Academic Requirements

Welcome to the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine Academic Requirements page. We thank you for your interest in our program.

The goal of the School of Medicine is to produce outstanding physicians who are well prepared for meeting society's health care needs in the 21st century. This section of the web site is designed to help you understand our admissions process, including our policies, procedures, requirements, and admissions criteria. Our Admissions Committee seeks students who will thrive in the educational setting at UNC's medical school and who demonstrate  altruism, integrity, leadership, community service, motivation, and the ability to communicate effectively with others.

Academic Requirements for Admission

Barring extraordinary circumstances a Bachelor's degree is required for admission and, in fact, all students in recent years have had degrees. Students are encouraged to pursue one or more scholarly interest in depth during the undergraduate years but course work must demonstrate proficiency in the natural sciences. A student who earns a degree in less than four years may apply, but should recognize that understanding the human condition and developing good judgment require experience. Without unusual qualifications, questions about breadth of education, maturity, experience, and motivation may put such an applicant at a disadvantage.

Academic preparation should include these prerequisite courses:

*If you satisfy your undergraduate institution's English or Literature requirement for your degree program, you will satisfy ours.

If your degree is from an educational institution not located in the United States or Canada, AMCAS, the degree verification service, will not certify your credentials. Therefore, our prerequisites must be met from an accredited college or university within the United States or Canada to allow eligibility for verification by AMCAS.

After your pre-requisites have been successfully completed, and AMCAS has verified your credentials,  UNC School of Medicine will review your application, and take into consideration all of your educational degrees.

Beyond the fixed requirements, a variety of undergraduate educational experiences are appropriate to medicine. The school values a pattern of preparation for medicine that shows serious and mature use of the undergraduate years. Course work in the humanities and social sciences as well as advanced work in the sciences and mathematics is preferred. Proficiency in English is essential.

The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is required. MCAT Scores older than five years from the year of matriculation are not considered. Applicants must take the test no later than September before the year they wish to enter into medical school.

Technical Standards

The definition of Technical Standards are Personal Attributes and Capabilities Essential for Admission, Promotion, and Graduation of UNC-CH Medical Students Introduction.

The University of North Carolina School of Medicine believes that earning a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree requires mastery of a coherent body of knowledge and skills. A medical student must acquire substantial competence in the principles and facts of all of the curriculum's required basic sciences, must understand and appreciate the principles and practice of all of the basic fields of clinical medicine, and must be able to relate appropriately to patients and to other health care professionals. The following technical standards describe the non-academic qualifications required in addition to academic achievements which the school considers essential for successful completion of the Educational Objectives of its Curriculum.

Attitudinal, Behavioral, Interpersonal, and Emotional Attributes: Because the medical profession is governed by ethical principles and by state and federal laws a medical student must have the capacity to learn, and understand these values and laws and to perform within their guidelines. A medical student should be able to relate to colleagues, staff, and patients with honesty, integrity, non-discrimination, self-sacrifice and dedication. He or she should be able to understand and use the power, special privileges, and trust inherent in the physician-patient relationship for the patient's benefit, and to know and avoid the behaviors that constitute misuse of this power. He or she should demonstrate the capacity to examine and deliberate effectively about the social and ethical questions that define medicine and physicians' roles and to reason critically about these questions. He or she must be able to identify personal reactions and responses, recognize multiple points of view, and integrate these appropriately into clinical decision making.

A medical student must be of sufficient emotional health to utilize fully his/her intellectual ability, to exercise good judgment, to complete patient care responsibilities promptly, and to relate to patients, families, and colleagues with courtesy, compassion, maturity, and respect for their dignity. The ability to participate collaboratively and flexibly as a professional team member is essential. The medical student must display this emotional health in spite of stressful work, changing environments, and clinical uncertainties. The medical student must be able to modify behavior in response to constructive criticism.  He or she must be open to examining personal attitudes, perceptions, and stereotypes (which may negatively affect patient care and professional relationships). An individual with a diagnosed psychiatric disorder may function as a medical student as long as the condition is under sufficient control to allow accomplishment of the above goals with or without reasonable accommodation.  He or she must exhibit behavior and intellectual functioning which does not differ from acceptable standards. In the event of deteriorating emotional function, it is essential that a medical student be willing to acknowledge the disability and/or accept professional help before the condition poses danger to self, patients, and/or colleagues.

Stamina: The study and ongoing practice of medicine often involves taxing workloads and stressful situations. A medical student must have the physical and emotional stamina to maintain a high level of function in the face of these awkward working conditions.

Intellectual Skills: A medical student must possess a range of intellectual skills that allows him/her to master the broad and complex body of knowledge that comprises a medical education. The student's learning style must be effective and efficient. The ultimate goal will be to solve difficult problems and to make diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. A medical student must be able to memorize, perform scientific measurement and calculation, and understand and cognitively manipulate three dimensional models.

A student's reasoning abilities must be sophisticated enough to analyze and synthesize information from a wide variety of sources. It is expected that a medical student be able to learn effectively through a variety of modalities including, but not limited to, classroom instruction, small group discussion, individual study of materials, preparation and presentation of written and oral reports, and use of computer-based technology.

Communication Skills: A medical student must be able to ask questions, to receive answers perceptively, to record information about patients, and to educate patients. He or she must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently with patients, their families, and with other members of the health care team. This must include spoken communications and non-verbal communications such as interpretation of facial expressions, affects, and body language. Mastery of both written and spoken English is required although applications from students with hearing and speech disabilities will be given full consideration. In such cases, use of a trained intermediary or other communications aide may be appropriate if this intermediary functions only as an information conduit and does not serve integrative or interpretive functions.

Visual, Auditory, Tactile, and Motor Competencies: A medical student must possess sufficient visual, auditory, tactile, and motor abilities to allow him/her to gather data from written reference material, from oral presentations, by observing demonstrations and experiments, by studying various types of medical illustrations, by observing a patient and his/her environment, by observing clinical procedures performed by others, by reading digital or analog representations of physiologic phenomena, and by performing a basic physical examination of a patient.

Statement on Equal Educational Opportunity

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is open to all people of all races and is committed to equality of educational opportunity and does not discriminate against applicants, students, or employees based on race, color, national original, religion, sex, age, veteran's status, or disability. Any complaints alleging failure of this institution to follow this policy should be brought to the attention of the Assistant to the Chancellor. Moreover, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill actively seeks to promote diversity by recruiting and enrolling a large number of African-American and Native American students.

After you have reviewed our web site and find that you have specific questions about the Admissions process, please contact us at:

Office of Admissions
UNC School of Medicine
1001 Bondurant Hall, CB #9500
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599-9500
Phone: (919) 962-8331, Fax: (919) 966-9930