Medicine

It is recommended that students interested in pursuing Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary careers complete their Bachelor’s degrees. Although there is no specific specialty required, many students at the College of Natural Sciences complete their degrees in Biology or the Natural Sciences General Program. In addition to the academic requirements, students should also consider participating in various extracurricular activities.

I. Course requirementsThere are specific course requirements for students applying to medical schools. The 90 credit curriculum established by the Puerto Rico Medical Examination Board is:
CourseCredits
English 112
Spanish 1, 212
Biology 38
General Chemistry 48
Organic Chemistry8
College Physics with Lab. 8
Advanced Social Sciences 4, 512
Electives 6

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  1. Students that obtain an A or B grade in the Spanish Honor course (SPAN 3111-3112) and/or English Honor course (ENGL 3111-3112) don’t have to take a second year of these courses. However, they must add these 6 or 12 credits to their elective courses.
  2. The School of Medicine at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences campus requires 12 credits in Spanish courses; however the Medical Examination Board Committee only requires 6.
  3. We recommend Biology courses such as General Biology (BIOL 3101-3102), Genetics (BIOL 3349), Microbiology (BIOL 3705), Biochemistry (BIOL 4055), Cellular Molecular Biology (BIOL 4031-4032), Human Biology (BIOL 3711-3712; 3781-3782), Immunology (BIOL 4056) or Immunobiology (BIOL 4475). Approval of these courses can help students obtain a better MCAT score.
  4. Chemistry has a Pre-calculus pre-requisite and advanced Social Sciences require an introductory Social Sciences course (SOCI 3121-3122).
  5. These should be introductory courses in Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics or Political Sciences. The Medical Examination Board Committee increased the required number of credits from 6 to 12.
  6. To complete these electives courses we recommend:
  • Registration in Science courses additional to those required. These additional courses allow for extra points in the Medical Sciences Campus Admission Formula if they are approved with an A or B. A maximum of 6 credits per discipline (CHEM, BIOL, PHIS, MATH) are accepted.
  • Free elective courses that do not considerably repeat subjects from other approved courses, some examples include credits in Ethics, Art, Music, History, etc.
II. Other admission requirements              
A. Medical College AdmissionTest (MCAT)The MCAT is offered about 22 times each year; applications are available at the Association of American Medical Colleges website. Students must make an appointment at Prometrics (787-703-3626), the center where tests are offered. Prometrics is located at the Metro Office Park 11th Building, Metro Square, Suite num.114, Guaynabo City. 703-3626). Students may take the MCAT up to 3 times; scores are valid for three years.Students must study very hard to obtain a high score in the exam and increase their competitiveness as Medical School applicants. Practice Exams are offered by companies such as Kaplan (787-725-5050), Almeida Institute (787-795-1813) and The Princeton Review (787-999-9459).B. Application Applicants must apply through the American Medical College Application Services (AMCAS) by December 1st.AMCAS
Suite 301 Division of Students Services
1776 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036-1989 C.Additional Application Requirements
  • The School of Medicine at the Medical Sciences Campus and the Caribbean Central University has secondary application forms that students must submit. These include specific formats for the three required recommendation letters. The Ponce School of Medicine doesn’t have a specific recommendation format but does require three letters from the student’s professors. An official credit transcript from the college attended by the student is also requested. Some schools also include a personal interview as part of the candidate’s evaluation process.
  • Application deadlines are usually during December: before December 1st for the Medical Sciences Campus and before December 15th for the Caribbean Central University and the Ponce School of Medicine.
III. Recommendations
We recommend that students complete their Bachelor’s degree before entering Medical School. This facilitates the first two years of Basic Science. In addition, students are encouraged to register more English courses than those required in order to help them obtain a higher score in the MCAT’s verbal reasoning portion. This is usually the part of the tests where puertorrican students obtain their lowest scores.
In terms of Science electives, Biochemistry is a very important course for students to take before entering Medical School; it will be especially useful during their first year in the medical college. We also strongly recommend courses in Genetics and Cellular/ Molecular biology.
Team work is also a skill that the students must develop a part of their extracurricular activities. Research courses such as BIOL 4990 and CHEM 4999 can aid in promoting these skills. There are several summer programs where the students can develop leadership skills too. The American Medical Students Association (AMSA) is the College’s organization for students interested in applying to medical schools. They coordinate various extracurricular activities such as opportunities to carry out volunteer work in hospitals or institutions providing various social services. Participation in these experiences can also help the students in determining their study interests, for example identifying if their vocation is in a particular specialty in medicine (MD), scientific research (PhD) or medical research MD/PhD.