Eligibility/Requirements

Applicants must have graduated from a Massachusetts high school and currently enrolled at an UMass undergraduate campus (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, or Lowell). The BaccMD program is eligible to students who are from racial or ethnic groups under-represented in medicine nationally and/or in Massachusetts, who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, or are first generation college graduates. Students apply to become Medical Scholars during the first phase of the program, at the end of the fall semester of their sophomore year.

The following groups are considered to be underrepresented in medicine based on AAMC designation and regional data: 

• Among Latinos/Hispanics - Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans/Chicanos and Central Americans (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador)  
• Among Asian and Pacific Islanders– Cambodians, Hmong, Laotians and Vietnamese
• Black/African Americans
• Portuguese Speaking and Portuguese Descendants (Portuguese, Madeirans & Azoreans, Cape Verdeans and Brazilians)
• Native Americans and Alaskan Natives

• Economically Disadvantage
  • Family meets federal guidelines for
    • Poverty
    • Low income (2x poverty level)
• First generation College
  • A first generation four- year college graduate is an individual both of whose parents did not complete a baccalaureate degree.
  • In the case of an individual who regularly resides with and received support from only one parent, and individual whose only such parent did not complete a baccalaureate degree (Higher Education Act of 1965's chapter on the Federal TRIO Program)
• Academic Requirements
  • College English or Equivalent- one year (two semesters)
  • Three semesters of Chemistry with lab (typically two semesters of General Chemistry and one semester of Organic Chemistry or Biochemistry)
  • Biology with lab - one year (two semesters)
  • Courses in Calculus, Statistics, Psychology, Sociology are strongly recommended
    
    • Student's GPA should be at least 3.2 with no grade lower than a B in any of the aforementioned courses.