What is pre-med? Pre-med, also written premed, is not a major or a degree. It is the track of courses and experiences a college student completes to apply to medical school, and it runs alongside whatever undergraduate major the student chooses.
That distinction matters because pre-med is a plan, not a program that enrolls you and keeps you on schedule. You choose your major, arrange the required science sequence, pursue relevant activities and decide when to apply. Seeing the whole track early helps you fit the medical school prerequisites around your degree without letting one part of the plan crowd out the others.
Pre-Med at a Glance
- Pre-med is an undergraduate preparation track, not a major or degree. The AAMC says medical schools do not require or prefer a particular major.
- Biological Sciences majors were 58.6% of applicants to U.S. MD-granting schools for 2025-2026, which still leaves 22,661 applicants and 9,960 matriculants from other major groups.
- The track combines prerequisite subjects, the MCAT, clinical exposure, physician shadowing, research or service and application planning with an advisor.
- For 2025-2026, 24,300 of 54,699 applicants were accepted by at least one U.S. MD-granting school, which works out to 44.4%.
The Three Parts of the Pre-Med Track
When someone says, “I’m pre-med,” they are describing an intention to apply to an MD or DO program and the preparation they are completing toward that goal. You may tell your advising office that you are pre-med so it can direct you to the right courses and services, but the label itself is not a credential. The AAMC says each medical school requires a four-year degree from an accredited institution and sets its own premedical coursework, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that no specific undergraduate degree is required to enter an M.D. or D.O. program. Medical schools evaluate what you completed: your academic work, your MCAT score and your experiences.
Coursework
The academic part usually covers biology, general and organic chemistry, physics, English, biochemistry and behavioral or social science concepts. The AAMC says students will likely complete one year of biology, one year of English and two years of chemistry through organic chemistry. AACOM’s general guidance for osteopathic colleges is at least one year each of biology, physics and English composition and two years of chemistry. The AAMC adds that the concepts tested on the MCAT are taught in introductory biology, physics, psychology, sociology and first-semester biochemistry as well as general and organic chemistry. These are subject areas, not one universal curriculum. Each medical school sets its own requirements or recommendations, some have moved to competency-based admissions without a fixed course list, and policies on AP, online and community college credit differ.
The MCAT
The MCAT is a standardized multiple-choice exam that assesses problem solving, critical thinking and knowledge of natural, behavioral and social sciences. All U.S. medical schools and many Canadian schools require it for regular admission. Its four section scores produce a total from 472 to 528. If you are beginning practice tests, an MCAT score calculator can turn a practice result into an estimated scaled score. AACOM’s straight-through timeline places the exam in the fall of junior year, though your best date depends on completed coursework and when you intend to apply.
Experiences and Career Preparation
Pre-med students also seek informed exposure to medicine through clinical work or volunteering, physician shadowing, research and community service. These activities help you test whether medicine fits you and give admissions committees context for your motivation, interests and preparation. Pre-med is only the first stage in the longer process covered in IMA’s guide to how to become a doctor.
Is Pre-Med a Major?
No. You still choose a regular undergraduate major, and that major is what your degree is in. Some colleges use pre-med as the name of an advising track or a concentration, but it sits beside a major instead of replacing one. AAMC guidance on choosing a premed major says medical schools have no required or preferred major. Its advice is to study a subject that genuinely interests you while completing the prerequisites for the schools you may apply to.
Biology is the most common choice, but common does not mean preferred. Asked whether a premed can major in the humanities, the AAMC answers with a plain yes: humanities classes develop communication, critical thinking and cultural competence, all of which a physician needs. A nonscience major must still make room for the necessary science. Leila Amiri, PhD, writing for the AAMC, advises nonscience students to complete at least a year each of biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry and biochemistry and to perform well across the science courses they take.
