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Penn State University

Penn State MD Program

Admissions

Application Procedure

Applicants should use the following procedure: 

1)
 Complete and submit an online application to the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS), indicating Penn State College of Medicine as one of your medical schools of choice. For more information, call the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) at (202) 828-0600. 
2)

Upon receipt of your initiated AMCAS application, beginning in July, Penn State College of Medicine will notify you via email to complete and submit our web-based Secondary Application.
3)
 Provide AMCAS with official transcripts, service fees and letters of recommendation. AMCAS will verify application information and send it electronically to Penn State College of Medicine. We must receive your fully verified and processed AMCAS application by November 15th.
4)
 Applicants seeking an application fee waiver are reviewed on an individual basis only after an AMCAS fee waiver has been granted and appropriate documentation submitted. 
5)

Letters of recommendation are required from each institution that has granted you a degree and any institution you are attending or plan to receive a degree. A composite recommendation from a pre-professional committee is strongly recommended. If there is no such committee, letters should be solicited from individual faculty members as outlined in the Secondary Application instructions. If there is a pre-professional committee and a recommendation will not be forthcoming, you should explain why in a separate letter to the Admissions Committee. Applicants who have been enrolled in a graduate program are required to provide an additional letter of support from their graduate program.

PLEASE NOTE: The College of Medicine is only accepting letters through the AMCAS letter system (http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcasletters.htm).  You must send, or have sent, your letters directly to AMCAS.  Please reference the website above or call AMCAS at 202-828-0600 for further clarification.
6)
 It is the policy of the College of Medicine not to grant requests for late application.
7)
 It is the applicant's responsibility to see that the application is complete. A completed application is one in which all necessary materials have been submitted with all questions on each form completely and answered, the $70 application fee has been paid, and the required letters of recommendation have been received and processed by AMCAS.

Correspondence Policy

The “preferred” addresses (mail and email) on applicants’ AMCAS application are the addresses to which any printed correspondence from Penn State College of Medicine will be sent. If your “preferred” addresses (mail or email) change after you have submitted your application to AMCAS, you will need to enter the new addresses on your electronic application, then re-certify and re-submit your application to AMCAS with the updated addresses.

Email is a primary and official mode of communication between the College of Medicine and its applicants. Some correspondence from the College of Medicine is sent only by e-mail, and will not be sent to you unless you provide an e-mail address. We recommend that due to the importance of the admissions process applicants establish a unique email address for during the process, and check that email address regularly throughout the process. Be sure to keep both your e-mail address and your preferred address up-to-date at all times.

It is the sole responsibility of the applicant to make sure that the email address indicated as "preferred" on the AMCAS application is functional. The College of Medicine is not responsible for email that unable be delivered, or for emails deleted as bulk, spam, or the like.

Letters of Recommendation

The College of Medicine is only accepting letters through the AMCAS letter system (http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcasletters.htm).  You must send, or have sent, your letters directly to AMCAS.  Please reference the website above or call AMCAS at 202-828-0600 for further clarification.

If your college or university has a Pre-health Committee or Pre-Health Office that submits recommendation letter(s), you are required to use their service. If you do not use their service, you must include an explanation (please title your explanation "Reasons for not using the Pre-Health Committee").

If your college or university does not have a Pre-health Committee or Pre-Health Office, you are required to submit a minimum of four recommendation letters (maximum of six) using the guidelines below:

  1. At least two letters from faculty in science disciplines.
  2. At least one letter from faculty in a non-science discipline.
  3. At least one remaining letter from college faculty, community leader, employer, or others in positions of responsibility that know the applicant well.
In either case, no additional letters are required, UNLESS:
  1. You have multiple degrees. If this is true, you must submit one letter from each of the institutions that has granted you any of the following degrees:
  • Associate
  • Bachelor 
  • Master
  • Doctorate
  1. You have one year or more of graduate study or full time employment. If this is true, you are required to submit one additional letter of recommendation from a member of the graduate faculty or work supervisor.

Application Review

After the receipt of all required materials, the applications are reviewed according to Medical Student Selection Committee procedures. Decisions are made by the Admissions Committee after careful consideration of all aspects of the application. Applicants judged to be most qualified are invited for an interview. Other highly competitive applicants may be placed on a Hold List and may be invited for interview at a later time if space becomes available. Interviews are conducted only at the College of Medicine and consist of two or three individual meetings with members of the faculty. Official action following the interview is made by the Medical Student Selection Committee. The action taken by the committee may be Acceptance, Hold, or Rejection. Candidates will be notified of a decision within six to eight weeks of the interview.

Applications will be continuously reviewed until the class is filled. Applicants on the Hold List will be selected to fill spaces, which may occur anytime prior to the first day of classes. 

Students will be notified of acceptance into the class entering in the fall after October 15 and as late as required until the class is filled. Applicants have two weeks to respond to an offer of acceptance. 
     
After an applicant is accepted, a $100 deposit is required and is applied to the first semester tuition. The deposit fee must be paid before May 15th and is not refundable upon withdrawal after this date. 
     
Unsuccessful applicants of previous years who reapply for admission must submit a completely new application, application fee, and additional letters of recommendation. Any previous application will act as an additional resource file.

Criminal Background Checks

At this time the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine does not perform routine criminal background checks on accepted applicants.  The admissions process depends on the integrity of the answer to the AMCAS felony statement and timely disclosure of any related matter after submission of the application.  Falsification of this information can result in dismissal from the College of Medicine.  Students should also be aware that criminal background checks might be required during medical school in order to participate in certain clinical rotations.

According to the Pennsylvania Medical Practice Act, the state medical board may refuse to issue a license or certificate to an applicant for a number of reasons including:

“Being convicted of a felony or being convicted of a misdemeanor relating to a health profession or receiving probation without verdict, disposition in lieu of trial or an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition in the disposition of felony charges, in the courts of this Commonwealth, a Federal court or a court of any other state, territory or country.” and “Conviction of a felony under the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act or similar criminal statute of another state, unless certain conditions are met.”

Please contact the Office of Medical Student Admissions if you have questions.  

Licensure

On January 1, 1986, the following amendment to the Medical Practice Act went into effect: 
     
The board shall not issue a license or certificate to an applicant who has been convicted of a felony under the act of April 14, 1972 (P.L. 233, No. 64), known as The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device, and Cosmetic Act, or of an offense under the laws of another jurisdiction which if committed in this Commonwealth would be a felony under The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act, unless: 

  1. at least ten years have elapsed from the date of conviction;
  2. the applicant satisfactorily demonstrates to the board that he has made significant progress in personal rehabilitation since the conviction such that licensure of the applicant should not be expected to create a substantial risk of harm to the health and safety of his patients or the public or a substantial risk of further criminal violations; and
  3. the applicant otherwise satisfies the qualifications contained in or authorized by this act. As used in this division the term "convicted" shall include a judgment, an admission of guilt, or a plea of nolo contendere.

Applicants can obtain further information from the State Board of Medical Education and Licensure, Post Office Box 2649, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2649, for information relating to licensure requirements.

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