Virginia Tech® home

Academic Requirements

Admissions - Academic Requirements

All students matriculating to the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine must receive either an earned baccalaureate degree conferred prior to matriculation, as evidenced by the submission of an official transcript(s) from the undergraduate institution OR an earned, combined masters or doctoral degree conferred prior to matriculation which by its program design has satisfied the granting university’s baccalaureate degree requirements, as evidenced by the submission of an official transcript(s) from the graduate institution. All coursework must be completed in a satisfactory manner in an educational institution located in the United States or Canada and approved by a regional accrediting body.

Required Academic Coursework

The following academic coursework (or equivalent coursework) is required for applicants to the school of medicine. The school’s leadership believes that this coursework is necessary to provide medical students with an adequate foundation for their medical education.

These requirements and recommended courses are similar to those required by other institutions and those outlined by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

  • General Biology with laboratory: 2 semesters
  • General Inorganic Chemistry with laboratory: 2 semesters
  • Organic Chemistry with laboratory: 2 semesters or 1 Organic Chemistry with lab and 1 Biochemistry with lab
  • Physics with laboratory: 2 semesters
  • Mathematics: 2 semesters of calculus or 1 each of Calculus and Statistics
  • English/Writing: 2 semesters or 1 semester each of English and Philosophy

Course substitutions may be made on a case-by-case basis. Requests should be sent to the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Admissions email address. A grade of a C may require a written explanation and possible remediation.

Distance / Other Learning

College Level Examination Program (CLEP) credits may not be used to fulfill any of the premedical course requirements listed above. Advanced Placement (AP) credits or International Baccalaureate (IB) credits for English, Biology, Math, Physics, and Inorganic Chemistry are acceptable so long as they appear on college transcripts and are verified by the American Medical College Application Service, better known as AMCAS. At this time, online science lab courses do not meet our prerequisite requirements. However, in these instances, graded advanced courses in these areas are highly recommended.

instructor wearing personal protective equipment such as face shield mask and glove, pointing at an image of a shoulder in a book. Beside him stands a student also wearing PPE.

Recommended Coursework

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine encourages applicants to sample a broad range of academic disciplines and to explore one or more areas of in-depth research.

Of particular interest to our admissions team are activities that demonstrate the applicant's spirit of discovery and inquiry and the potential to be a thought leader in some aspect of medicine.

Such activities should demonstrate advanced skills in problem-solving and might be in upper-level complex work. These activities may be in traditional areas of biomedical research but could also be in the humanities, community service, education, or the arts.

The following courses are not required but have been identified by graduating medical students as being helpful in their medical school education.

  • Biochemistry
  • Cell Biology
  • Comparative Anatomy
  • Genetics
  • Microbiology
  • Physiology
  • Psychology
  • Sociology

Student Handbook and Course Catalog