The table below uses the AAMC FACTS Table A-17 for academic year 2025-2026, covering applicants and matriculants who applied to enter U.S. MD-granting schools in fall 2025. Its scores and GPAs are group averages, not proof that choosing a particular major causes a better score or admission result.
| Primary undergraduate major | Applicants | Applicants: mean MCAT | Applicants: mean GPA | Matriculants | Matriculants: mean MCAT | Matriculants: mean GPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biological Sciences | 32,038 | 506.3 | 3.67 | 13,480 | 511.9 | 3.81 |
| Physical Sciences | 4,243 | 509.6 | 3.70 | 2,175 | 513.8 | 3.80 |
| Social Sciences | 4,758 | 505.8 | 3.62 | 2,014 | 512.2 | 3.78 |
| Humanities | 1,453 | 508.8 | 3.68 | 755 | 513.0 | 3.80 |
| Specialized Health Sciences | 2,584 | 504.0 | 3.66 | 1,041 | 511.1 | 3.82 |
| Math and Statistics | 335 | 511.6 | 3.71 | 192 | 515.8 | 3.81 |
| Other | 9,288 | 505.3 | 3.67 | 3,783 | 511.7 | 3.82 |
| All majors | 54,699 | 506.3 | 3.67 | 23,440 | 512.1 | 3.81 |
Biological Sciences majors made up 58.6% of applicants and 57.5% of matriculants, based on arithmetic from the table above. That still leaves 22,661 applicants and 9,960 matriculants from other major groups. Humanities matriculants averaged a 513.0 MCAT and Math and Statistics matriculants averaged 515.8, compared with 511.9 for Biological Sciences matriculants. At the same time, mean matriculant GPAs were tightly grouped between 3.78 and 3.82. None of this identifies a “best” major because the groups differ in size and in the students who selected them.
If you decide on medicine after earning a bachelor’s degree, you can complete missing preparation through a postbaccalaureate pre-med program. The AAMC describes career-change, academic record enhancement and MCAT preparation programs, with most lasting one to three years depending on the program and whether you attend full time or part time.
Clinical Experience in Pre-Med
Clinical experience puts you close enough to patient care to understand how health professionals communicate, make decisions and handle difficult situations. The purpose is not to collect an impressive title. It is to learn what caring for patients requires and whether you can see yourself accepting that responsibility.
In a spring 2016 AAMC survey completed by admissions contacts at 43% of member medical schools, 73% of respondents highly recommended or required experience through which applicants could observe and learn about clinical practice. In the same survey, 87% said applicants without clinical experience may be disadvantaged, and the AAMC’s summary says what you gain from the experience is valued more than the number of hours. IMA’s guide to clinical hours for medical school goes through what individual schools say about hours and how to build depth in one setting.
Clinical exposure can take several forms. AAMC examples include hospice volunteering, working as a certified nursing assistant, serving as a volunteer EMT, medical scribing and caring for an ill family member. International Medical Aid also runs pre-med internships abroad built around clinical rotations and physician shadowing. Whatever setting you choose, pay attention to what you learn about patients, health systems and your own response to the work.
Shadowing and Research in Pre-Med
Physician Shadowing
Shadowing means observing a physician or another health professional during the workday. The AAMC says it gives you a better understanding of a doctor’s typical day, familiarity with different specialties and medical environments and experience to talk about in applications and interviews.
Among respondents to the AAMC’s 2025 Matriculating Student Questionnaire, 95.5% reported shadowing a physician or another health professional. The report contained responses from 15,192 people, including 15,184 members of the 2025 entering class, or 64.8% of that year’s MD matriculants. These figures describe survey respondents who entered medical school, not a required threshold for applicants. The AAMC also reports that 87% of admissions officers in a 2016 survey accepted another activity in place of clinical shadowing. IMA’s guide to shadowing hours for medical school explains how duration can vary with the physician’s schedule and your goals.
Research
Research teaches you how questions become studies, how evidence is evaluated and how uncertainty affects conclusions. It does not have to take place in a biology laboratory. The AAMC says medical schools value research in fields ranging from biochemistry and neuroscience to sociology, history, classics and policy.
