An increasing number of medical schools are offering conditional early acceptances to undergraduates. An Early Assurance Program allows applicants to be accepted early without even taking the MCAT. Read more for details.
An early assurance program (EAP) is a way for a student to guarantee a spot in medical school early on in his or her undergraduate career. Typical medical school applicants apply after their third or fourth years. But to be considered for an EAP, students must apply at the end of their second year or at the beginning of their junior year.
The EAP is a great option for highly qualified students who are already dedicated to a career in medicine. It is an opportunity for students who have excelled academically during their first and second years in college to be guaranteed a seat in certain medical schools usually without having to worry about the MCAT or applying to multiple medical schools. In addition, students who apply and are accepted do not have to worry as much about maintaining a high GPA, allowing them to pursue other extracurricular and academic interests. They can take classes they normally would not take because of the risk of lowering their GPA.
Although the requirements for applying to EAPs differ from school to school, if you are interested in applying to a typical EAP, you must finish at least five premedical courses by the end of your sophomore year. Your academic performance during your first two years of college is crucial to being admitted. In addition, admissions committees are looking for a commitment to a career in medicine through your personal statement, supplementary essays, extracurricular activities, and letters of recommendation. Schools may ask for your high school transcript and/or SAT or ACT scores. Some schools only offer the EAP to their undergraduate students or undergraduates from linked programs. Other medical schools accept applicants from any four-year university.
If you are accepted via an EAP, you are not bound to an unbreakable contract. Most schools give you until the beginning of your senior year to decide whether you want to fully commit to the school. If you decide to back out, you can still apply to medical schools the traditional way. Since each school’s EAP differs, it is important to know the details of the specific EAP you want to apply to.
Here are all the schools that offer the EAP that we could find as of 2021:
–Open Only for Their Undergraduates or Linked Schools–
Brody School of Medicine | Greenville, North Carolina |
Dartmouth University Geisel School of Medicine | Hanover, New Hampshire |
Drexel University College of Medicine | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Georgetown University School of Medicine | Washington, D.C. |
Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Loyola University Chicago – Stritch School of Medicine | Chicago, Illinois |
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine | East Lansing, Michigan |
Penn State College of Medicine | Hershey, Pennsylvania |
Tufts University School of Medicine | Boston, Massachusetts |
University of Kentucky College of Medicine | Lexington, Kentucky |
University of Rochester School of Medicine | Rochester, New York |
Wake Forest School of Medicine | Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine | Dayton, Ohio |
–Open to all applicants–
Albany Medical College | Albany, New York |
Boston University School of Medicine | Boston, Massachusetts |
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | New York City, New York |
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine | Chicago, Illinois |
SUNY Upstate Medical University | Syracuse, New York |
University at Buffalo SUNY School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences | Buffalo, New York |
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine | Cincinnati, Ohio |
University of Florida Medical Honors Program | Gainesville, Florida |
UC Riverside School of Medicine | Riverside, California |
University of Toledo College of Medicine & Life Sciences | Toledo, Ohio |
*Applicants accepted from any college with restrictions.