Pennsylvania · Accelerated Premedical-Medical Program

At a glance

DegreeMD (Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University)

Structure7 years (accelerated), finish early option

ApplyAs a high school senior

Open toOpen nationally

Annual cohortNot published on official page reviewed

GPA floorNot published

Test floorSAT 1470 / ACT 34

MCAT (to keep the seat)Yes, 508; no subsection less than 127

GPA to keep the seatStudents must perform at an A/B level in all courses and maintain a 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) level, particularly in the sciences; if performance falls below this they could be asked to withdraw from the program. The MCAT threshold to continue is a minimum composite of 508 (>=127 in each of the three science/behavior sections, >=125 CARS).

Taking the MCATTaking the MCAT does not forfeit the seat

InterviewYes

Application deadlineOctober 13

InternationalEligible

A BS/MD seat is conditional, not a diploma. See what it takes to keep the seat, and how the continuation terms compare across every program.

Cost and aid

Undergraduate cost and medical-school cost are separate, and a combined seat is not automatically cheaper. These are the published figures. Confirm the current year with the program before you rely on a number.

Undergraduate years

Tuition (in-state)$20,468/year tuition (2025-2026, Penn State University Park, lower-division PA resident). PMM students pay the regular Penn State University Park rate for their first three years; program cost page states 'students pay the regular University tuition rate' and does not itself publish a figure.

Tuition (out-of-state)$42,860/year tuition (2025-2026, Penn State University Park, lower-division non-resident). Same general PSU rate PMM students pay for the undergrad years.

Merit aidPMM students are explicitly NOT eligible for Schreyer Honors College tuition scholarships because they complete only three undergraduate years at Penn State. No program-specific merit scholarship is published.

Medical school years

Tuition$69,195 tuition (2025-2026, Sidney Kimmel Medical College MD, per official COA sheet) plus $1,097 library & tech fees; first-year on-campus total cost of attendance listed at $96,404. PMM students pay the regular SKMC rate for the final four years.

In-state rate grantedN/A - SKMC is a private medical school; the COA sheet lists a single tuition figure with no resident/non-resident distinction, so there is no in-state rate to grant.

Program scholarship

Program scholarshipNo

DetailsNo program-specific scholarship. Program cost page states PMM students pay the regular Penn State and regular SKMC tuition rates, and are explicitly excluded from Schreyer Honors College tuition scholarships. No dedicated BS/MD award is published.

What the program does not publish (and what to ask)

No published GPA floor. The screen is holistic. The admitted pool sets the bar.

Sources and verification

Verified May 20, 2026 by Rory Merritt, MD against 7 official sources. Where a program does not publish something, we say so plainly rather than guess. How we verify.

• science.psu.edu /premed med bsmd
• science.psu.edu /admission requirements
• science.psu.edu /academics and cost
• bulletins.psu.edu /premedical medical bs
• psu.edu /tuition costs
• jefferson.edu /SKMC 2526 COA
• science.psu.edu /frequently asked questions

Knowing the program is the easy part.

Whether it fits the student is the hard part. Tell a former Assistant Dean where things stand and get the one honest next step. Free, no odds, no pitch.

See Where You Stand →Building the program list? The Match, $500 →

See something wrong?

If you are an administrator, a current student, or a family that knows this program from the inside, email rorymerritt@bridge2md.com. We check every correction against the program's official source before we update.

This is a seven-year path: three years at Penn State, then four years of medical school at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. It is one of the faster routes to an MD, and unlike many combined programs it carries real conditions you must keep meeting along the way. This page lays out what it requires, what it does not, and what Penn State does not publish, so that whether you are the student deciding whether to apply or the parent helping, you are working from facts rather than forum rumor.

How the seven years work

You spend the first three years at Penn State’s University Park campus, then move to Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia for four years of medical school. The B.S. is awarded after your first year of medical school, in year four. The M.D. comes in year seven. You apply once, as a high-school senior, through the Common Application or MyPennState. For Fall 2027 entry, complete applications were due by mid-October 2026. Finalists interview at SKMC in January, and offers go out in mid-February. High-school graduates are not eligible, and there is no transfer route in. The decision about a medical-school seat is made now, at seventeen.

What gets an application read, and what does not

Strong numbers get an application read here. They do not, on their own, win one of the roughly twenty-five seats. The published floor to be considered is a 1470 SAT or 32 ACT, earned on a single test date, plus a strong GPA and a rigorous course load. Read that floor carefully: it is a minimum to be looked at, not a likely-admit line. Penn State notes that accepted students have historically averaged closer to a 1570 SAT. Clearing the minimum gets you into the pool, not into the program.

With a holistic read and far more qualified applicants than seats, what separates files is not who looks the most impressive. It is who is the most credible. A claim that does not hold up does more damage than a modest, true one, because a committee betting a guaranteed medical seat on a high-school senior has every reason to look closely at each one. The work is to make the true version of your story clear and easy for a reviewer to believe and to champion.

Keeping the seat

This program is more conditional than many, and the conditions are stated plainly. Your science and math GPA must be at least 3.5 every single semester, and your non-science GPA must reach at least 3.5 by the end of year three. Students are expected to perform at an A/B level in all courses. The University Bulletin states that D grades or lower are unacceptable and will usually result in dismissal, and that students not performing at the 3.5 level, particularly in the sciences, could be asked to withdraw from the program. This is not a seat you secure once and forget. It is one you hold by staying on standard each term.

There is also an MCAT bar. To matriculate to SKMC you must reach a 508 composite, with at least 127 in each of the three science sections and at least 125 in CARS. One thing worth saying clearly, because rumors run the other way for combined programs in general: no official Penn State page states that registering for or taking the MCAT forfeits your seat. The MCAT here is a requirement to advance, not a trap.

A proven, accelerated path

This is one of the oldest combined programs of its kind, running since 1963, with more than a thousand graduates. Its appeal is straightforward: it is fast and it is established. You reach the MD in seven years instead of eight, and you do it on a track that has worked for sixty years. That track record is a genuine reason to consider it. It is also a reason to be honest with yourself about the trade. The speed comes from compression, three undergraduate years carrying a pre-med load and a standing 3.5 science requirement, with no slack year built in. A student who would thrive on that pace and that structure is well served here. A student who needs room to explore before committing may find the same structure constraining.

Where this leaves you

This program suits a student who already knows, for real and tested reasons, that medicine is the path, who can hold a 3.5 in the sciences semester after semester, and who actively wants the speed of a seven-year track rather than feeling pushed into it. The trade is a very early commitment and a demanding, compressed undergraduate run in exchange for reaching the MD a year sooner on a long-proven pathway.

It is not the right fit for a student who is genuinely still unsure, who needs the breathing room of a normal four-year college to test the decision, or whose certainty is mostly someone else’s. The honest question, whether you are the student or the parent reading this, is not only whether you can get in. It is whether this is the student’s own decision, made with open eyes, and whether the every-semester 3.5 in the sciences is a standard you want to live under for three years. If it is, this is one of the most established versions of the BS/MD path there is. If it is not, there is no shame in saying so now, while saying so costs nothing.