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Pre-Medical Studies

pre-med
Students doing a physiology experiment practice taking one another's blood pressure.
Students interested in attending medical school constitute the largest group of students within the Biology major. Most of them choose Biology as a major because its curricular content is closely related to the topics that they will later study in medical school. 

Although many students think of themselves as "premed," at most universities premed is a programmed series of courses and not a college major. You will also need to choose a major and, within the context of the major, complete the course requirements for admission to medical school.

Medical schools typically require a year of general biology, a year of physics, a year of inorganic chemistry and a year of organic chemistry with the accompanying laboratories as part of their admissions requirements. However, biology majors often further tailor their major to include such courses as anatomy, histology, physiology, microbiology and embryology because the knowledge gained in these courses forms a foundation for the study of these topics in medical school.

Your faculty advisor

Students who express an interest in studying medicine after graduation from college are assigned a faculty advisor who is knowledgeable about the preparation needed to apply to professional schools. Your faculty advisor helps you choose the appropriate courses for application to medical school and assists you in choosing the outside volunteer work that will give you the experience of working in a health care setting.

He or she reviews your academic progress with you periodically to make sure that your grade point average is consistent with your goals. He provides you with information about taking the medical school admissions test, filling out medical school applications and obtaining the letters of recommendation that are essential to your application. Finally, the faculty conduct practice interviews with you to help you over the jitters of your first medical school interview.

If you decide that medical school is not for you after all, the faculty assist you in revising your plans and getting started in a new direction.

All of this hard work pays off

The University of Detroit Mercy has an excellent track record of getting students into medical school. In recent years, 80% of our student applicants have been accepted. Nationwide the acceptance rate is 45%.