Admission Requirements

All applicants must complete the American Medical Colleges Application Service (AMCAS) application between June 1-Nov. 1, of the application year for the following year’s entering class.

A minimum of three years (90 semester units) of undergraduate coursework, including a minimum of one full-time year at an accredited U.S. college or university.  Applicants must receive a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent from a U.S. accredited college or university by the time of matriculation.

Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) must have been taken within the three years preceding June 1 of the application year and no later than Sept. 30 of the application year.

For purposes of evaluation, letter or numerical grades are preferred for course work, particularly for the required subjects listed below. Applicants are strongly encouraged to have completed their basic science requirements by the time they submit their application. No specific major is required, however, demonstrated ability in the sciences is of great importance.

All prerequisite courses listed as "in progress" on the AMCAS application and UCI School of Medicine Secondary Application must be successfully completed by July 15 of the  matriculation year.

Three to six current letters are suggested. Applicants are advised to obtain letters of recommendation from individuals (e.g., attending MD, PI, Director, etc.) involved with their major activities.

All entering students in the UCI School of Medicine must meet all of the technical standards, with reasonable accommodation if necessary, and each student will be expected to certify that he/she meets these standards.

Prerequisite coursework must be completed by July 15th of the matriculation year. If you are unsure if a course satisfies a prerequisite, please email the course name, number, description, and institution to medadmit@hs.uci.edu.

• Biology: 3 semesters/5 quarters, must include one upper-division course
  (we do not accept psychobiology, behavioral-based courses, evolution, ecology, plant biology, animal biology or AP credit)
  • Upper division courses can only be taken at an accredited 4-year institution
     
• Chemistry: 4 semesters/6 quarters
  (general/inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry; AP score of 3 or greater is accepted)
   
• Physics: 2 semesters/3 quarters; AP score of 3 or greater is accepted
   
• Humanities: 1 semester/1 quarter (e.g. Literature, History, Philosophy, Language, Art; AP score of 3 or greater is accepted)
   

Advanced Placement credit will be accepted for chemistry, physics, and humanities requirements. The AP credit must be reflected on the applicant’s undergraduate transcript. Alternatively, we will accept AP exam scores of >3 and will require an official transcript from the College Board. At this time, we do not accept any International Baccalaureate (IB) credit to be used towards the pre-requisite requirements.

All prerequisite courses must be lecture-based; any laboratory, seminar, and research-based courses will not be accepted towards the fulfillment of the pre-requisite requirements. In addition, all pre-requisite courses must have a passing letter grade of “C” or higher and taken at a U.S accredited institution.

Pass/Fail Grades – Our schools will accept pass/fail grades, without prejudice, for courses taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following courses are recommended, but not required: 

• Anatomy
• Biostatistics
• Biology/Chemistry Laboratory experience
• Cell Biology
• Calculus
• English Composition
• Immunology
• Microbiology
• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Spanish

U.S. and Students — Extramural elective application process

After May, due to the high volume of requests, the extramural application process is done through the Association of American Medical College's Visiting Student Application Service^®, or VSAS^®.

To begin the application process, please review our elective courses and determine which course you are interested in taking. To tentatively schedule an elective, go to the VSAS site. Applications will not be accepted before May.

View more information for U.S. and extramural applicants ›

International Students — Extramural elective application process

UC Irvine accepts international students only from schools with which we have an exchange agreement. They are:

• Japan: Jichi Medical University
   

Extramural applications for the current academic year will be accepted May through Februrary, for rotations starting in June of that same academic year. Please do not contact the office prior to May as we will be occupied with scheduling UC Irvine students for the next academic year.