IN COOPERATION WITH
JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE

This program, which began in 1963, is a cooperative effort between Penn State and the College of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Students can earn both the B.S. and M.D. degrees in six calendar years after graduation from high school. They will spend the first two years on the University Park Campus of Penn State and then proceed to Jefferson Medical College for their regular four-year curriculum. The Penn State B.S. degree is awarded after successful completion of year two at Jefferson Medical College, and the M.D. degree is awarded after successful completion of year four at Jefferson Medical College.

This does not replace the regular premedicine program at Penn State. Students may still complete four years of study at the University and earn the bachelor's degree before starting medical school. Under certain conditions, students completing three years of the Premedical program and one year at any accredited medical college also may be eligible for the B.S. degree from the University.

Admission Requirements:
Students entering the cooperative program will be confronted with a rigorous academic program. Therefore, applicants with the following credentials will be considered for the initial applicant review process for admission to the Six-Year Premedical-Medical Program:

• a total score of R1440 or higher on the SAT I from a single test date no later than June 2000.
• a rank in the highest tenth of their high school class.

Secondary school units must include four units of English, one and one-half units of algebra, one unit of plane geometry, one-half unit of trigonometry, three units of science, and five units from social studies, humanities and/or the arts. Students who have already graduated from high school are not eligible for this program. On rare occasion, applicants with exceptionally distinguished high school records, but whose credentials are slightly below the criteria stated above, may be given additional consideration. For this program, complete application information must be received by Penn State no later than November 30, 2000.

Admission decisions are made by the Penn State Undergraduate Admissions Office and the Penn State-Jefferson Joint Admissions Committee. Decisions are arrived at by means of a three-part review process. First, applicants must meet the criteria listed above for inclusion in the initial application review. Then, from the initial application review, a limited number of top candidates are selected to continue in the process. These finalists will be invited for an interview at Jefferson Medical College during January-March. Accepted applicants are given an opportunity to spend a day at Penn State in April with current students in the program. About 25-30 students enter the program each year.

All students selected for the class must begin studies at the University Park Campus in the summer session, starting June 25, 2001.

Academic Performance:
Students in the accelerated program take essentially the same courses as, and have similar schedules to, premedical students in a traditional four-year program. They are also expected to perform at an A/B level in all courses, much as four-year students are expected to do if they hope to gain admission to medical school. Satisfactory performance on MCAT exams is also required for matriculation to Jefferson Medical College. If students in the accelerated program are not performing at a 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) level, particularly in the sciences, they could be asked to withdraw from the six-year program. Typically, such a student would be eligible to remain at Penn State in another program of study.

Cost:
Students in the cooperative program study at two separate institutions. While attending Penn State, students are charged at the regular University rate. While attending Jefferson Medical College, students are charged at the regular Jefferson Medical College rate. Because students enrolled in the cooperative program only complete two years of undergraduate study at Penn State, they are not eligible for tiution scholarships from the University Scholars Program or Braddock Scholarships from the Eberly College of Science.

Applying to the Program:
Students interested in this program should apply by completing the regular admissions application available through the Undergraduate Admissions Office, 201 Shields Building, Box 3000, University Park, PA 16804-3000; tel. (814) 865-5471. Applications will be available by September 2000. Requests received prior to that date will be placed on a mailing list.

Applications for this special program must be received with complete credentials by the Undergraduate Admissions Office no later than November 30, 2000. Applications after this date, or applications that are incomplete after this date, cannot be considered for this special program. Complete credentials to support the application include the following: official secondary school record showing grades received for all courses completed starting with ninth grade; rank in class at the end of the junior year (exact rank is preferable); schedule of senior courses; official SAT I test scores; a one-page resume listing the applicant's most meaningful accomplishments and extracurricular activities during the high school years; one letter of evaluation from the applicant's guidance counselor or high school teacher; and required application fee.

