The University of North Texas Health Science Center Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine is not one of the easiest medical schools to get into. Since it is a state-funded, public university the school is required to fill 90% of its medical school openings with Texas residents, with the other 10% divided among out-of-state and international students, making those spots very competitive. Still, if you are a Texas resident, then you can benefit from the central location of the campus in Fort Worth, while also only paying $13,078 in yearly tuition, making the UNTHSC/TCOM one of the cheapest medical schools in the US.
This article will go through what you need to do to get into UNTHSC/TCOM if you are an in-state, out-of-state, or international applicant and give you tips on how to improve your DO school application.
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Mission Statement
“Create solutions for a healthier community by preparing tomorrow’s patient-centered physicians and scientists and advancing the continuum of medical knowledge, discovery, and osteopathic health care.”
Wondering if there is a super fast way to get into medical school? Watch this video:
The UNTHSC/TCOM strives to bring new and innovative technologies into the realm of medical science and is a leader in helping students learn valuable skills to meet the demands of medical care in the 21st century and beyond.
Admissions Statistics
Overall Acceptance Success Rate: 24%
Out-of-state Acceptance Success Rate: 1.3%
In-state Acceptance Success Rate: 23%
Average GPA of Accepted Students: 3.71
Average MCAT score of Accepted Students: 507.2
The University of North Texas Health Science Center Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine does not have an MCAT or GPA cut-off for prospective students, so anyone who is wondering how to get into medical school with a low GPA should consider this school.
Eligibility
The UNTHSC/TCOM is a state-funded school and like most medical schools in Texas, it is legally required to reserve a majority of its medical school spots for Texas residents: a full 90%. The other 10% of spaces are reserved for out-of-state, so it is not among the most Canadian friendly US medical schools.
However, the school does accept international students or international medical graduates under certain conditions. They must be US citizens or have permanent residency in the US to apply. International students who have not taken any credits or courses in the US or Canada cannot apply. But any credits earned at a school outside the US or Canada must be transferred and listed on a transcript from an accredited US or Canadian school to be considered part of your GPA score.
Selection Factors
MCAT and GPA
The UNTHSC/TCOM does not have a minimum medical school GPA requirement for its applicants. Neither does it have a minimum MCAT score cut-off. The school takes a holistic admissions approach and considers several factors when determining a candidate’s application, aside from the standard MCAT or GPA score.
These factors range from geographic and socioeconomic background to whether you are a first-generation medical school student and your choice of extracurriculars for medical school, among others. The school does consider standard medical school requirements, such as your entire academic history (high school, undergraduate, and graduate school), interview performance, and medical school recommendation letters.
The admissions committee reviews each element of your application and assigns you a score (the grading scale is kept private). Afterward, the committee sends these scores to the dean of the school, who either approves the application or puts it on hold.
Coursework and Undergrad
The UNTHSC/TCOM requires all applicants to have at least 90 completed credits from an accredited university or college in the US or Canada or three years of a four-year bachelor’s degree. However, students with a full bachelor’s degree will be given preference during the admissions process.
The educational background of successful matriculants to UNTHSC/TCOM is similar to that of students in other osteopathic schools, which encourage non-traditional medical school applicants, like mature or international students, to apply. A majority of first year students had a science background (79%), while 21% of recent graduates figured out how to get into medical school without a science background. One fifth of first year students (20%) had already earned a graduate degree when they entered the school, but if you are worried about the question, “do you need a master’s or PhD to apply to medical school?”, the school does not make having a graduate degree a requirement.
Prerequisites and Recommended Courses
The UNTHSC/TCOM has several medical school prerequisites applicants must complete before applying, mostly academic requirements. The school lists the following courses as its required coursework:
TMDSAS Activities
Being located in Texas, UNTHSC/TCOM uses the Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Services (TMDSAS), unlike many medical schools in the US, which use the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). All candidates must submit their application through this service.
The TMDSAS Activities Section is where you would enter academic and non-academic achievements, professional awards or leadership roles, leisure activities or hobbies, or anything that demonstrates your commitment to community service and the health care profession. Note that while this section has similarities to the AMCAS Work and Activities Section, they are not identical by any means, and if you are applying to schools using these different forms, it’s important to notice and respect the specific requirements for each one.
The UNTHSC/TCOM does not explicitly state whether they show preference to any particular attribute. The school uses a long list of criteria to judge applications and features many distinct categories like geographic location, diversity, and family attendance of medical school. Because it is a state-funded school in Texas, the university is required by law to fill 90% of its annual 230 seats with Texas residents, which is the only stated candidate preference.
Personal Statements/Essays
The TMDSAS has several essay components, including the TMDSAS personal statement and TMDSAS personal characteristics essay. Again, these are not identical to the AMCAS personal statement.