Whether research is expected depends partly on the schools you target. The AAMC says most accepted applicants have some academic or clinical research, but research-focused schools weigh it differently from schools centered more heavily on clinical or community work. In the 2025 questionnaire, 54.5% of respondents reported a college laboratory research apprenticeship. Most students who participate secure a position during junior or senior year, although starting earlier or after graduation is possible. If research fits your interests, the guide to research hours for medical school covers what research-focused programs expect and how to find a position.
Service and Volunteering in Pre-Med
Service shows how you respond to needs beyond your own academic goals. Health care volunteering can expose you to patients and care settings, while non-health care service can build a sustained connection with a community or cause. The AAMC advises finding at least one health care related opportunity but also says students can benefit from almost any form of volunteering.
In the 2025 Matriculating Student Questionnaire, 90.1% of respondents reported volunteering in health care and 88.2% reported volunteering outside health care. Across the full 2025 entering MD class, the AAMC reported an average of 717 community service hours completed before medical school. That average describes a group and is not a minimum you must reach.
Consistency is more useful than collecting unrelated activities. Regular service can lead to greater responsibility and a better understanding of the people or issue involved. Choose work that matters to you rather than an activity selected only for its appearance on an application. IMA’s guide to volunteer hours for medical school covers how to assess sustained commitment and meaningful participation.
Pre-Health Advisors and Committee Letters
A pre-health advisor helps you plan courses, consider when to take the MCAT, decide whether to apply directly after college and understand application procedures. The AAMC application timeline recommends meeting early to introduce yourself, review fall classes and discuss course sequencing. Two years before your intended medical school start date, the advisor can help you review remaining coursework, your MCAT date, gap-year options and any committee letter process.
If your college has no pre-health advisor, the AAMC points you to the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAHP). The NAAHP Find an Advisor page sets out three steps: check whether your college has a health professions or premedical advising office and whether it advises alumni, look for an NAAHP member advisor at your institution and, if neither exists, request a volunteer advisor through NAAHP. NAAHP’s national office does not itself have advisors on staff.
A committee letter is an institutional evaluation written by a pre-health committee or advisor. It can summarize your preparation, accomplishments, motivation and relevant challenges, often alongside letters from faculty or other recommenders. Colleges handle these letters differently. The process may involve information sessions, reflective essays, interviews and academic or course requirements, so ask about it well before you apply.
Students are often encouraged to obtain a committee letter when their undergraduate or postbaccalaureate program offers one. If your institution does not provide one, however, advisors quoted in the AAMC article on the committee letter process say medical schools frequently state that applicants are not penalized for that absence. You can follow the individual-letter instructions for the application services and schools you use.
The Pre-Med Timeline From Freshman Year to Applying
The table below combines the Pre-Med Timeline for Undergrads from AACOM with the AAMC timeline for application and admission to medical school. It assumes four years of college followed by medical school without a gap year. Use it as a planning model, then adjust it with your advisor. For deadlines and the application cycle itself, consult IMA’s medical school application timeline.
