The University of Kentucky College of Medicine only accepts AP coursework in biology and chemistry with a minimum score of 4. We still encourage you to strengthen your knowledge through courses taken in college.

We recommend that you submit no more than five letters. If your school attaches a committee letter, it counts as three required letters.

March 31, 2020 - Given the unprecedented circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine has carefully reviewed its perspective on Pass/Fail grading. To alleviate additional stressors surrounding educational modifications we have decided to accept Pass/Fail grading for prerequisite coursework for Spring Semester 2020. 

We strongly recommend students who are interested in medicine to prepare for the MCAT test as early as possible and take the test in your junior year (for undergraduate students) or one and half year ahead of the entry term (for non-traditional students). For example, if you plan to apply for cycle 2024, try to take the test in January 2022 so that you will have sufficient time to retake the test if your test score is not ideal.

Our medical degree programs are competitive. As we adopt rolling admissions policy, we strongly recommend applicants to submit and complete your application as EARLY as you can.

As seats become available, the Alternate Pool Subcommittee will convene and review applicant files making selections to fill the vacancies. In compliance with the AMCAS Choose Your Medical School Tool recommendations our deadline for Commit to Enroll is three weeks prior to matriculation. The offers can be made to applicants in our alternate pool as late as the orientation week (usually last week of July).

Please contact University of Kentucky Office of Registrar for Residency Policy. 

The Kentucky Integrated Curriculum, which combines instruction and learning of the basic and clinical sciences, is the same at all College of Medicine locations (RPLP students complete their first two years of medical school in Lexington). 

Students applying to any UK College of Medicine Campus will designate their campus choice on the secondary application. Interviews will take place at the selected campus, and admission offers will be for a seat at that selected campus. Prospective applicants are encouraged to attend open houses and take advantage of opportunities to learn about the different options prior to submitting their application. More information on the application processes for the University of Kentucky College of Medicine campuses is available on this website under How to Apply. 

Students applying to the UK College of Medicine will be screened for interview using the same academic criteria and personal qualities across all campus sites. Detailed interview process description is available on this website under How to Apply. 

Regional Interview Advisory Committees will collate information on candidates they interview. The final decision for admission to all campuses of the UK College of Medicine will be made by the Admissions Committee in Lexington. 

Yes. The medical degree for all UK College of Medicine campuses will be conferred by the University of Kentucky.

We offer an elective, Introduction to Clinical Research, during the first and second years of medical school. It is one of the most popular elective courses and serves as a gateway to further research opportunities. All students completing that course are encourage to join the Professional Student Mentored Research Program, which pairs students with faculty in areas of research interest. Every year, students also apply for the Professional Student Mentored Research Fellowship, a competitive clinical and translational science program that provides a $3,000 stipend for research proposals. Approximately thirty medical students are accepted each year. Overall, approximately two-thirds of student participate in research during medical school.

The UK College of Medicine has numerous opportunities for outreach. The Salvation Army Clinic is a free clinic run by our medical students. The students hold the leadership roles and direct clinical operations to improve the health and well-being of the uninsured population in Lexington. Student volunteers from all medical school classes participate in the clinic management and care delivery on Tuesday and Thursday evenings throughout the year. Each medical school class also has two community service chairs who engage the class in a variety of additional community service opportunities throughout the academic year. All UK College of Medicine students complete one clinical rotation in one of Kentucky’s Area Health Education Centers (AHEC). During this rotation, students live in one of the rural Kentucky communities, working at one of more than 300 clinical facilities across the state. For those students interested in global outreach, they can select to do additional course work and earn recognition with a global health concentration (see below). Many students will participate in the Shoulder-to-Shoulder brigades where a large group of faculty, students, and community members provide care at a year-round health clinic in Santo Domingo, Ecuador every spring break.

