Yale Medical School: How to Get in

Mission Statement

“Yale School of Medicine educates and nurtures creative leaders in medicine and science, promoting curiosity and critical inquiry in an inclusive environment enriched by diversity. We advance discovery and innovation fostered by partnerships across the University, our local community, and the world. We care for patients with compassion, and commit to improving the health of all people.” 

Available Programs

Other Joint Programs

Other joint programs are offered at Yale, including: MD/Div, MD/JD, MD/MHS, and MD/MBA. Applications to these joint programs are made during or after your second year in the Yale medical program. Application guidance will be provided by both the advisors at the Medical School, and the advisors for the relevant program.  

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Academic Curriculum

MD Curriculum

Yale's medical school operates based on semesters. For three semesters, the Basic & Clinical Science Curriculum includes 8 Master Courses, 3 Longitudinal Courses, and 9 Longitudinal Threads.

Starting in mid-April of your first year, you will also participate in the Medical Coach Experience program. You will be placed in a group of four with an assigned coach. Your group will meet once a week until mid-December of your second year. The program is meant to help prepare you for your history and physical assessment exam, and for your clerkships.

Integrated Clinical Clerkships begin in January of your 2nd year, and are organized into 12-week blocks around key themes.

The final 17 months of the program give you more flexibility and opportunities for pursuing your own interests through clinical electives, research, and thesis completion. You will take a 4-week sub-internship and 33 weeks of either research or clinical electives. There will also be 3-week-long “capstone courses” to complete. 

MD/PhD Curriculum

Specific components of the MD/PhD curriculum vary depending on which PhD program you are enrolled in. However, the basic timeline of the program is as follows:

Application Timeline

The standard application timeline is as follows:

Early Decision Program (MD Only)

Yale School of Medicine also offers an Early Decision Program/Early Assurance program to applicants of the MD program. If you are an EDP applicant, you must commit to Yale and cannot apply to other medical schools. The timeline for the EDP is as follows:

If your EDP application is deferred or rejected, you are released from any commitment to Yale, and will be allowed to apply to other medical schools through AMCAS. 

Admissions Statistics

Admission to Yale School of Medicine is highly competitive. In recent years, the admission stats were as follows:

Overall Acceptance Rate: 1.64%

In-state Acceptance Rate: 2.76%

Out-of-state Acceptance Rate: 1.57%

International Acceptance Rate: 2.8%

Median GPA: 3.92

Median MCAT: 522

Yale overall acceptance rate:

Eligibility

Yale School of Medicine accepts both in-state and out-of-state applicants, as well as international applicants. Yale medical school is one of the Canadian-friendly US medical schools. However, all the medical school prerequisites must be completed at a university in the USA, UK, or Canada. 

Transfers

Requests for transfers with Advanced Standing are usually not considered. Exceptions are sometimes considered for students enrolled in LCME-accredited schools in the US and Canada. Potential transfers must wish to enter Yale in their 2nd or 3rd year, and must have a compelling personal reason to transfer to Yale. 

Tuition & Funding Opportunity

The medical school tuition fees at Yale School of Medicine are $71,389 USD per year. With the inclusion of additional mandatory fees, the total cost is approximately $106,677 USD per year.

The Average Graduate Indebtedness of Yale graduates is $113,254 USD. 

Funding Opportunities

For those wondering how to pay for medical school, there are two main sources: financial aid, and loans. 

Financial Aid

Financial aid is available for students who demonstrate sufficient need, and is available to all accepted students regardless of citizenship. Approximately 81% of students attending Yale School of Medicine receive some form of aid.

If you wish to be considered for aid, you will submit both a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the Yale School of Medicine aid application. You must also submit a Needs Analysis Application that covers your current financial situation.

Scholarship opportunities that are available include special funding for MD/PhD students, the Armed Forces Scholarship, the National Health Services Corps Scholarship, and the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship.

Loans

There are several borrowing options available to you:

1. Federal Direct Loan Unsubsidized
2. Graduate Plus Loan
3. Yale Alumni Loan (MD program only)
4. Loans for Disadvantaged Students
5. Private loans

Yale provides a detailed breakdown of each type of loan on their website. 

Visit Yale's official website to learn about research funding opportunities available to MD students.

Check out how to get into an Ivy League medical school:

Selection Factors

Coursework and Prerequisites

Yale School of Medicine does not have a preference for any particular undergraduate major. However, they remind applicants that successful med students must cope with Chemistry and Biology at the graduate level. The following prerequisites are mandatory for all applicants:

1. General Biology (with labs) – 2 semesters
2. General Chemistry (with labs) – 2 semesters
3. Organic Chemistry (with labs) – 1 semester
4. Biochemistry (lab recommended, but not required) – 1 semester
5. General Physics (with labs) – 2 semesters

As previously mentioned, all pre-med prerequisites must be completed at a college or university in the USA, UK, or Canada. Community college courses from the US are also accepted if labs were included, and if the coursework is comparable to courses at four-year colleges and universities. Advanced college, university, or institute of technology courses may also be substituted for the introductory-level courses.

GPA

Yale states that the admissions process is “holistic and contextual” in its approach, and that they do not have any “rigid ‘cut-offs’” in terms of who they will consider. However, since the median GPA of applicants is 3.92, a strong academic record is crucial in order to be competitive. 

