Are BS/MD Programs Worth It?

A combined baccalaureate-MD program admits you to college and medical school in one application, usually during your senior year of high school. You finish an undergraduate degree (or most of one), then move into the partner medical school's MD program without going through the regular AMCAS cycle as an open applicant.

These programs are a small door into medicine. AAMCNews reported in 2023 that 3.3 percent of medical school matriculants came from combined baccalaureate-MD programs in 2022, up from 2.8 percent in 2018. That's about 1 in 30 new medical students.

The AAMC's 2025-2026 list of combined baccalaureate-MD programs names 44 medical schools. Most programs take 7 or 8 years. Only 3 schools offer a program shorter than 7 years, and 27 offer an 8-year track that takes as long as the traditional route.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City is the only 6-year program on the list, and Jefferson and Miami run 6 to 7 years. An 8-year program matches the traditional route of four years of college and four of medical school, so what it saves you is the application cycle, not time.

The list also changes. The same AAMCNews piece noted that Northwestern had suspended its accelerated program and that the University of Nevada, Reno had stopped admitting to its program while it was under review. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson's 8-year track carries an AAMC note that it continues "for 2024 and 2025, only." Check that a program is still enrolling before you build your college list around it.

Very hard at the best-known programs. Brown's Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME) admitted 87 of 3,516 applicants in the year AAMCNews covered, a 2.5 percent acceptance rate.

UMKC gives a fuller picture of the funnel on its BA/MD FAQ page:

• Started applications: about 1,500
• Completed applications: about 1,000
• Interviewed: about 350
• Entering class: 105 to 110 students

UMKC also expects 60 to 65 of those students to come from Missouri, 30 to 35 from nearby states and only 10 to 15 from everywhere else. Several programs exist partly to train doctors for their own region, AAMCNews reports, so check where a program draws its students from before you apply. GW, for example, asks for a competitive academic record, SAT or ACT scores, service and medically related experience, close to what a medical school weighs, only measured at 17. If you're also weighing regular four-year colleges, the best premed schools breakdown covers what the data says about where you go to college.

These rules decide whether a program is a guarantee or a conditional offer. At many programs, the acceptance is provisional. You keep the medical school seat by meeting benchmarks during college.

The rules come from each program's own pages: GW, California Northstate and Indiana, with Brown's policy as described by AAMCNews. Indiana's GPA floors apply to both your overall and BCPM (science and math) GPA, and they climb each year. On the 4+4 track the floor goes from 3.40 after year one to 3.70 after year four, and on the 3+4 track from 3.50 to 3.70 after year three.

Those MCAT^® floors are high. The average 2025 MD matriculant scored 512.1, according to the AAMC's 2025 enrollment report, and a 512 is the 84th percentile on the current AAMC percentile table. So a program with a 512 cutoff asks you to score about where the average admitted medical student does. What MCAT percentiles mean explains how that rank is calculated, and the average MCAT score breakdown shows how 512 compares with other groups.

That changes the math on a program. A no-MCAT^® program removes the exam and the application cycle. A program with a 511 or 512 floor removes the cycle, but you still prepare for the MCAT^® the way a regular applicant would, and you need a high score to keep the seat you've already been offered.

• Less uncertainty. Regular applicants go through a cycle with open-ended odds. Your seat is held as long as you meet the benchmarks.
• Possible time and tuition savings. A 6- or 7-year program cuts one or two years of school, which means one or two fewer years of tuition and an earlier start to residency.
• Early clinical exposure. UMKC students work with physician mentors who lead groups of about 10 students, according to AAMCNews.
• Room to explore. At programs without an MCAT^® requirement, the time a regular premed spends on prep and applications is free for research, a second major or a lighter course load.

• You commit at 17. The AAMCNews piece is direct about it: these programs aren't a fit for students who want to explore other fields before settling on medicine. If you change your mind, you're back to applying the regular way.
• Heavier course loads. UMKC first-year students take 20 or more credits a semester and often lose their summers. At Nevada, an administrator told AAMCNews that three years of college "limited students in how much they could experience."
• The conditions can be strict. A 3.6 GPA every semester or a 512 MCAT^® leaves less room for a rough semester than many students expect. A B-minus in a required course at California Northstate doesn't count.
• Fewer choices at the end. A regular applicant can compare acceptances, scholarships and locations. A BS/MD student usually goes to the partner school.

A BS/MD program fits best if you've already spent time around medicine, you'd be happy at the partner medical school and you can meet the program's benchmarks without strain. Look first at programs in your home state or region, since some, like UMKC, reserve most seats for local students, and read each one's progression rules before you decide it's a guarantee.

If you don't get in, you haven't lost anything. Most medical students take the traditional route, and the premed requirements guide lists the courses you'd take on it. MD vs DO covers the other half of the decision you'll face later. If you end up at a program with an MCAT^® floor, the PurpleCAT MCAT score guide shows what a 511 or 512 means in percentiles and section scores, so you can set a target early.

Last verified October 30, 2026, against the AAMC's 2025-2026 program list and each program's published requirements. Programs change their rules and some close, so confirm with each program before you apply.