Our students may take the Global Health Elective during the Core Principles Phase of the curriculum (first and second years), participate in service and educational activities, and take an international clerkship elective during the Advanced Development Phase of the curriculum (fourth year). Through the completion of the curriculum, students will develop a broad worldview on community health and the basic principles of international health care systems. 

Our students may take the Global Health Elective during the Core Principles Phase of the curriculum (first and second years), participate in service and educational activities, and take an international clerkship elective during the Advanced Development Phase of the curriculum (fourth year). Through the completion of the curriculum, students will develop a broad worldview on community health and the basic principles of international health care systems.   The Kentucky Integrated Curriculum incorporates approaches to care for broad populations throughout the four years. As rural communities, particularly Appalachia, are one of the areas of greatest health need in our state, it is one of the primary focus areas. All UK College of Medicine students complete one clinical rotation in one of Kentucky’s Area Health Education Centers (AHEC). During this rotation our students live in one of the rural Kentucky communities, working at one of more than 300 clinical facilities across the state. We are very successful in preparing our students to practice in rural areas. In fact, the college is in the top 10 percent of medical schools in the nation in terms of the percentage of our graduates who practice in rural areas (approximately 20 percent). Students who want a more intensive exposure to rural medicine should consider applying to the Morehead Campus Morehead Campus Rural Physician Leadership Program. 

A trauma surgeon, a diagnostic radiologist, an internist, and a pediatrician assisted the anatomy faculty in designing the Clinical Anatomy and Radiology course. The course provides students with the foundations of anatomy through prosection (cadavers dissected by an experienced anatomist). Students can examine and work with those cadavers to ensure an understanding of the three-dimensional anatomy. Dissection is a difficult skill, one that students cannot master during an anatomy course, so most will spend hours on tasks with little educational value, and often remove key structures on accident. The American College of Surgeons, the Association of Program Directors in Surgery, and the Association for Surgical Education recommend a dissection experience in operative anatomy at the end of medical school for students entering surgical residencies. Those surgical groups do not feel that a first-year dissection experience is necessary for future surgeons. UK College of Medicine offers a fourth-year anatomy elective for students, so that they can truly master surgical (or radiologic) anatomy. Our students focus on the area of the future practice. For example, the aspiring neurosurgeon will dissect the brain and spinal cord, the ophthalmologist the eye and surrounding tissues, the cardiothoracic surgeon the chest, etc. 

We have an extensive listing of medical student organizations, too many to provide a succinct list.  We have students who serve on all the major College of Medicine committees to provide a student voice to all impactful decisions in the program and across the institution:

• Admissions Committee
• Curriculum Committee
• Professional Code Committee
• Wellness In Training Committee

The college also supports several student-run organizations:

• Medical Student Government Association (MSGA) is the governing entity for the medical student body. 
• Resilient  has made wellness a priority for everyone through programming to prevent burnout, intervene for students having difficulty, and destigmatize mental health conditions. 
• The UK Salvation Army Clinic is a free clinic run by our medical students.

Additionally, students operate the local sections of several national organizations, which provide an opportunity for leadership positions at a national level:

• American Association of Medical Colleges Organization of Student Representatives (OSR) represents medical students nationwide and provides an active role for students in advancing the AAMC mission to improve the nation’s health.
• American Medical Association/Kentucky Medical Association Medical Student Section (MSS) strives to be the medical students' leading voice for improving medical education and advocating for the future of medicine.
• American Medical Student Association (AMSA) is a student-governed, national organization committed to representing the concerns of physicians-in-training. 
• American Medical Women’s Association Advocates (AMWA) is an organization that functions at the local, national, and international level to advance women in medicine and improve women's health.
• Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is committed to supporting current and future underrepresented minority medical students, addressing the needs of underserved communities, and increasing the number of clinically excellent, culturally competent, and socially conscious physicians.

