre-med at UChicago. Please let me know via PM.

[strawbery123]

hi im not sure how to use PM so can you help me with what your experiences as UChicago pre-med was like?

[Jannis2021]

Hi strawbery . I want to go to uchicago for pre med but many people plus my college counselor that in uchicago it’s impossible to get at high gpa that’s crucial for med school admissions
Thank you