University of Virginia Library

ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS

The requirement for admission to the first year of the Department of
Medicine is a four-year high-school education or its full equivalent, and two
years of work in a college of arts and sciences approved by the Council on
Medical Education of the American Medical Association, as follows:

I. High School Requirements

The following are the minimum high school requirements of the American
Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges and must
be satisfied for admission to all Class A medical schools. Students entering the
College of the University of Virginia for their premedical college work must also
satisfy the regular entrance requirements for admission to the college. (See General
Catalogue.) These differ from the requirements stated below only in that
2½ units of Mathematics (1½ in algebra and 1 in Plane Geometry) are required.

(a) For admission to the two-year premedical college course, students shall
have completed a four-year course of at least 15 units in a standard accredited
high school or other institution of standard secondary school grade, or have the
equivalent as demonstrated by examinations conducted by the College Entrance
Examination Board or by the authorized examiner of a standard college or
university which has been approved by the Council on Medical Education of
the American Medical Association.

(b) Credit for admission to the premedical college course may be granted
for the subjects shown in the following list and for any other subject counted
by a standard accredited high school as part of the requirements for its diploma,
provided that at least 11 units must be offered in groups I-V:

Group I. English. (3 units required)

Literature and composition.

Group II. Foreign Languages. (2 units required, both of which must be in
the same language)

Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish, Italian, or other modern foreign
language.

Group III. Mathematics. (2 units required)

Elementary Algebra, Advanced Algebra, Plane Geometry, Solid Geometry,
Trigonometry.

Group IV. History. (1 unit required)

Ancient History, Medieval and Modern History, English History, American
History, Civil Government.

Group V. Science.

Botany, Zoölogy, Chemistry, Physics, Physiography, Physiology, Astronomy,
Geology.

Group VI. Miscellaneous.

Agriculture, Bookkeeping, Business Law, Commercial Geography, Domestic
Science, Drawing, Freehand and Mechanical, Economics and Economic
History, Manual Training, Music—Appreciation or Harmony.

A unit is the credit value of at least thirty-six weeks work of four or five
recitation periods per week, each recitation period to be not less than forty
minutes.

II. Premedical College Course

The requirements given below are strictly minimum requirements. Premedical
students are advised to take more than 30 session-hours of college work,
either by spending an additional year in college or by taking 33 or 36 session-hours
during their two years as college students. Entrance conditions of any
kind whatsoever are absolutely prohibited and no substitution can be allowed for
any required subject.

In addition to the high-school work specified above, a candidate for admission
to the Department of Medicine must present evidence of the completion in
a manner satisfactory to this medical school of at least 30 session-hours of collegiate
work in a college approved by the Council on Medical Education of the
American Medical Association. A session-hour is the credit value of one
hour a week of lecture or recitation or two hours a week of laboratory work
throughout a session of at least thirty-two weeks, exclusive of holidays. The

subjects included in the 30 session-hours of college work should be in accordance
with the following schedule.

Required Subjects:

             

	Session-hours
General Inorganic Chemistry (a)	4
Organic Chemistry (b)	3
Physics (c)	4
Biology (d)	4
English Composition and Literature (e)	3
Other non-science subjects (f)	6

Subjects Strongly Urged:

French or German, Advanced Botany or Advanced Zoölogy, Psychology,
Advanced Algebra, Solid Geometry, and Trigonometry, additional courses in
Chemistry.

Other Suggested Electives:

English (additional), Economics, History, Sociology, Political Science,
Ethics, Logic, Mathematics, Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Drawing.

Credit Not Given for an Incomplete Course:

Credit can be accepted only when the student has a clear record on the
entire course; for example, if the course in General Physics is a 6 session-hour
course consisting of 3 hours lecture and 6 hours laboratory weekly for three
trimesters and the student passes on two trimesters but fails on the third no
credit for admission to medicine can be given for the portion of the subject
passed, even though the credit value of this work is 4 session-hours. In all cases
the student must have completed the entire subject for which he is registered.
Deficiencies of this kind may, however, be made up by obtaining a clear record
in the portion of the subject in which the failure has occurred, without repeating
the entire course.

Aptitude Tests: Applicants are strongly advised to take the Aptitude Tests
of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Requirements in Individual Collegiate Subjects

(a) General Inorganic Chemistry. 4 session-hours are required, including
2 session-hours of laboratory work. In the interpretation of this rule work in
Qualitative Analysis may be counted as General Inorganic Chemistry.

It is desirable that more time than this be given to General Chemistry and
especially that either the elements of Physical Chemistry be included in a 6
session-hour course in this subject or a supplementary course in Elementary
Physical Chemistry be taken.

Students are also advised when their premedical work extends over more
than two sessions to take at least 4 session-hours of Qualitative Analysis and 2
session-hours of Quantitative Analysis.

(b) Organic Chemistry. 3 session-hours are required of which at least 1
must be laboratory work. 4 session-hours including 2 session-hours of laboratory
work are recommended as giving better preparation in Organic Chemistry.

