Located in Pasadena, northeast of downtown Los Angeles, California, Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine gears its mission towards patient care, leveraging its six hospital locations in Southern California to achieve its goals. In addition, Kaiser Permanente pledged to waive all medical school tuition fees for its first five classes. This fee waiver combined with a growing reputation for excellence has made Kaiser Permanente one of the most competitive schools to get into in the country.


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Article Contents
4 min read

Mission Available Programs Academic Curriculum Available Courses Application Timeline Admission Statistics Eligibility Tuition And Debt Financial Aid Required Courses Selection Factors Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine Interview Format Acceptance and Waitlist Information Contact Information FAQs

Our Mission

To provide a world-class medical education that ignites a passion for learning, a desire to serve, and an unwavering commitment to improve the health and well-being of patients and communities.

Available Programs

In addition to the MD program, Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine offers a variety of medical degree opportunities. Additional Master's and doctoral degrees are offered in contractual collaboration with other schools in Southern California, however, interested applicants must apply to both universities separately and be approved. Here’re the options:

Academic Curriculum

Kaiser Permanente's unique curriculum starts with an early immersion in the first year and ends with residence preparation in the fourth year. 

Looking for more info on Med Schools in California? Check out this video!

Available Courses

Kaiser Permanente's unique curriculum starts with an early immersion in the first year and ends with residence preparation in the fourth year.

Application Timeline

Admission Statistics

The admission statistics for Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine's inaugural class are as follows.

  • Overall Admissions Rate: 0.65%
  • In-state Admissions Rate: 0.70%
  • Out-of-state Admissions Rate: 0.60%
  • Median MCAT: 517
  • Median GPA : 3.85
  • Class size: 50

Eligibility

According to the school's website, Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine shall consider applications from United States citizens, Green Card holders/Permanent residents, and DACA students. Kaiser Permanente does not consider applications from International students. Interested students must have a bachelor's degree from a university or college in the United States or Canada with full accreditation.

Tuition And Fees

The annual tuition for students after the first five classes will be approximately $61,494, including health insurance costs and living expenses.

Financial Aid

Kaiser Permanente promises to give excellent financial resources to enable Kaiser Students to discover and evaluate their eligibility for medical school scholarships, grants, and loans to alleviate the financial burden of medical school beyond tuition. Kaiser Permanente management board also encourages all new students to apply for the scholarships offered by donors and philanthropists. The financial aid website will provide more information to interested students.

Required Courses

Kaiser Permanente Medical School strongly asserts that interested candidates must complete certain medical school prerequisites necessary to ensure a breadth of knowledge. . The courses include:

  • Humanities (such as Philosophy, Literature, History, English, Arts).
  • Physics and Practical Physics: one academic session.
  • Inorganic or General Chemistry with Laboratory Chemistry: one academic session/two or three-quarters semesters.
  • General Biology with Practical Biology: one academic session.
  • Social or Behavioral Science (examples: Sociology, Psychology, Ethics Studies, Economics, Anthropology, etc.): one or one-quarter semester. 

Recommended Courses 

Kaiser Permanente also suggests completing the following courses:

Selection Factors

Kaiser Permanente Medical School does not have any minimum requirement for MCAT scores and GPA. However, based on their admission statistics, the mean MCAT and GPA scores are very competitive. Based on the school's small class size, it's obvious that Kaiser Permanente's selection process will be rigorous and selective, as with many medical schools in California. While having a high score will be vital to getting in, even high grades won’t guarantee you admission and you will need make sure you have a holistic, well-rounded application to get into Kaiser Permanente.

Letters Of Recommendation

As one of the primary application requirements, every candidate shall present letters of recommendation via AMCAS. Letters of recommendation should highlight one or more of these fields and you should make sure that all of the fields are covered by at least one letter writer:

It is a good idea to share this list with your letter writers. You can even suggest areas that you think they can comment on, that way ensuring you have all of the categories covered by different writers.

Applicants can obtain letters of recommendation in two ways:

  • Three to six individual letters written by professionals acquainted with your personal attributes and academic performance.
  • A committee letter, which incorporates remarks from different recommenders, written by a pre-health advisor or pre-health committee.

Extracurriculars

Premedical Experience

Kaiser Permanente Secondary Essay

There are three mandatory and one optional questions in the secondary essays:

Understanding how to answer secondary essay prompts can be challenging. In the Kaiser Permanente essays you will have very limited space to fully answer the questions, so make every word count! These questions are the time to highlight your unique strengths, explain any potential weaknesses, and solidify why you will make an excellent physician. Remember that Kaiser Permanente is looking for holistic, well-rounded medical students, not just those with perfect academic records.

Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine Interview Format 

All Kaiser Permanente medical school interviews are held virtually. Kaiser Medical School employs a combination of the standard one-on-one interview format and the MMI format. The MMI questions can be more difficult than the regular one-on-one interview, but with proper preparation you can be ready for any possible MMI question type.

Acceptance and Waitlist Information

If you plan to matriculate, you are required to commit to enroll (CTE), drop out from all waitlists in other schools, and forward a medical school letter of intent to the school's admission office. These required letters of intent will be accepted from April 30 to May 30.

Contact Information

Admissions Website

Contact Page

FAQs

1. IS KAISER PERMANENTE MEDICAL SCHOOL ACCREDITED?

Kaiser Permanente has attained the highest possible accreditation for a new medical school.

2. IS KAISER PERMANENTE A PRIVATE OR PUBLIC INSTITUTION?

Kaiser Permanente Medical School is a private nonprofit school.

3. IS KAISER PERMANENTE REALLY FREE?

Kaiser Permanente announced that it will offer full scholarships to its first five classes. However, classes after these first five cohorts will pay the full tuition.

4. WHAT DOES KAISER PERMANENTE CONSIDER IN POTENTIAL CANDIDATES FOR ITS MEDICAL SCHOOL?

The medical institution is looking for students who are dedicated to its mission and are creative, curious, intelligent, and capable of upholding the values of the medical profession such as inpatient care contexts.

5. DO I NEED TO COMPLETE EVERY PREREQUISITE COURSE BEFORE APPLYING?

No. Although Kaiser Permanente shall receive applications with pending prerequisite courses, every prerequisite course should be finished before beginning your Year One at Kaiser Medical School.

6. WHAT MCAT AND GPA SCORES FOR DO I NEED FOR ADMISSION?

Kaiser Permanente has no minimum requirements for GPA and MCAT measures. However, the latest matriculants had an average MCAT of 516 and average GPA of 3.87.

7. WILL STUDENTS BE ABLE TO DEFER ENTRY IF THEY ARE NOT READY TO ENROLL?

Kaiser Permanente will consider students who want to defer entry if they are facing extenuating situations.

8. HOW CAN I APPLY?

Interested candidates will need to complete the AMCAS application and fulfill their medical school requirements such as presenting MCAT scores, submitting their letters of recommendation, and transcripts. Candidates will also have to complete the school's secondary application.

9. WHAT IS THE INTERVIEW FORMAT?

Kaiser Medical School employs an all-virtual combination of the standard one-on-one interview format and the MMI format.

To your success, 

Your friends at BeMo 

BeMo Academic Consulting

Disclaimer: BeMo does not endorse or affiliate with any universities, colleges, or official test administrators. The content has been developed based on the most recent publicly available data provided from the official university website. However, you should always check the statistics/requirements with the official school website for the most up to date information. You are responsible for your own results.


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