Pre-Med Course Requirements

Course Requirements Overview

This is a guide to common pre-medical course requirements.

Professional schools have a variety of prerequisites required for admission to their programs. On this page, we include information about timelines for pre-medical requirements and the options available.

Many programs prefer in person coursework, and some programs may not allow online coursework. See individual schools for policies.
Individual schools may require or recommend additional courses.
All prerequisites must be completed with a letter grade of C or higher.
Schools vary on Credit-by-Exam (AP/IB/CLEP) policies and preferences for prerequisites. Please see "Can I Claim AP/IB Credit?"

Quick Tip

To be competitive for medical school, you will need average overall and science GPAs of at least 3.6 to 3.8 and above, depending on the schools you plan on applying to. This means you need to be making As and Bs with more As than Bs. If you are behind in your classes, don’t wait until you get your first poor test score to ask for help. See the academic assistance section.

School requirements can change. See individual school websites and admissions guides under “Research Medical Schools Before You Apply.” We always recommend checking for any updates.

Most Texas medical schools require:

Biology: Lecture – 12 hrs; Lab – 2 hrs
General Chemistry: Lecture – 6 hrs; Lab – 2 hrs
Organic Chemistry: Lecture – 6 hrs; Lab – 2 hrs
Biochemistry: Lecture – 3 hrs
General Physics: Lecture – 6 hrs; Lab – 2 hrs
Math: Statistics – 3 hrs
English: Rhetoric (Composition) and Literature – 6 hrs

(Medical School Prerequisite Course Timelines and a Pre-Med Science Courses Flowchart are available at the bottom of this page.)

Some medical schools require humanities and social/behavioral science courses. The MCAT has a Psychology/Sociology section. We strongly recommend taking courses in the following areas.

Psychology
Sociology
Ethics
Analytical problem-solving
Critical thinking
Writing, interpersonal communications and presentation skills
Cultural studies
Spanish and other language studies relevant to your career goals

UT Austin Courses Typically Taken to Fulfill Requirements

Science Requirements

Subject	Lecture	Lab
Biology	BIO 311C + BIO 311D + BIO 325 + BIO/INB/MBS Elective 3 hrs OR [BIO 315H + BIO 325H] (honors) + BIO/INB/MBS Elective 3 hrs + BIO/INB/MBS Elective 3 hrs For upper-division biology electives, choose from Anatomy, Physiology, Genetics, Immunology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Parasitology, Ecology.	BIO 206L OR 2 hrs of upper-division BIO/INB/MBS lab Must be formal lab course work. Research lab credit, such as INB/MBS 377, does not fulfill this requirement. *Note - BCH 369L (for Biochemistry majors) or BCH 219L (for Biochemistry majors) - contact your med program(s) of choice to see if this lab will fulfill the 2hr BIO lab requirement.*
General Chemistry	CH 301 + CH 302 OR CH 301H + CH 302H (honors) OR CH 301C + CH 302C (for Chemistry majors)	CH 204 OR CH 104M + CH 104N
Organic Chemistry	CH 320M + CH 320N OR CH 328M + CH 328N (for Chemistry majors)	CH 220C OR CH 128K + CH 128L (for Chemistry majors)
Biochemistry Some medical schools allow double-counting Biochemistry toward 3hrs of the Biology or Chemistry requirements. Some do not. See school websites. HPO recommendation: Do not double-count BCH.	BCH 369 OR BCH 339F (for Biochemistry majors)
General Physics If you take courses that do not thoroughly cover all the potential MCAT topics, be sure to cover those in your MCAT prep. Yes, the MCAT does include Physics 2 topics.	UT Austin offers 4 accepted lecture/lab sequences. Medical schools have no preference. PHY 302K + PHY 302L OR PHY 317K + PHY 317L OR PHY 303K + PHY 303L (for Engineering majors) OR PHY 301 + PHY 316 (for some Science and Engineering majors)	Starting FALL 2021, PHY 105M/N will replace lab numbers PHY 102M/N, PHY 103M/N, and 117M/N. If PHY 317K + PHY 317L PHY 105M + PHY 105N OR PHY 117M + PHY 117N If PHY 302K + PHY 302L PHY 105M + PHY 105N OR PHY 102M + PHY 102N If PHY 303K + PHY 303L PHY 105M + PHY 105N OR PHY 103M + PHY 103N (for Engineering majors) If PHY 301 + PHY 316 PHY 101L + 116L (for some Science and Engineering majors)

Other Subjects

Subject	Courses
Math	Statistics: (usually fulfills math requirement at Texas schools) See TMDSAS acceptable statistics courses. Calculus is required by some out-of-state medical schools. Please refer to each school's website for their specific course requirements.
Rhetoric (Composition):	Choose 2 courses from the following, Rhetoric and Literature. Some schools require 1 course from each area. RHE 306 OR RHE 309K OR Any Writing Flag course in RHE Dept.
Literature	E 316L OR E 316M OR E 316N OR E 316P OR Any Literature course in English Dept. Remedial, developmental and "English As a Second Language" courses are not accepted. Strong reading and writing skills are essential to success on MCAT and in medical school.
Psychology & Sociology Choose 1 from each area.	Psychology PSY 301 OR Any behavioral PSY course Choose from developmental, abnormal, health-related and social psychology. Sociology SOC 302 OR Any relevant SOC course Choose from cultural and health-related sociology.

Specific School Requirements

Some schools have additional prerequisite requirements. Find them below.

Baylor Med Pre-Reqs

Baylor College of Medicine Prerequisite Courses

TCU Med Pre-Reqs

Texas Christian University & UNTHSC School of Medicine Prerequisite Courses

TMDSAS

TMDSAS-Approved UT Austin Course List

Medical School Prerequisite Course Timelines

These timelines include pre-medical course requirements for admission to most Texas and U. S. medical schools.

Completing the pre-medical courses and extra-curricular activities generally requires six semesters or longer, regardless of the student’s age or year in college.

Your personal timeline may differ from these samples.

Work with your academic advisor to incorporate these courses into your degree plan.

Important Note:

Timelines do not include all course options and details. See above: Pre-Med Course Requirements and Specific Requirements: Baylor, TCU, & TMDSAS.

To be sure that you are fulfilling all requirements, see individual school websites. Find school links under "Research Medical Schools Before You Apply."

Additional Course Information

Currently a UT student and thinking of taking courses away from UT? (This may not be applicable if you are not yet enrolled at UT.)
Are Extension Courses Okay for Medical Pre-Reqs?
Other Pre-Health Non-Science Courses of Interest