The Johns Hopkins Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program is for domestic “career changers,” who are looking to enroll in medical school, not students who completed a pre-medical undergraduate degree. We do not accept applicants whose aim is to enroll in veterinary or other health programs.  

Students come to our program from all regions of the country and represent a variety of colleges and universities. This includes students from large state universities, small liberal arts colleges, technical institutes, and conservatories.

Their academic disciplines are equally broad and include both undergraduate and graduate studies in areas such as economics, psychology, anthropology, literature, engineering, history, gender studies, math, religion, and languages.

Eligibility

You must complete a bachelor’s degree before enrolling in the program. If you are in your senior year of college, you may apply and be admitted before you have earned your degree. 

There is not a required minimum grade point average, but students with a GPA below 3.0 are not likely to be competitive applicants. In the past five years, the applicants admitted to the program have undergraduate cumulative GPAs of 3.2 to 4.0, with a mean of 3.82.

The program is right for you if you have:

• Compiled an excellent academic record in college 
• Taken no or few premed courses 
• Never applied to medical school or taken the MCAT 
• Committed yourself to serving others 
• The ultimate goal of entering the medical profession 

You are not eligible for admission if you:

• Have taken more than half of the core science courses required for medical school 
• Have taken the MCAT 
• Already applied to medical school 
• Have been admitted to medical school 
• Are an international student or need an I-20 form. This does not apply to DACA students. 

The program is intended for individuals who have not taken many science courses.  If you are seeking an academic record-enhancer program, please visit the AAMC database of postbac programs to see other program options.

Exceptions may be made if you:

• Completed the majority of your premedical coursework more than seven years ago 
• Took the MCAT more than seven years ago 
• Applied (but were not admitted) to medical school more than seven years ago 

More information about eligibility

Still unsure about your eligibility? We have created a decision tree to help you better understand if you are eligible for our program.

* Applicants are sometimes unsure if they have completed more than half of the prerequisite courses, so let’s talk about what courses are “the” prerequisite courses.

What are “the” prerequisite courses?
General Chemistry I and II and labs (1 year of general chemistry with labs)
Organic Chemistry I and II and labs (1 year of organic chemistry with labs)
General Biology I and II and labs (1 year of biology with labs)
General Physics I and II and labs (1 year of physics with labs)

If your school does not name courses like the above, look at your school’s information on what “premeds” should take. You should find a list of the expected courses specific to your institution. Example: Princeton University: https://hpa.princeton.edu/prehealth-prep/academic-preparation. Note that they lay out the course numbers necessary for all of the above courses. Note that they also include math, English and biochemistry. These are important courses for medical schools but not relevant to what we use for determining eligibility.

Still have questions about eligibility? Contact us at [email protected].

International Students

Individuals who require a student visa or the I-20 form should not apply to this program. The postbac program cannot provide any visa sponsorship or support for international students. 

Students with non-U.S. post-secondary degrees  

Applicants who do not need a student visa or the I-20 form, but who earned their post-secondary degree(s) in a country other than the United States, are required to have a “course-by-course” credential evaluation with GPA equivalencies performed by an outside evaluation service and submitted with their application materials.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

At this time, DACA students are eligible to apply. Students with questions related to DACA may contact the Office of International Services or the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

What does the Admissions Committee look for in an application? 

We do not have an ideal applicant in mind that we are expecting you to conform to. The goal of the application is to get to know you. We value your uniqueness and encourage you to focus on cultivating your own story as you prepare your application. 

When the committee reviews an application, we are looking for clear illustration of how that applicant has shown commitment to medicine, demonstrated academic success, and provided service to others. We also value characteristics that show fit for a career in medicine; we seek students who are independently motivated learners, reflective thinkers, strong communicators, dependable team members and empathetic listeners. Each admissions cycle is a bit different as the Committee tries to form diverse cohorts of students who each bring unique experiences to the program. 

For our 2022-2023 cohort, we accepted 36% of applicants who submitted all required application documents and were reviewed by the admissions committee. We understand that it can be challenging to understand your own competitiveness for a post-bac program (and for medical school). We recently recorded a video “What Is a Competitive Applicant?” to discuss the multi-faceted aspects of competitiveness and how to answer this question for yourself.

We also encourage applicants to reflect on the following questions: 

• In my previous academic work (in any field), how have I approached rigorous coursework and shown a commitment to mastery of a content? Are my intellectual abilities clear in my academic record? 
• What skills have I developed through my academic experiences that can be applied to science coursework? As we do not expect candidates to have previous science coursework, this may include qualities such as critical thinking, communication skills, resilience, dependability etc… 
• What have I learned about the work of physicians? Why is a career in medicine a good fit for me? Do I have enough medically-relevant experience to justify this perspective? 
• How have I served my community through my previous experiences? 
• When working in teams (in academics, extracurricular activities, work experiences), how have I contributed to the effectiveness of that team? 
• How have my experiences led me on a path to medicine? Career changer students often worry needlessly because their path is not “linear”. Instead, consider how your path to medicine can be a strength and help you bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to the study of medicine. 
• Self-reflection is an essential component of our program. Considering these questions can help an applicant better articulate their strengths to the admissions committee and also prepare for the reflective process that will continue throughout the program.