University of the Incarnate Word BS/DO Program
Does UIW's Direct Admit really waive the MCAT, and what does it take to keep the seat?
Contents
Texas · Direct Admit Program (High School Direct Admit, DO track)
At a glance
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
Medical school years
Program scholarship
The University of the Incarnate Word offers a High School Direct Admit track into its School of Osteopathic Medicine. It has an unusual feature worth naming up front, and an easy misreading to clear away. The feature: for students who hold the continuation standard, UIW’s Health Professions page lists the MCAT requirement as waived. The misreading: UIW is explicit that this is not an accelerated program, so plan on the full length, a minimum of three and a half undergraduate years and then four years of D.O. The seat is conditional. This page keeps the entry bar and the continuation bar distinct, because they are different numbers doing different jobs.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”You apply from high school and, if admitted, are accepted to UIWSOM on a conditional basis, with a priority application deadline of April 1. From there you complete your undergraduate degree at UIW and move into the four-year D.O. program. Because the program is not accelerated, the total runs longer than the compressed six or seven-year paths elsewhere in this directory. There are interviews at both ends: admission may involve an interview with the Direct Admit committee, and continuation requires a successful interview with School of Osteopathic Medicine faculty in the spring before you would matriculate.
What gets you in
Section titled “What gets you in”The published entrance floor is a 3.7 high-school GPA, held not just overall but in high-school math and in high-school science each. The official pages do not publish an SAT or ACT floor for the track, which is a fair thing to ask about. That 3.7 is the getting-in number, and it is deliberately higher than the number you must hold later, which trips families up. Keep the two apart.
Keeping the seat, and the waived MCAT
Section titled “Keeping the seat, and the waived MCAT”To hold the conditional seat, you must maintain an overall 3.5 GPA and a 3.5 math-and-science GPA each academic year, across fall, spring, and summer. For students who clear that bar, UIW’s Health Professions page lists the MCAT requirement as waived for the Direct Admit track. That is a real advantage, and it is worth stating precisely: the waiver is tied to holding the continuation standard, not handed out regardless. So the honest reading is not “no exam, no strings.” It is “hold the 3.5 every year, and the exam falls away.” Given how much weight this carries, confirming the current waiver terms directly with UIW is a reasonable step before you commit.
Where this leaves you
Section titled “Where this leaves you”This track fits a student genuinely drawn to osteopathic medicine who can enter on a 3.7 and then hold a 3.5 in every academic year, math and science included. The reward is a conditional D.O. seat with the MCAT lifted for those who keep the standard, a meaningful relief. The trade is a full-length program, not a shortcut, and a continuation bar you carry the whole way. Whether you are the student or the parent, the question worth sitting with is not whether the entry number is reachable. It is whether osteopathic medicine is the chosen path, and whether the yearly standard is one the student is ready to hold.
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