Frequently Asked Questions

1. How is the pre-health advising system structured?
Dr. John Vaughan, Director of Pre-Health Education, holds a dedicated position for pre-health advising and program development. This is in contrast to many schools our size, where science faculty take turns serving as the pre-health advisor in addition to their teaching and research responsibilities. Our system ensures individualized attention and consistency in the advising process.

2. What is the acceptance rate of your students to medical school?
There are many ways to report medical school acceptance rates. These include reporting the acceptance rate for all applicants or for a pre-selected group of applicants. Therefore, be sure that you understand what group of students is being reported on to ensure you are making an apples-to-apples comparison. Many colleges, including Richmond, have pre-medical committees that interview students and write letters of evaluation that are sent to medical schools. Some schools, unlike Richmond, impose minimum GPA and MCAT score requirements to be eligible for a committee letter of recommendation. When such schools report the acceptance rate of their applicants, it may be for this pre-selected group rather than all of the students at their college who applied to medical school. At Richmond, anyone who wishes to apply to medical school may use our pre-medical committee, regardless of their GPA and/or MCAT score. Acceptance rates reported by Richmond reflect all applicants to medical school.

3. Which medical schools have your recent graduates attended?
Richmond has a strong track record with medical schools. In any given year, Richmond alumni are attending more than one-quarter of all U.S. medical schools, including several top-25 schools as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. Check out the complete list.

4. How large are pre-health classes?
As a liberal arts school, we value providing individualized attention to our students. Therefore, our class sizes are quite small. Introductory science classes average 20 students, allowing students and faculty to know each other well. This benefits pre-health students who rely on letters of recommendation from faculty when it comes time to apply to professional school.

5. How do you prepare students for the Medical College Admissions Test?
We recognize that for most medical school admissions committees the MCAT is as important as one’s undergraduate transcript. Richmond offers a tuition-free MCAT preparation course every spring semester that includes individualized tutoring, weekly practice sets, small group problem-solving sessions and a full-length simulated exam.

6. What research opportunities are available to students?
The Gottwald Center for the Sciences boasts state-of-the-art equipment and laboratory space that rival those found at many large research universities. However, unlike many schools, research at Richmond is conducted primarily by undergraduates—not graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Therefore, students at Richmond can enter top-notch research labs and work closely with our faculty, starting as early as their first year. It is not uncommon for pre-health students to have co-authorship on a scientific abstract or publication prior to their graduation.

7. What clinical externship opportunities are available to students?
The University of Richmond is located in a vibrant capital city that features several major hospitals and clinics, numerous private medical practices, a biotechnology park and an academic medical center at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Medically related community service opportunities abound and can be accessed through the Pre-health Studies program and Richmond's Center for Civic Engagement. Additionally, the Career Services Office helps connect our students with alumni health practitioners for clinical shadowing.

8. What support is provided to students during their application process to professional school?
The Director of Pre-health Education meets frequently with students and alumni during their application year to help them navigate this rather complex process. Issues addressed include interview preparation, personal statement preparation, school selection, and the nuts and bolts of using centralized application services.

9. What is the attrition rate of your pre-health students?
Pre-health courses at Richmond are challenging, but are not designed to weed out students. Rather, our small class sizes and close faculty-student interaction provide a nurturing environment for learning. Of those who enter the pre-health program as first-year students, approximately 55% go on to apply to health professional school. Those who leave the program rarely do so because of poor academic performance. Rather, they are usually attracted to some other field of study to which they had not been exposed prior to college.

10. What opportunities exist for pre-health students to study abroad?
Study abroad is very popular among Richmond students and it is definitely possible for pre-health students to study abroad for a semester without interfering with national test preparation or the timing of the professional school application. We offer several study abroad options that have a health-related focus. Check out all of the study abroad options.