The Early Medical Professional Schools Acceptance Program

The Early Medical Professional Schools Acceptance Program is an elite program for 10 mature graduating seniors (and an additional 3 spaces in the Schools of Dentistry and Optometry). UAB's program increasingly attracts applicants not just from Alabama but from across the Southeast and nation. In contrast to the BS/MD programs in private colleges, EMSAP students pay no tuition.

Requirements: 30 ACT/1320 SAT

The minimal test scores recommended to apply for the program are 30 ACT and/or 1320 SAT. Those admitted to the program have an average SAT score of 1450, and ACT score of 32. The majority of the students completed math and science AP courses in high school. An entering class typically consists of National Merit Finalists and students with perfect SAT scores.

Meaningful Connections

Students in the program develop a close bond as they progress through their undergraduate coursework. The director, Gregory Pence, organizes and conducts small seminars and stays in close contact with the students. Pence teaches Medical Ethics in the Medical School, and has routinely developed close relationships with students spanning 8-12 years.

Award Winners

On average, 2 of the participants are awarded scholarships at choice private medical schools each year. The students also routinely win state scholarships for Phi Kappa Phi and for UAB Medical School. Interestingly, UAB's first scholarship winners for the Rhodes, Marshall, USA Today Academic. All-American, Soros, and Goldwater awards were each participants. Last year, Valerie Gribben made USA Today's top academic team. The previous year, graduates won 3 of 22 Alpha Lambda Delta national scholarships to pay for medical tuition.

Career Paths

EMSAP students have recently been chief residents in surgery, psychiatry, and medicine at UAB. They are residents at UAB in medicine, psychiatry, rehabilitation medicine, and pediatrics. They entered residencies in surgery and neurology at Harvard, radiology at Yale, and pediatrics and medicine at Penn. Dentistry and Optometry began participating in 2007-2008.