University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

expand section 
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
  
  
  
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
collapse section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 
expand section 

  
  

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. These
differ from the requirements stated below only in that
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


364

Page 364
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


365

Page 365
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) 
Organic Chemistry (b) 
Physics (c) 
Biology (d) 
English Composition and Literature (e) 
Other non-science subjects (f) 

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.


366

Page 366

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


367

Page 367
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. Reservation of a place,
if desired by the applicant, can be made beforehand on the conditions hereinafter
described.

At the time of registration, applicants will be registered in the order
in which they present themselves, until all vacancies are filled. Applicants
who have not made reservations, as described below, are therefore advised
to apply for registration at 9 o'clock of the first day of registration (September
13, 1934).


368

Page 368

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.

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, 20 East Lawn.