Getting In Medical School and other Biomedical Research Programs
Cynthia Warrick, PhD RPh
According to the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) data on the undergraduate institutions that supply 15 or more Black or African American (Alone or In Combination) applicants to U.S. MD-granting medical schools in 2024, the top 3 institutions were Howard University, University of Florida, and Xavier University of Louisiana. The number of Black applicants from these institutions represent only 2 percent of all Black applicants. That means that it’s not the institution, but the competitiveness of your application in the pool of applicants to a particular school. When I speak with prospective students from HBCUs, their sights are often set on the HBCU medical schools or graduate and professional programs. And because of Howard, Meharry, Morehouse, and Charles Drew’s notoriety, they receive numerous applications, making admissions to those schools more competitive. When I served on admissions in pharmacy and public health programs, we could literally line up applications by GPA and Test Scores and select the top 100, leaving thousands of students to seek other programs. Now that Bloomberg has gifted over $100 million to these treasured programs, entry will be reserved to the best test-takers with the highest GPAs. In 2024, the average MCAT score for matriculants to US medical schools was 511.7 and the average GPA was 3.77. The mean MCAT for Black applicants was 497.5 and GPA was 3.39. Of the 52,577 applicants to US medical schools, 21,131 were White, 12,600 were Asian, and 4,672 were Black. The number of applicants who matriculated was 9,534 White (45% of White applicants), 5,901 Asian (47% of Asian applicants), and 1,845 Black (39% of Black applicants).
For pre-health and biomedical research majors, participating in research experiences and other STEM training opportunities will significantly improve their application, especially with the requisite test score and GPA. It’s good to get letters of recommendation from research mentors who can attest to your enthusiasm, responsibleness, laboratory and critical thinking skills, other than just the STEM faculty at your home institution. There are numerous summer research and training programs, and now is the time to apply, with most deadlines in January or February. Most major universities with medical schools and graduate programs offer summer research opportunities on their website. Pharmaceutical and Biotech companies also offer summer internships in research, and most federal agencies also have opportunities on USAjobs.gov. The 2025 Department of Energy (DOE) Scholars Program application is open with a downloadable Oak Ridge Institute for Science & Education (ORISE) app, making it easier to apply for the 2/15/2025 deadline. https://orise.orau.gov/doescholars/
The Department of the Navy's HBCU/MI Student Internship Program (SIP) Application Web Portal is now open for students to apply for paid summer 2025 internships. Due to program expansion, students can apply to 10 diverse internships programs with wider focus areas including engineering, medical to include dentistry and nursing, law, computer science, data science, cybersecurity, business, logistics, biology, and chemistry. The deadline is November 8 and the application portal can be accessed at: https://www.hbcumi-sip.com/
The CDC / National Center for Environmental Health Research Fellowship provides an opportunity for students in Atlanta to gain paid research experience during the academic year and summer. More information about research participation at the CDC can be found here: https://orise.orau.gov/cdc/applicants/default.html
The Oak Ridge Associate Universities (ORAU) has a Beginner’s Guide for Students Entering their First Research Internship Program that includes professional development modules and other training resources to better prepare students for success. : https://www.orau.org/internships-fellowships/stem-professional-training-modules.html
The American Heart Association (AHA) HBCU Scholars program provides paid research experiences during the academic year at approximately 25 HBCUs. The Scholars will present their work at a research symposium and attend the AHA annual meeting; another great experience to highlight on a graduate and professional school application.
Of course, research experiences are also very competitive. The key to success is applying for everything! You can also create your own summer biomedical research experience by using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) RePORTER search tool. https://reporter.nih.gov/ NIH-funded researchers have opportunities to support high school, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as junior faculty with Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research. Applications from the Principal Investigator (PI) can be submitted between October 1st and May 31st and usually takes 12 to 16 weeks for a decision. That means for a summer research experience beginning on June 1st, the application should be submitted by January 6th. There is a YouTube video that provides information on how to use the NIH RePORT. Searching by institutions of interest and using keywords for the research topic can help limit the number of funded research. The research supplement provides a stipend and funding for travel with possibilities to attend conferences related to the research activity.
Another summer undergraduate research fellowship that I helped to establish is the Salk Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship at the Salk Institute in La Jolla (San Diego), California. That deadline is November 17th. https://www.salk.edu/about/diversity-equity-inclusion/summer-research-opportunities/
This fellowship made me wish I was an undergraduate again. To see the Pacific Ocean every day at a world class research center in Southern California is a great opportunity to not only improve research skills, build your resume and graduate application, and expand your biomedical research network.