| Year | Courses and advising | Experiences | Application steps | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshman year | Meet your health professions advisor, plan how to sequence your classes and start prerequisite coursework, which typically begins with the biology or the general (inorganic) chemistry sequence. | Join pre-health organizations, get to know science faculty and begin clinical exposure through shadowing, volunteering, work such as CNA or EMT roles and internships. Keep a record of everything you do. | None yet. Start reading about medical schools and what they require. | AACOM (Year One); AAMC (four or more years before medical school) |
| Sophomore year | Continue prerequisite coursework and talk with your advisor about when to start preparing for the MCAT. | Add community service and look for leadership roles, keep shadowing and look into undergraduate research, which can take several months to arrange. | Find out what letters of evaluation your target schools ask for and build relationships with the professors, advisors and clinicians who could write them. Start researching what applying costs. | AACOM (Year Two); AAMC (three years before medical school) |
| Junior year | Continue prerequisites and, if possible, take upper-level science such as biochemistry. Decide with your advisor whether you will apply to start right after graduation or after one or more gap years. | Keep up clinical experience, service, research and leadership, taking on a larger role where you can. | Take the MCAT when you are prepared, ask your letter writers and give them at least four to six weeks, learn how committee letters work at your college and build your school list. | AACOM (Year Three, fall semester); AAMC (two years before medical school) |
| Summer after junior year | No new coursework is expected. Order official transcripts for your applications. | Continue clinical work, volunteering or research through the summer. | Submit your primary application: the AMCAS application opens at the beginning of May, the AACOMAS application process also starts in May and AACOMAS processing begins in June. Complete secondary applications as they arrive and practice interviewing. | AACOM (Year Three, summer); AAMC (one year before medical school) |
| Senior year | Finish any remaining prerequisites, keep taking upper-level science and keep your GPA up. | Stay involved in clinical experience, research, pre-health organizations and volunteering. | Interview if invited, send updates on fall coursework where an application service asks for them, complete the FAFSA, choose among acceptances or plan the steps toward reapplying. | AACOM (Year Four); AAMC (after you are accepted) |
| Gap year or years (optional) | Take more coursework only if you need it, for example through a postbaccalaureate program. | Look for meaningful employment, education or experience, if possible in a medically related setting. | Apply on the same calendar one or more years later and stay in touch with your pre-health advisor. | AAMC (gap years before medical school); AACOM (post college) |
The table above shows why early planning helps even if you are not certain about applying immediately. Science courses build on one another, the MCAT works best after relevant subjects and sustained experiences take time. A straight-through student generally prepares for the MCAT and application during junior year, then interviews and completes remaining requirements during senior year.
A gap year is not unusual. In the AAMC’s 2025 questionnaire, 72.7% of the new medical students who responded said at least one year had passed since they graduated from college. You might use that time to finish coursework, continue work or service, strengthen an area of preparation or apply on a schedule that is more manageable for you. The pre-med track therefore often overlaps four undergraduate years, but your personal route may be longer.
Those college years are also only the first stretch. Most medical school programs last four years and residency adds three to seven more, a sequence laid out stage by stage in IMA’s guide to how long it takes to become a doctor.
Pre-Med, Pre-Health and BS/MD Programs
Pre-health is the wider advising category. It covers students preparing for any health profession, and it is the word your advising office is most likely to use. NAAHP, the national association of health professions advisors, works with twenty health professional association partners, from allopathic medicine to veterinary medicine. Pre-med is the part of pre-health aimed specifically at applying to MD or DO programs.
The usual pre-med route means earning a bachelor’s degree, completing the required preparation and applying separately to medical school. Most U.S. MD schools use AMCAS, osteopathic medical schools use AACOMAS and medical schools in Texas use TMDSAS. These are application services, not different types of pre-med majors.
A combined baccalaureate-MD program, as the AAMC describes it, is a separate route that admits students from high school or early college into a linked undergraduate and medical pathway. Depending on the program, it may provide automatic acceptance into medical school, early clinical exposure, fewer total years or lower application costs. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says combined programs last six to eight years. Requirements still vary, and programs typically require prerequisite courses, a minimum GPA and standardized test scores. Some waive the MCAT while others require a minimum score. IMA’s guide to BS/MD programs explains that pathway in detail.
The regular pre-med route remains far more common. In the AAMC’s 2018 Medical School Graduation Questionnaire, approximately 97% of respondents had completed an undergraduate degree before pursuing the MD, while 2.6% reported a joint baccalaureate-MD route. A combined program may suit a student already certain about medicine, but it is not what people usually mean when they call themselves pre-med.
Is Pre-Med Hard?
Yes, pre-med is demanding. You have to manage laboratory science sequences, your major requirements, MCAT preparation and sustained activities while protecting your academic performance. The challenge is not one impossibly difficult class. It is the need to keep several long-term commitments moving at the same time.
