Penn State College of Medicine

MD program · public · Pennsylvania

Median GPA

3.75

entering class

Median MCAT

511

entering class

Acceptance rate

~1.9%

approximate

Class size

150

43% in-state

In-state vs. out-of-state

43% of the last entering class were Pennsylvania residents, which leaves about 85 seats for everyone else.

Pennsylvania resident

~12%

estimated odds

Out-of-state

~2%

estimated odds

Estimates for an applicant with this school's median GPA (3.75) and MCAT (511), from AAMC and AACOM applicant outcomes and this school's published figures. Where you live makes a big difference here. Estimates, not guarantees.

Your odds at Penn State College of Medicine

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What they look for

  • Academics27%
  • Clinical experience23%
  • Service23%
  • Research18%
  • Leadership9%

Penn State was the first US medical programme to open a Humanities Department, and health humanities and health systems science run through the curriculum, so a humanities or arts background is a stated asset here rather than something to justify. The college says it seeks high-performing students with a science background as well as a liberal education in humanities and the arts, who come to medicine with a passion to serve and a commitment to lifelong learning and bring a full, rigorous, comprehensive background of study and experience. The goal is stated as training humanistic, systems-ready physicians who are adaptive, critical thinking, collaborative and scholarly.

Watch out: A narrow pre-med science transcript with no breadth misses something the college names twice. An applicant with no exposure to how health systems work under-reads against the systems-ready framing.

Our reading of this school's own published mission and selection criteria, not an official formula. How we source this

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