MCAT

The MCAT score is mandatory for admission to Yale. You must request that your MCAT scores be sent to Yale through AMCAS. Your application will NOT be reviewed until your MCAT scores have been received. The average MCAT score of previous years’ matriculants was 522. You must aim to achieve at least this score to be considered a competitive applicant.

Medical & Research Experience

While shadowing experience is not required for admission, it is strongly recommended for all applicants. Almost all (99%) of matriculants in recent years had some premedical research or lab experience at the time of entry, so any medical or research experience you have will help to make your application more competitive. It is especially important for MD/PhD applicants to demonstrate research experience to be considered for the dual program, and to provide letters of reference from research mentors.

If you are looking to gain more quality research experience, make sure to draft a strong resume and research assistant cover letter.

Activities

The AMCAS Work & Activities section is an important component of your med school application, so learn more about good extracurriculars for medical school before you fill it out. For your Yale Secondary Application, you will be asked to provide a bullet-form list of your activities and achievements, ranked from most to least important.

Non-Academic Requirements

Yale medical school states that all MD candidates must have the five following skills/attributes:

Secondary Essay

You will be asked to write two medical school secondary essays. A prompt will be provided for each essay. To prepare, you should familiarize yourself with some medical school secondary essay examples as well as some Yale medical school secondary essay samples. After the essay section, you will be given space to provide any additional information you wish the admissions committee to know about you. 

Here are the prompts:

Please submit answers to the following questions. Please limit your responses to approximately 500 words each.

Required Essay 1:Yale School of Medicine values diversity in all its forms. How will your background and experiences contribute to this important focus of our institution and inform your future role as a physician?

Required Essay 2 (please select one of the following):

MD applicants: Please answer either one of the following questions

MD/PhD applicants: Please answer question 2 as it pertains to your proposed PhD research.

1. While there is great emphasis on the physician-patient relationship, Yale School of Medicine also emphasizes the importance of training future physicians to care for communities and populations. Describe how your experiences would contribute to this aspect of the mission of the Yale School of Medicine.
2. Research is essential to patient care, and all students at Yale School of Medicine complete a research thesis. Tell us how your research interests, skills and experiences would contribute to scholarship at Yale School of Medicine.

This section is optional. It should be used to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee any important information (personal, academic, or professional) not discussed in other sections of your Yale Secondary Application. Please limit your response to 500 words.

Additional MD/PhD essay: Write a statement (approximately 500 words) concerning:

• Your reasons for wishing to undertake the combined MD/PhD program, rather than the MD program alone.
• The specific PhD program that you propose to follow at Yale.
• The strengths of that Yale graduate program and its faculty as they relate to your career goals.

Letters of Reference

A Premedical Committee letter is recommended for all MD and MD/PhD applicants. If no Premedical Committee is available, applicants must submit at least three medical school recommendation letters. Although the minimum number of letters is three, you may submit up to seven if you wish. The letters should meet the following criteria:

• At least one letter from someone in the sciences is recommended, although not required.
• Referees should be individuals who have taught or worked with you in an educational, professional, clinical, community, research, or extracurricular setting.
• Referees should know you well and be able to speak of your abilities, experiences, achievements, and relevant personal characteristics.

For MD/PhD Applicants: Letters of reference should speak to your research potential. One of your letters must be from your most recent research mentor.

Letters of reference can be submitted electronically or by mail, although electronic submission is preferred. You may submit your letters electronically via AMCAS, VirtualEvals, or Interfolio. All mailed letters should be sent directly to the Yale School of Medicine.

Interview Format

The interview format used by Yale School of Medicine is one-on-one, open-file interviews, which means that you need to know your application through-and-through in order to be prepared.

Whether you are an MD or MD/PhD applicant, you should set aside time to learn how to prepare for your medical school interview, as practicing for the interview will help you develop greater confidence and effective strategies. You should also familiarize yourself with some of the common med school interview questions and what to wear to a medical school interview. The more practice you have and the more informed you are, the better you will be. 

Check out our video if you are planning to apply to Ivy League medical schools:

Acceptance and Waitlist Information

Applicants are usually informed of admissions decisions by March 15th. Approximately 200 applicants are offered positions on the waitlist during the admissions cycle each yet. Approximately 30 students get into Yale School of Medicine from the waitlist.

If offered a position on the waitlist, students must confirm their position by April 30th. They will start to be considered for admission after May 1st.

Important Waitlist Dates:

Deferring Admission

It is sometimes possible to defer your admission to Yale School of Medicine. Yale will consider deferral requests for 1 year for academic reasons only. Non-academic reasons will not be considered. Deferral requests must be made before April 15th. All decisions are final. If your deferral request is denied and you still do not wish to attend Yale as scheduled, your offer will be withdrawn. You may re-apply to Yale again in future. 

Here's a quick recap of Yale medical school admission stats and interview formats:

Contact Information

Website: https://medicine.yale.edu/education/admissions/

Email: medical.admissions [at] yale.edu

FAQs

To your success,

Your friends at BeMo

BeMo Academic Consulting

Disclaimer: BeMo does not endorse or affiliate with any universities, colleges, or official test administrators. The content has been developed based on the most recent publicly available data provided from the official university website. However, you should always check the statistics/requirements with the official school website for the most up to date information. You are responsible for your own results.

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