For the purposes of the description below an “application cycle” is defined as the period between September of the year preceding admissions to August of the following year.
Applicants with a Bachelor’s Degree
The AUB Faculty of Medicine values diversity in its student body and encourages students from any major to apply. A bachelor’s degree in any field of study is accepted provided the applicants have completed the premedical core courses required for admission to the Faculty of Medicine (see section below). Applicants who hold a bachelor’s degree or who are in their senior year expecting to graduate in June of the application cycle are eligible to apply provided they have completed the premedical course requirements by the fall term of the application cycle and have taken the MCAT by September of the application cycle.
Applicants who are pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the time of application should be aware of the following:
- Applicants must be in their senior year and expect to graduate by June of the application cycle.
- Their cumulative GPA in at least 70 credits (completed by the fall term of the application year) should be equal to or higher than 3.5 for students from AUB, or its equivalent for those from other universities. The cumulative GPA in the major courses must also be equal to or greater than 3.5. All required core premedical courses must have been completed by the end of the fall term of the senior year with a GPA of at least 3.2.
- Applicants are responsible for submitting an updated transcript of their grades fulfilling the above requirements after the deadline form application. The deadline for submission of the transcript is January 15 of their application cycle.
- Their admission to the Faculty of Medicine is contingent upon completion of graduation requirements and obtaining a bachelor’s degree, which should be achieved by June of their application cycle.
Applicants with Higher Degrees
Applications from individuals holding (or expecting by June of the application cycle) a master’s degree or a doctoral degree are encouraged. In addition to GPA and MCAT scores, research productivity of the applicant is another consideration in inviting applicants from this pool for interviews. In addition, some of the premedical course requirements may be waived depending on the field of graduate study. These applicants should be aware of the following:
- Only applicants from a 2-or-more year master’s program with a required research component (thesis) may be considered as graduate applicants. Applicants from one-year or non-thesis programs will be included in the undergraduate pool, and their cumulative GPA will include all undergraduate and graduate courses. These latter applicants must fulfill all the premedical course requirements. A minimum GPA of 3.5 is required for consideration.
- For applicants with a master’s or a doctoral degree, a minimum GPA of 3.5 is required for consideration.
- Applicants completing a 2-or-more-year master program or a doctoral program at the time of application must be in their final year and must expect to graduate by June of application cycle. They must have completed at least 70 percent of the graduate credits by the fall of the application cycle. A minimum GPA of 3.5 is required for consideration.
- Applicants are responsible for submitting an updated transcript of their grades fulfilling the above requirements after the deadline for application. The deadline for submission of the transcript is January 15 of their application cycle.
- Admission to medical school is contingent upon completion of graduation requirements and obtaining the master’s or doctoral degree, which should be achieved by June of the application cycle.
MCAT
A competitive score in the MCAT, which may be taken more than once, is required. If taken multiple times, the highest score is considered. The deadline for submitting the MCAT score is January 15 of the application cycle. Applicants are responsible for submitting the score by that deadline. Failure to do so means the application will be incomplete and will be cancelled.
The MCAT has sections on biological, chemical, physical, social, psychological and behavioral sciences, and on critical analysis and reasoning skills. Students are encouraged to review the content of the MCAT and plan their studies and preparation accordingly.
Interviews
Interviews are granted to a selected group of applicants based on their MCAT scores and their GPA and academic achievements. Granting an interview does not necessarily imply that the applicant will be accepted. The interviews include assessments of the applicants’ letters of recommendation, their curriculum vitae, their personal statements, and their attitudes, experiences and extracurricular achievements. Among the traits that the successful applicant will demonstrate are humanistic and ethical attitudes, good communication and interpersonal skills, emotional maturity, and personal integrity. Previous experience in research, community service and volunteer work are considered positive attributes.
Acceptance
Students are accepted on the basis of their academic qualifications, their MCAT scores and the results of their interviews. Conditional acceptance to the faculty is issued by the middle of April at the latest and is contingent on applicants completing the requirements for the bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree.
The Faculty of Medicine at AUB does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, or religion.
Premedical Core Course Requirements
The minimal course requirements for admission to the MD program at AUBFM are listed below (the courses in parentheses are AUB courses that fulfill the requirements), irrespective of the track followed in high school or the Lebanese Baccalaureate.
Biology: 7 credits: one course in general biology with laboratory (BIOL 201, 4 credits) and one course in biochemistry (BIOL 220, 3 credits; BIOC 255, 3 credits for students majoring in medical laboratory sciences and medical imaging sciences (MIS); NFSC 261, 3 credits for students majoring in nutrition and dietetics; and BIOC 246, 4 credits for students majoring in nursing).
Chemistry: 8 credits: 3 credits in general chemistry (CHEM 201, 3 credits); 5 credits in organic chemistry with lab (CHEM 208, 3 credits; CHEM 209, 2 credits). Biology and chemistry majors may take CHEM 210, 211 and 212 to fulfill the requirements of organic chemistry.
Computer Science: 3 credits in introductory programming (CMPS 203, 3 credits), or its equivalent EECE 230 given to Engineering students).
English: 6 credits in academic English (ENGL 203 and ENGL 204, or ENGL 206).
Physics: 4 credits in a physics course for the life sciences with laboratory (PHYS 206 and 206L, 4 credits). Biology and chemistry majors may take other courses as dictated by their majors in lieu of PHYS 206 (e.g., biology majors may take PHYS 204, 204L, 205 and 205L and chemistry majors may take PHYS 211 and PHYS 211L). Other majors can take PHYS 210 and PHYS 210L as dictated by their majors in lieu of PHYS 206 and PHYS 206L.
Psychology: 3 credits in general psychology (PSYC 201, 3 credits).
Sociology: 3 credits in general sociology (SOAN 201, 3 credits).
Humanities: 6 credits. Any two courses recognized by the university as fulfilling the “humanities” label or requirements may be accepted. AT AUB, this excludes some courses listed under the bullet points below. AUB students are encouraged to consider minoring in the medical humanities. The following possibilities are recommended - but not mandatory - to fulfill the humanities requirements:
- Any 2 CVSP/CHLA courses
- One CVSP/CHLA course and one English or Arabic literature humanities course, excluding those listed below:
- ENGL 227: Introduction to Language
- ENGL 228: Phonetics
- ENGL 229: History of the English Language
- ENGL 233: Introduction to Translation
- ARAB 211/212: Survey of Arabic Grammar
- ARAB 213/214: Introductory Biblical Hebrew
- ARAB 215: Introductory Syriac
- ARAB 224: Arabic Stylistics and Metrics
- ARAB 227: Arabic Linguistics
- ARAB 228: Arabic Linguistics
- One CVSP/CHLA and one philosophy course from the following:
- PHIL 210 Ethics
- PHIL 214 History of Modern Philosophy
- PHIL 216 Political Philosophy
- PHIL 221 Philosophy of Mind
- PHIL 222 Philosophy of Science
- PHIL 224 Philosophy of Religion
- PHIL 225 History of Moral Philosophy
- PHIL 230 Philosophy of Plato