Almost every medical specialty has an interest group to provide students with insight into the various fields of medicine. These groups hold regular meetings to educate students on the specialty and often provide unique learning opportunities to develop skills required for those specialties. Various local clubs provide opportunities for students to explore different interests within the broad field of medicine. Here is a list of just a few:

• Business in Medicine
• Catholic Medical Association
• ChefMed
• Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA)
• Global Health Alliance
• Medical Spanish Interest Group
• Medicine and Exercise
• Medical Students for Choice
• Military Medicine
• Ultrasound Interest Group
• Wilderness Medicine Interest Group

The Lexington Campus enrolls 130 students (2024-2025 admissions cycle).

The program's mission is to increase the number of physicians who are trained to provide high-quality health care and leadership, who are knowledgeable about community health, and who have an interest in practicing in rural areas of the Commonwealth and beyond.

Traditional medical training is performed at tertiary care centers, emphasizing treatment of critically ill patients with advanced diseases. The RPLP offers an alternative mode of training, emphasizing commonly seen diseases, outpatient and continuity care, rural and community health issues, and cooperative arrangements with other hospitals. These topics are critical to practicing in a rural area.

Understanding of rural health issues is also essential for those interested in missionary work or medical practice outside the United States. Due to its smaller size, the RPLP also emphasizes developing close relationships with faculty and the community.

Students in the RPLP complete their core principles (pre-clerkship) phase in Lexington. In the application (clerkship) phase, clinical faculty of UK College of Medicine based on-site in Morehead and surrounding communities will serve as attendings and preceptors in providing clinical instruction. 

The clinical rotations primarily occur at St. Claire Regional Medical Center. The facility is a 159-bed rural referral hospital located in Morehead, one hour from Lexington, in northeast Kentucky. St. Claire Regional has over 50 years of experience in training medical students, as a teaching affiliate of the University of Kentucky. 

The hospital has an ICU and critical care capability. There is an active internal medicine hospitalist service with medical specialties available, including nephrology, oncology, cardiology, pulmonology, and gastroenterology. Students are involved in both inpatient and outpatient psychiatry, assist with deliveries, and work with general surgeons and subspecialists. In addition to outpatient clinics in surrounding counties, the hospital maintains home health services, home hospice, and palliative care. Other teaching sites include pediatrics practices in Mount Sterling, South Shore, and Maysville; family medicine sites in the region; and neurology in Richmond. 

The RPLP program on the Morehead Campus enrolls 12 students.

With smaller class sizes, students attending the regional campus at Morehead can expect small group and one-to-one interaction with their on-site faculty during the application (clerkship) and advanced development (final) phases of the curriculum.

Basic science and clinical faculty teaching classes at the Bowling Green Campus will hold academic appointments through the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. These faculty will provide lectures and laboratory sessions, and conduct clinical case presentations, small group learning sessions, and various flipped classroom interactive sessions. Clinical faculty of UK College of Medicine based on-site will serve as attendings and preceptors in providing clinical instruction. 

Basic science and clinical faculty in Bowling Green and Lexington will present lectures. All lectures are recorded and will be accessible to all UK College of Medicine students at all campuses online. 

With smaller class sizes, students attending the regional campus at Bowling Green can expect small group style learning and one-to-one interaction with their faculty in Bowling Green and Lexington. 

The Bowling Green campus enrolls 30 students per year.

Basic science and clinical faculty teaching classes at the Northern Kentucky Campus will hold academic appointments through the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. These faculty will provide lectures and laboratory sessions, and conduct clinical case presentations, small group learning sessions, and various flipped classroom interactive sessions. Clinical faculty of UK College of Medicine based on-site will serve as attendings and preceptors in providing clinical instruction. 

Basic science and clinical faculty in Lexington will present lectures which will be live-streamed to the Northern Kentucky Campus. In addition, taped replays of lectures will be accessible to all UK College of Medicine students at all campuses online. 

The Northern Kentucky campus will enroll 35 students per year. 

With smaller class sizes, students attending the regional campus at Northern Kentucky can expect small group and one-to-one interaction with their on-site faculty.