Before applying, almost all medical schools require that their applicants complete a pre-medical track at their undergraduate institution. While students can usually major (or concentrate) in any academic field, this is a set of courses (or their equivalents) that need to be taken during your college (as a part of your major or along with it - note that pre-medical track is usually not treated as a major or a concentration) specifically as a pre-requisite for applying to a medical school:- 2 semesters of general chemistry + 1 semester of chemistry laboratory
- 2 semesters of physics + 1 semester of physics laboratory
- 2 semesters of biology + 1 semester of biology laboratory
- 2 semesters of organic chemistry + 1 semester of organic chemistry laboratory
- 1 semester of calculus + 1 semester of statistics (not all medical schools have this requirement, some require up to 1 full year of calculus, though)
- 1 semester of English
- increasingly more schools require also at least 1 semester of biochemistry and, as the new MCAT draws nearer, schools start to require also 1 semester of psychology
Specifics for international students
The process above is common for all applicants - what sometimes differs, however, are the requirements for foreign students. In fact, about half of all the medical schools in the US do not consider applications of other than US or Canadian citizens at all (see which medical schools accept international applicants). Most of those, then, require that students either get their undergraduate degree in the United States, or spend at least one year at a US educational institution. It is very rare that a student that has never been schooled in the US (or Canada) would be accepted to an American medical school.