 

TYPICAL SCHEDULE
YEAR ONE: PENN STATE 

Summer Session		Fall Semester		Spring Semester
General Chemistry	3	General Chemistry	3	Chemistry Lab	1
English Composition	3	Chemistry Lab	1	Speech Communications	3
AHSBS*	3	Calculus	4	Calculus	4
		General Biology	4	General Biology	4
		AHSBS*	3	AHSBS*	3
				ESACT**	1.5

 

YEAR TWO: PENN STATE

Summer Session		Fall Semester		Spring Semester
Physics	4	Physics	4	Physics	4
English Writing	3	Organic Chemistry	4	Organic Chemistry	3
AHSBS*	3	Biology Elective	3-4	Organic Chemistry Lab	2
		AHSBS*	3	Elective	3
		ESACT*	1.5	AHSBS*	3
				Health Education	1

 

YEAR THREE: JEFFERSON YEAR FOUR: JEFFERSON

Anatomy	8	Microbiology/Immunology	10
Biochem/Molecular Biology	8	Pathology/Cell Biology	10
Anatomy/Histology	8	Pharmacology	10
Physiology	8	Intro to Clinical Medicine	13
Neurosciences	8	Intro to Clinical Medicine	4
Life Cycle	8	Medicine and Society	7
Intro to Clinical Medicine	4
Nutrition	2
Ethics	2
Biostatistics	2
Genetics	2
Electives (optional)	2

 

YEARS FIVE AND SIX: JEFFERSON
Clerkships and Speciality Tracks

PENN STATE

Penn State, founded in 1855, is today one of the nation's leading public universities. With twenty-two locations, it is also one of the world's largest universities, enrolling nearly 70,000 students and employing about 4,000 full-time faculty members. The Penn State Alumni Association is the largest in the world, and, in fact, about one in every 700 persons in the United States is a Penn Stater.

Penn State is a comprehensive university with a mission of teaching, public service, and research. The University Park Campus, located near the center of Pennsylvania in State College, is the largest Penn State campus, with more than 38,000 undergraduate and graduate students studying here each spring and fall. The undergraduate colleges of the University offer more than 180 baccalaureate degree programs, and the Graduate School has more than 125 approved fields of study. With more than $275 million spent per year on research activities, Penn State is widely recognized as one of the top research universities in the country.

Most premedical students at the University major in the Eberly College of Science. In addition to strong departments in mathematical, physical, and life science areas, the Eberly College of Science has a Biotechnology Research Center, a Center for Space Research, and participates in a super-computer consortium that allows faculty and students to access the fastest and most advanced computing facilities in the country. Undergraduate students in the Eberly College of Science at University Park Campus are some of the best in the University. The University ranks in the top five in the nation in the number of graduates who eventually earn doctoral degrees and in the top ten in the number of science graduates who win National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships.

In addition to academics, Penn State has a very successful intercollegiate athletic program and one of the largest intramural sports programs in the country. Also, the University Concert Committee and the Artist Series ensure that the University community has an abundance of top entertainment in the form of theater, dance, music, and art.

 

JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE
THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY

Jefferson Medical College, founded in 1824, has awarded degrees to more than 26,000 physicians-more than any other medical college in the United States. The school is one of the most diverse in the country, with students accepted each year from about 100 different colleges and universities. About one-third of the class is female, and student ages ranges from 19 to mid-40s. There are many famous graduates of Jefferson, including Samuel Gross, the "Father of American Surgery;" John Gibbon, first to use the "heart-lung machine;" and Robert Gall, who identified the AIDS virus.

The Medical College is situated on a thirteen-acre urban campus in the center of Philadelphia. Buildings in a six-square-block area include faculty and administrative offices, research laboratories, lecture rooms, the Scott Memorial Library, residence halls, and three hospital buildings. The Gibbon Building is an innovative, nine-story hospital, housing four 100-bed mini-hospitals, each with its own diagnostic and therapeutic facilities. Included in the hospital is the Bodine Center for Radiation Therapy, one of the most modern radiation-therapy facilities in the world. In addition to access to the University Hospital, students also receive training by college faculty in a number of nearby affiliated hospitals.

The goals of the curriculum at Jefferson Medical College are to provide learning experiences to students that will help enable them to acquire basic knowledge and skills, as well as to develop the proper habits and attitudes needed by physicians. The curriculum also allows students to pursue some of their special interests early in their medical training. The first two years of the program include basic science course work, introduction to clinical medicine, and a course about medicine and society. The second two years include required clinical clerkships and electives.

Thomas Jefferson University offers combined M.D./Ph.D. programs for students enrolled in the medical college who wish to prepare for a career in academic medicine and/or biomedical research. These combined degree options usually take six years, and include Ph.D. tracks in the basic science areas (e.g., physiology, anatomy, and biochemistry). The Medical College also has a special program designed to recruit and educate medical students who intend to enter family medicine and practice in physician-shortage areas.