Premedicine

Premedical students entering Baylor should acquaint themselves with the personnel and resources in the Premed/Predent Office at the earliest opportunity. The personnel are available to assist students on a drop-in basis. One of the best investments available there is the AED Premed/Predent Handbook--a must. Academic advisement for premed/predent students is coordinated through the Premed/Predent Office. Information concerning admission requirements for all US and Canadian medical schools , entering class profiles, and costs is maintained. Many bulletins for individual professional schools are also on hand. Applications for local Premedical/Predental Advisory Committee interviews, MCAT, and medical/dental schools are provided through the office. Video and written materials on test-taking strategies are available, especially for use by entering students. Office personnel arrange for the local committee interview, provide an analysis of application profiles, and prepare the Committee Evaluation sent to the professional schools.

Comprised of members from student affairs, the basic sciences, mathematics, social science, religion, and language departments, the Premedical/Predental Advisory Committee interviews and evaluates applicants for professional school. Composite evaluations are prepared giving factual information about the applicant, a plot of chronological grade progression, teacher ratings on a variety of personal characteristics, committee ratings on academic and personal qualities, and committee comments based on the interview, personal knowledge, and application materials. Although the professional school interviews are usually one-on-one, the Baylor PM/PD Advisory Committee interview will serve as useful preparation. The Chair, Administrative Associate, Academic Advisor, and Members of the Premed/Predent Advisory Committee keep close communication with the admissions officers of professional schools in Texas. The Chair is also active in the Southeastern and National Associations of Advisors for the Health Professions.

Members of Alpha Epsilon Delta assist the PM/PD Office with a Premed/Predent Handbook, Premed/Predent Day, a low-cost MCAT/DAT review course, tours of medical and dental schools, programs featuring a variety of healthcare professionals, and building tours for prospective premedical/predental students. They afford the program a sense of family and caring. The College of Arts and Sciences offers a program of courses designed to prepare students for the professional curriculum in medical schools offered by accredited schools. Students preparing for medicine are urged to complete the baccalaureate degree before entering professional school. Because the broad-based liberal arts education has proved the best foundation on which to build highly specialized professional training, the medical schools select students with majors in both nonscience and science disciplines. Regardless of major, the student is encouraged to excel academically in all disciplines and to develop strong personal qualities of leadership, interpersonal skills, ethics, and service. Admission to medical school is highly competitive, and only superior students are accepted. In general, selection is based on the student's application, academic record, scores on the Medical College Admission Test , the Evaluation Report of the Premedical-Predental Advisory Committee, and a personal interview at the professional school.

In recent years there has been a trend in professional schools to decrease the number of specific college courses required for admission and to allow greater latitude in course selection according to the student's interests and needs. The minimum requirements for admission to a majority of the medical schools to which Baylor students apply are:

The student should determine any specific course requirements and recommendations of the professional schools to which application is to be made.

Recommended courses for medical preprofessional preparation

Those courses in the College of Arts and Sciences which are recommended as providing strong preprofessional preparation and as meeting the minimum admission requirements of most medical schools are listed below. (Recommended electives are in parentheses.)

Other courses often recommended:

• Modern foreign language
• Humanities
• Social and behavioral sciences
• Fine arts and sciences.

Premedical students are required to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).This test should be taken twelve to sixteen months prior to the expected date of matriculation. It is recommended that these tests be taken in the spring semester of the junior year (sophomore year for those in the cooperative programs) and only after thorough personal preparation. The MCAT is given again in mid-August for those unable to take the spring offering or who need to improve their scores. However, the results are not available until nearly half way through the interview cycle, at least for Texas medical schools.

Premedical students are urged to seek counsel from the Premedical/ Predental Advisory Committee:

B.111 Baylor Science Building
One Bear Place #97341
Baylor University
Waco, Texas 76798-7341.
Linda_b_haynes@baylor.edu