(c) Physics. 4 session-hours required, of which at least 1 must be laboratory
work. It is urged that this course be preceded by a course in Trigonometry
and Solid Geometry.

(d) Biology. 4 session-hours required, of which 2 must consist of laboratory
work. The requirement may be satisfied by a course of 4 session-hours in
General Biology or Zoölogy, or by courses of 2 session-hours each in Zoölogy
and Botany, but not by Botany alone. Courses in Physiology and Hygiene, Sanitation,
Bacteriology, Histology, and other similar work covered in the medical
curriculum cannot be accepted as part of the premedical college requirements in
Biology.

(e) English Composition and Literature. The usual introductory college
course of 3 session-hours, or its equivalent, is required.

(f) Non-Science Subjects. Of the 30 session-hours required as the measurement
of two years of college work, at least 9, including 3 session-hours of
English, should be in subjects other than the physical, chemical, or biological
sciences.

Although not required for admission to the medical school, premedical students
are strongly urged to acquire the basic knowledge of French or German—
and preferably of both French and German—which will enable them with a little
practice to read with ease the medical literature published in these languages.
Apart from the cultural value of the study of a foreign language and the use
which may be found for French and German in the study of medicine, a reading
knowledge of one or both of these languages is required for certain desirable
postgraduate scholarships and fellowships. When the student presents for admission
to the premedical college course 2 units of high school work in either
language, the usual 3 session-hour "second year" college course will amply give
this basic knowledge. When he begins the study of the language in college, he
should take at least 4, and preferably 5, session-hours in the language.

College courses in Physical Education and in Military Training or Military
Science will not be counted towards the 30 session-hours required for admission
to medicine; nor will required courses in Bible and Biblical Literature be
counted, unless the course has a credit value of at least 3 session-hours for one
session.

No entrance conditions whatever can be allowed nor can any substitutions be
made for the required subjects. Premedical students in other colleges and universities
who are considering the possibility of entering upon their medical studies
in this University are urged to have the authorities of the University of Virginia
pass officially upon their academic credit early in their last premedical college
year and in no case later than June 1, of that year. Deficiencies may be discovered
in this way in time to remove them before the following September. Such
students will incur no obligation to enter this medical school. The prohibition of
entrance conditions in all recognized medical colleges makes it especially important
for the student to be absolutely sure six months or more beforehand that the
course he is taking will admit him to the study of medicine. Many deficiencies
can be made up by work in summer schools.

In planning two years of premedical college work students are advised to
take English, Mathematics (Solid Geometry, Plane Trigonometry, and Advanced
Algebra), Biology, and General Inorganic Chemistry the first year; and Organic
Chemistry, Physics, Foreign Language, and one or more electives the second
year. This arrangement of studies is advised because Mathematics should precede
Physics and General Inorganic Chemistry must precede Organic Chemistry.
Those who have to take 4 or more session-hours of college work in Foreign
Language may find it advisable to take Foreign Language both years and take
the Mathematics in a summer school following the first premedical college
session.

Admission with Advanced Standing.—Students are admitted to advanced
standing in the second and third year under the following conditions:

1. Satisfaction of the requirements for entrance into this department at the
time of entrance of the class to which the applicant seeks admission.

2. The presentation of a certificate of honorable dismissal from the school
last attended.

3. The presentation of the complete record of the student in the school
previously attended, on blanks to be obtained from the Dean of the Department
of Medicine. This record will be submitted to the action of the Faculty Committee
on Advanced Standing, and the admission of the student, together with the
terms of admission, will be determined by this committee.

The Committee on Advanced Standing will not in general consider favorably
applications which are not accompanied by a distinctly good record in the school
previously attended.

Whenever a student is admitted to advanced standing he must take and pass
the full work of the class to which he is admitted unless by permission of the
Dean he substitutes for one or more of the regular courses of his class other
courses of approximately the same credit value.

Students are not received with advanced standing to the fourth-year class.

Limitation of Numbers and Reservation of Places.—The number of students
in the first-year class is limited to sixty-five.

Any applicant whose record has been endorsed by the Dean of the Department
of Medicine as entitling him to admission to the class to which he seeks
admittance, may at a specified time after June 25 of which he will be given due
notice and before the registration period in September have a place reserved for
him until 12:00 noon of the first day of registration by depositing with the
Bursar the sum of $50.00 in part payment of the tuition fee. A reservation so
made can be cancelled only in exceptional cases. In case a student who has
obtained a reservation fails to register, the deposit of $50.00 will be forfeited to
the University unless, in case of illness or equivalent cause, the Dean of the
Department of Medicine directs that it be returned. Unreserved places are filled
from a "waiting list" of approved candidates.

By the deposit, under similar conditions, of the entire fees for the year a
student may have a place reserved for him until 5 p. m. of the last day of
registration.

Women over twenty years of age are admitted to the medical department
by satisfying the entrance requirements specified above.

All women students must first register at the office of the Dean of Women,
22 East Lawn.