The application process is also selective. According to AAMC data for 2025-2026, 54,699 people applied to U.S. MD-granting medical schools and 24,300 were accepted by at least one. Dividing one by the other gives 44.4%, a little more than four in ten applicants, for MD-granting schools only. Among the 23,440 students who matriculated, the mean GPA was 3.81 and the mean MCAT was 512.1. These are overall group averages, not minimum requirements or predictions for an individual. IMA’s analysis of how hard it is to get into medical school breaks those figures down by GPA and MCAT score.
Not everyone applies only once. Re-applicants accounted for 12,869 of the 54,699 applicants in 2025-2026, or 23.5%, and the AAMC notes that many students apply more than once before receiving an acceptance. Hard does not mean closed, but it does mean you should build a realistic schedule, seek help early and assess your progress honestly.
There is no reliable national percentage showing how many college freshmen who call themselves pre-med eventually apply to medical school. Colleges do not register all pre-med students through one common system, and neither the AAMC nor AACOM publishes such an attrition figure. Treat any percentage you see quoted for it with caution.
Build Your Pre-Med Plan This Semester
Start with the choices directly in front of you. Meet your academic or pre-health advisor, place the prerequisite subjects beside your major requirements and check whether any course sequences create scheduling conflicts. You do not need to settle every application decision now, but you do need a plan that leaves future options open.
Then choose one clinical or service activity you can approach consistently. Keep a simple record of dates, responsibilities and what you learned so you are not trying to reconstruct the experience years later. Revisit your plan each term as your interests, workload and intended application date become clearer. Pre-med becomes much more understandable when you treat it as a series of deliberate choices rather than one intimidating label.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Does Pre-Med Mean?
Pre-med means you intend to apply to medical school and are completing the undergraduate courses, MCAT preparation and experiences needed for that goal. It is a track that runs alongside your chosen major, not a separate degree.
Is Pre-Med a Major?
No, pre-med is not a major. You choose a regular major such as biology, chemistry, history, mathematics or sociology and complete the pre-med preparation alongside it. Some colleges may label an advising track or concentration pre-med, but that label is not the undergraduate degree medical schools require.
What Is the Best Major for Pre-Med?
There is no universally best pre-med major. The AAMC says medical schools do not require or prefer one major, so choose a subject that interests you and leaves room for the prerequisites. In 2025-2026, Humanities matriculants averaged a 513.0 MCAT compared with 511.9 for Biological Sciences matriculants, but those group averages do not show that humanities caused a higher score or improved anyone’s admission chances.
How Long Is Pre-Med?
Pre-med usually overlaps the four years of a bachelor’s degree, but it can take longer if you add a gap year or begin after college. The AAMC says most postbaccalaureate pre-med programs last one to three years depending on their type and whether you attend full time or part time.
Is Pre-Med Hard?
Yes, pre-med can be hard because it combines science sequences, a complete major, MCAT preparation and sustained experiences. Medical school admission is also selective: 24,300 of 54,699 applicants were accepted by at least one U.S. MD-granting school for 2025-2026, or 44.4%. That group rate does not determine any individual applicant’s result.
What Classes Do Pre-Med Students Take?
Pre-med students generally study biology, chemistry, physics, English, biochemistry and behavioral or social sciences. The exact courses differ among medical schools, and policies for AP, online and community college credit also vary, so compare your schedule with each school’s requirements.
Can You Be Pre-Med at Any College?
You do not need a college with a formal pre-med program, but you need a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution and access to the courses required by the medical schools you may target. Because schools differ on community college, online and AP credit, check those policies before choosing where to complete a course. If your college has no advisor, NAAHP may be able to connect you with a volunteer advisor.
What Is the Difference Between Pre-Med and Med School?
Pre-med is undergraduate preparation and does not award a degree of its own. Medical school is the professional MD or DO program that follows: most programs last four years, and residency then lasts three to seven years depending on the specialty. Pre-med ends on the day you start medical school, and everything after that is medical training.
