Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine Admission
Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine Undergraduate Program
Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine Application

The Facts

Pennsylvania State University is a rather large, private institution located in the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, and has a combined graduate and undergraduate population of over 30,000 students. The university's College of Medicine, however, is significantly smaller, and is home to about 420 graduate medical students. The average age of enrollment is around 23, and it is fairly rare for any of the students to enter the school directly from their undergraduate education. The school is perhaps best known for its emphasis on behavioral science, as well as for its strongly integrated curriculum. Aside from the basic MD degree, the school also offers a joint degree in the MD/PhD in the areas of chemistry, biomedical engineering, cell biology, genetics, immunology, microbiology, molecular biology, pharmacology, as well as physiology.

Admission to Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine is extremely competitive among the many students who apply; last year, over 6,615 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 200 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 80 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming semester. The admitted students had average MCAT scores of about 10.8 in Biology, 11.0 in Physics, and 9.8 in Verbal, as well as an average undergraduate GPA of about a 3.7. Students are notified of their admissions status on a rolling basis, and there are able to take advantage of the school's early application program if they so choose.

The College of Medicine has about 155 faculty members, all of whom come from very diverse academic and medical backgrounds. As a result, the school boasts a very manageable student to faculty ratio of about 2:1, and the small classes allow for plenty of discussion and interaction between students and their professors.

Graduates of the College of Medicine are often accepted to some of the most prestigious and competitive residency programs in the nation, and most frequently specialize in various primary care fields.

Clinical Programs

Students are required to complete extensive clinical training including 8 weeks of internal medicine, 8 weeks of surgery, 6 weeks of pediatrics, 6 weeks of ob/gyn, 4 weeks of psychiatry, 4 weeks of family and community medicine, 8 weeks of selectives, as well as 4 weeks of primary care. Students complete their clinical clerkships at affiliated facilities including the University Hospital, the Children's Hospital, the Rehabilitation Center, as well as various study abroad sites in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

What's Good

"The study abroad experiences offered are incredible, and let you do something good with your newly learned skills."

"The faculty here are all incredibly experienced, and have a real passion for sharing their knowledge with us."

"You get a large amount of patient contact as early as your first year."

What's Bad

"Students do get competitive here, and it can make your life pretty miserable at times."

"Tuition is very very high, and you never get the amount of financial aid you really need."

"There is never enough on campus graduate housing, and it's tough to find things off campus."

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