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Admissions Requirements

Mahalo for your interest in University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine. We welcome your application and the opportunity to consider you for admission.

JABSOM subscribes to the philosophy that a physician should be broadly educated, able not only to understand and manage the physical part of the human body but also the social, cultural, and psychological components.  Therefore, applicants are encouraged to obtain a broad education in the humanities and in the social and behavior sciences, in addition to satisfying the more specific basic science requirements set forth below. Each applicant must meet the minimum requirements.

  1. Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) must be taken within three years of the anticipated year of matriculation to medical school.  Tests taken from January 2022 to September 30, 2024 (May 31, 2024 for Early Decision) will be considered for the 2025 entering class application cycle.  Tests taken in October 2024 or later are not valid for the 2025 application cycle. For more information regarding MCAT test dates, click here.

  2. AAMC PREview™ Professional Readiness Exam must be taken within three years of the anticipated year of matriculation to medical school.  Exams taken from January 2022 to October 31, 2024 (July 31, 2024 for Early Decision) will be considered for the 2025 entering class application cycle.

    If you have previously completed the AAMC Situational Judgment Test (SJT) for the 2022 and 2023 admissions cycle and are satisfied with your score, you do not need to retake the AAMC PREview again.  For more information regarding AAMC PREview exam dates, click here.

  3. Must complete 90 college-level semester credit hours (or 135 quarter hours) from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or a similarly accredited institution in Canada.  Credit hours from institutions outside of the U.S. and Canada will not be accepted.  JABSOM will not accept credit evaluations from third-party credentialing services.

  4. Completion of JABSOM Science Prerequisites
    The following coursework must be successfully completed prior to matriculation to medical school: (One academic year is equivalent to two semesters or three academic quarters.)  If you have any science prerequisite courses in progress, you must submit an official transcript by the July of the year of matriculation.

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, JABSOM will continue to accept online lab courses from 2020 – until further notice.  Online lab courses may be used towards fulfilling prerequisite requirements for General Biology, General Physics, General Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry as outlined below:

  • One academic year of general biology with lab.

  • Introductory biology for all life science majors.  Cell structure and chemistry; growth, reproduction, genetics, evolution, viruses, bacteria, and simple eukaryotes.  Must also include Anatomy, physiology, and systematics of plants and animals; behavior; ecosystems, populations, and communities.

  • Laboratory course work to accompany lecture courses.

*For University of Hawaiʻi course work that will fulfill the prerequisite: Click for info on: BIOL 171, 171L, 172, & 172L.

  • One academic year of general physics with lab.

  • Non-calculus physics.  Mechanics, wave motion, heat.  Introduction to experimental analysis, physical observation and measurement, experiments on conservation laws, fluid friction, oscillations.  Must also include electricity, magnetism, optics, modern physics, electric and magnetic fields, DC and AC circuitry.

  • Laboratory course work to accompany lecture courses.
*For University of Hawaiʻi course work that will fulfill the prerequisite: Click for info on: 151, 151L, 152, & 152L.

  • One academic year of general chemistry with lab.

  • Basic principles of chemistry, including stoichiometry.  Introduction to solution phase chemistry.  Gas phase chemistry.  Thermodynamics, including enthalpies of formation and reaction.  Atomic structure, periodic trends, chemical bonding, molecular structure.

  • Laboratory course work to accompany lecture courses.

*For University of Hawaiʻi course work that will fulfill the prerequisite: Click for info on: 161, 161L, 162, & 162L or CHEM 171 & 171L.

  • One academic year of organic chemistry with lab.

  • Molecular structure, stereochemistry, spectroscopy, mechanisms, reactions, and synthesis of organic compounds.

  • Laboratory course work to accompany lecture courses.

*For University of Hawaiʻi course work that will fulfill the prerequisite: Click for info on: CHEM 272, 272L, 273, & 273L.

  • One course in biochemistry (no lab required)

  • Function and composition of biological substances and their metabolic transformation in animals, plants, microorganisms.  Molecular basis of living processes in bacteria, plants, and animals; emphasis on metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.

*For University of Hawaiʻi course work that will fulfill the prerequisite: Click for info on: BIOL 402 or Click for info on: BIOC 441.

  • Anatomy

  • Calculus

  • Cell and Molecular Biology

  • Genetics

  • Immunology

  • Microbiology

  • Physiology

  • Statistics

JABSOM Essential Functions Policy:

Please click on the following link to access the JABSOM Policy on Essential Functions Required for the MD Program for Admissions, Continuation, and Graduation and Disability Accommodation.