Planning for Medical School

Stanford does not have a pre-med major. For any of the health professions, you may major in any discipline.

Basic course requirements for medical schools and for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) preparation are:
- 1 year general chemistry with lab
- 1 year organic chemistry with lab
- 1 year biology with lab
- 1 year physics with lab
- * Starting in 2015, there will be changes to the MCAT. Expected additions include a new “Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior” section, and increased knowledge of biochemistry. Please speak with a pre-medical advisor to learn more about how to best prepare for these changes.
Some medical schools may require math and English and some of the sciences require math as a pre-requisite.
- You can check information for a particular medical school in the Medical School Admissions Requirement (MSAR) document in the Undergraduate Advising and Research (UAR) Resource Library on the first floor in Sweet Hall.
In addition to course work, it is important that to explore health care with volunteer work in clinics and hospitals where interaction with patients can occur and where treatment that patients are receiving can be seen
Many doctors will let students shadow them. This can be arranged through programs at Stanford (such as SIMS) or in your home community.
If you have have conducted research while in high school you might want to continue in a given area or explore a new area. If you have not had the opportunity to conduct research before coming to Stanford, there are many opportunities for involvement.

Getting Pre-Med Advice

Most Important: There are pre-med advisors within UAR available to help you with your ideas, coursework planning, long-term objectives, and options for gaining experience. Do not make the mistake of under utilizing these resources. Be sure to take advantage of these services.
- Seek up-to-date advising from these advisors more than once per year.
- To make an appointment with a UAR pre-med advisor, click here.
Join the pre-med mail list for your class year and Stanford Pre-med Association (SPA) mail list, to get announcements about changes in requirements, shadowing, job opportunities, and more.