In case you have decided to apply for Md/PhD program, because you are fascinated by research discoveries as well as clinical work, but you feel intimidated thinking these programs are too competitive, we will present you the 16 easiest Md/PhD programs to get into.
Generally speaking, getting into medical school requires for starters a big amount of commitment as well as outstanding scores in the MCAT and GPA, because the competition is intense. We were also dealing with this topic in articles related to how hard can be to get admitted into medical schools, and one of them is 10 Hardest Medical Schools to Get Into. However, we have also covered the easiest medical schools to get into in the USA, which are schools with more affordable tuition as well as higher acceptance rates in our article 9 Easiest Medical Schools to Get Into. So, take a look at it if you were looking for the easiest medical schools to get into 2017.
Let’s face it, applying for getting into medical school can be frightening. Many applicants consider that choosing a medical school out of the United States could save them the hassle of going through all the application process and the requirements of high scores. It is a fact that many students have been attracted to the less strict admission policies of medical schools in the Caribbean. In fact, their average acceptance rate is 38% for which they are considered the medical schools with the highest acceptance rate. Moreover, the minimum score in the MCAT required is much lower than in American medical schools. Just take a look at the acceptance rate of Loma Linda School of Medicine which is one of the easiest medical school to get into in California — it’s 3%, while the average MCAT score is 31.0. Precisely that is the reason why the universities in the Caribbean are among the easiest medical schools to get into in the world. On the other hand, the ones who prefer to stay within the United States think that an easy way to pass through medical school could be choosing, let’s say, Osteopathic medicine. Of course, if we consider that according to U.S. News less than 50% of applicants to traditional Allopathic medical schools are accepted, then Osteopathic medicine is an option. If you were looking for the easiest Osteopathic medical schools to get into, then you must know that overall, students accepted in these schools have lower average MCATs and GPAs. However, you might as well have to consider pursuing meaningful extracurricular activities and go through intense competition for getting admitted, since there are only thirty-three Osteopathic medical schools accredited by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in the USA.
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But when we talk about the easiest MD/PhD programs to get into, it has to be said in a first place that opting for an MD/PhD requires a great deal of commitment and preparation. It’s a challenging career that takes about seven to eight years which are divided into two years of medical school, then three to four years of research which correspond to the PhD and finally the last two years back to medical education. Becoming an MD/PhD offers opportunities to benefit people developing new diagnostics and treatments for diseases as well as creating the technologies to apply them. In simple words, the program prepares students to be physician scientists. According to the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) a successful MD/PhD candidate should show creativity and leadership potential; proof a productive research experience; a convincing personal statement; letter of recommendation from research mentors; outstanding academic records, including MCAT scores; and extracurricular activities and life experiences. With all that being said you might think that the task of finding the easiest MD/PhD programs to get into is not an easy one. Well, don’t get discouraged and think about this — in the U.S. more than 100 medical schools have an organized MD/PhD program. They range in size. There are small programs that admit one or two students per year and might have only a dozen students enrolled as well as programs that admit 20 new students per year and have over 150 students enrolled. The thing to keep in mind is that MD/PhD programs get fewer applicants than regular medical school. Moreover, your grades and scores need to be competitive, but your research experiences and other activities are just as important. With this, we want to show that the reputation of the University is important, but many students discard even applying to certain medical schools just because of that fact. Just take a look at the medical school of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. The prestige of this university is undeniable, but if you search for data the competition for admittance is not as high as you might think. The range is six applicants for one spot, compared with the rest of medical schools in the U.K. where the average is nine to one. Based on this criterion, we could say that the School of Clinical Medicine of the University of Cambridge is one of the easiest medical schools to get into in the U.K.
For making the ranking of the easiest MD/PhD programs to get into we have researched and compared data such as average MCAT and GPA scores required, number of applicants versus number of accepted students and tuition costs, even though this information is not always shown on each of the school’s websites. That’s why we have used information provided by the AAMC, U.S. News, and StartClass, as well, resulting in the following list of the 16 easiest MD/PhD programs to get into:
16. Missouri School of Medicine, University of Missouri (Columbia, Missouri)
Acceptance Rate: 6.4%
Tuition Cost: $29,343
Average MCAT Score: Old MCAT 31 New MCAT 507
Average GPA Score: 3.82
This school covers areas such as family and community medicine, primary care, pharmacology and physiology, as well as health management and informatics. It is on our list of the easiest MD/PhD programs to get into because even though the acceptance rate is low, the tuition cost is not as high as other universities within the same rank.
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