Medical School

Advising

Note: Reed does not provide a committee letter. Letters of evaluation from individual faculty members are submitted as part of your AMCAS application. Please contact your pre-med adviser to send a Grades at Reed flyer directly to your schools.

Pre-Health Faculty Advisers

• Kelly Chacón, Associate Professor of Chemistry
• Erik Zornik, Professor of Biology
• Leia Harper, Assistant Professor of Psychology
• Gonzalo Campillo-Alvarado, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Marwa Al Khamees is the Pre-health advisor for the Center for Life Beyond Reed. To schedule an appointment with her, please use Handshake

GPA Calculator

The American Medical College Application Service® (AMCAS®) will report your GPA to designated medical schools in three categories: cumulative GPA, Biology/Chemistry/Physics/Math (BCPM) GPA, and Other Academics (OA) GPA. To get an idea of what your GPA may look like for these categories, you may calculate it based on your grades through the following GPA calculator 

Medicine and Healthcare Fields to Explore

Since many Reedies have a deep interest in research, applicants each year consider MD/PhD dual degree programs, which may also be known as Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTPs). For information on MD/PhD and how to determine if you'd be a good fit, please visit this page through the American Association for Medical Colleges (AAMC). For a list of current MD/PhD programs, see this page.

Healthcare fields don't only mean pre-med; explore a list of healthcare fields that will show you the breadth of what pre-med can mean for you. 

Planner and Timeline

Download the medical school planner to help keep your process on track.

Preparation for Medical School

From start to finish, get a bird's eye view of the Medical School entrance process.

• Check out the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) page for resources on preparing for and applying to medical school
• Download the Preparation for Medical School PDF for more information.
• Download a brochure on letters of recommendation for medical school, which will help you help you understand what the admissions committee is looking for.
• Explore the pre-requisites for medical schools across the country through this AAMC page, or the most recent MSAR pre-reqs file.
• Take a look at the Reed College Catalog entry for Premedical and Preveterinary Preparation (scroll down to the bottom of the page) for information on which Reed classes will likely meet the admission requirements of most medical schools.

Required Admission Tests

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

• MCAT General Information
• MCAT Fee Assistance Program
• MCAT Accommodations
• MCAT practice materials from the Learning Express Library
  • Search "MCAT" to find materials. You'll need to register to access materials, but they're free.
  • Note: Learning Express Library is primarily available to current students and recent grads who still have access to their student accounts. Alumni access is only available via on-campus computers (or over Reed wi-fi networks) using their Kerberos credentials.
  • Some local library systems also offer free access to Learning Express Library to their cardholders (the Multnomah County Library system, for example).

AAMC PREview® Professional Readiness Exam

The PREview® professional readiness exam was developed and is administered by the AAMC. It is a standardized exam designed to assess examinees’ understanding of effective pre-professional behavior across eight core competencies for entering medical school. The number of schools requiring the PREview® exam continues to grow each year, so we highly recommend that students set aside time to think about and prepare to take this exam. For more information on the PREview® exam and how to prepare, visit the AAMC PREview® page.

PreMed/PreHealth Google Group

To subscribe to premed/prehealth group, visit our Google Group, where you can find discussions, announcements, and information relevant to internships, jobs, deadlines, etc.

Please note you must log in to your Reed email to be able to join and access the group. Otherwise, you will receive an error message

Internships and Volunteer Opportunities

Medical schools greatly value involvement and extracurriculars, and the experiences are weighted heavily during the admission process. For more information on med school extracurriculars, please check the following guide on med school extracurriculars.

Some opportunities that you may consider engaging in:

• Oregon Health and Science University Volunteer Program (OHSU)
• Summer Undergraduate Research Programs (Association of American Medical Colleges)
• AAMC "Getting Experience" Resources for public health opportunities, prep programs, and undergrad internships (Association of American Medical Colleges)
• Healthcare Volunteer Opportunities (SEEDS)
• Search for Fellowships for Healthcare and Cure of Illness (CLBR)
• Co-op Internships and Summer Research Opportunities (Rochester Institute of Technology)
• Chemo Pals (Children's Cancer Association)