The TMDSAS personal statement asks you to explain why you want to pursue a career in medicine, and also asks you to list specific experiences that pushed you toward osteopathic medicine.
The formatting requirements for the TMDSAS personal statement include:
- Writing the statement directly in the TMDSAS online portal
- Limiting the statement to 5000 characters
- Editing and proofreading the statement before sending it since the online portal does not have a spelling or grammar checker
The personal characteristics essay is intended to get you to write about personal traits that could help you and fellow students learn from each other. The personal characteristics essay is supposed to be a response to the prompt and is limited to 2500 characters, including spaces:
Prompt: Learning from others is enhanced in educational settings that include individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Please describe your personal characteristics (background, talents, skills, etc.) or experiences that would add to the educational experience of others.
Secondary Essays
Recommendation Letters
The TMDSAS makes all students submit three letters of recommendation, referred to as letters of evaluation.
The letters must be from either:
- The applicant’s premedical/health professions advisory committee
Or, if not applicable
- Three individuals familiar with the applicant in any capacity (professional, academic, personal), but the school recommends that at least two of the letters be from academics, former instructors, or an academic advisor, and one letter from a registered DO physician
Interview Format
Acceptance and Waitlist Information
The school does put some potential matriculants on “hold,” which is similar to a waitlist, rather than rejecting them outright. The reasons for being put on hold are not always to do with the applicant. Sometimes, the limited number of open seats (230) makes it difficult to admit even qualified candidates, which is why they are put on hold until a space opens up.
Unfortunately, the school does not make clear how long students will remain on hold or the reasons for it (e.g., limited space, weak recommendation letters, low GPA). Still, you can be proactive while you wait. If there is no update from the school in a few weeks, you might want to brush up on how to get off a medical school waitlist and consider sending a follow-up medical school letter of intent to demonstrate your dedication, since “commitment to the field of study” is one factor the school considers when reviewing your application. But you should check with the office of Admissions first before you send any unsolicited materials, which some schools discourage.
Other times, an applicant may face med school rejection for non-academic reasons (late submission, poor interview, poorly written personal statement), which are areas you can improve upon when you apply again. Thankfully, the school has a long history of encouraging unsuccessful applicants to reapply. However, it does not tell applicants why their application was rejected, so students must review every element or seek a medical school advisor who can help identify the strengths and weaknesses of their applications.
There are some concrete steps, suggested by the school itself, you can take to improve your application, if you decide to apply. But the school cautions that taking steps to improve your application does not mean it will automatically be accepted. The school suggests:
- Improving your interview skills
- Continuing or starting extracurricular activities (volunteer work, internship)
- Rewriting a personal statement
Academic performance is harder to improve since it takes years to get grades to calculate a GPA. Even though you can retake the MCAT, other aspects, like your competency in basic science courses and osteopathic medicine, will be hard to improve or change if you do not already have them. While you can reapply to UNTHSC/TCOM, rather than improving your application after you are rejected you can take steps before submitting your application to improve your chances.
Application Timeline
Processing time for all applications by the TMDSAS is between two and four weeks after you submit. UNTHSC/TCOM also has students complete a secondary, school-based application after they submit their primary application to TMDSAS. If the primary application is approved, applicants will have to go to the online UNTHSC/TCOM portal to complete the secondary application within 14 days.
To avoid any last-minute problems, it’s important to have all your application elements, including required documents, ready well in advance. You should not be scrambling to collect these a week or two before the deadline.
Tuition and Debt
In-State Tuition: $13,079
Out-of-State Tuition: $28,766
Annual In-State Fees (lab access, computer, health services): $6,640
Annual Out-of-State Fees (lab access, computer, health services): $6,640
Annual Non-Tuition Costs for All Students: $31,362
Average Level of Student Debt for Graduates: $118,537
Funding Opportunities
There are a few funding opportunities open to successful matriculants to UNTHSC/TCOM who require financial assistance.
Residency Match Rates
The UNTHSC/TCOM has a near-perfect 99% match rate for its graduates with a majority of placements in three specific fields:
- Internal medicine (52)
- Family medicine (52)
- General surgery (52)
- Pediatrics (25)
After residency, the pass rate for UNTHSC/TCOM graduates is also nearly perfect, as it reports graduates at every level of the test having the following pass rates:
- COMLEX Level 1 – 97%
- COMLEX Level 2 – 98%
- COMLEX Level 2 PE – n/a
- COMLEX Level 3 – 100%
Review of Available Programs
Dual-Degree Programs
DO/MHA
Students interested in entering management roles in the health care sector after completing their DO degree can take the dual DO/Master of Health Administration to have the necessary training. The dual-degree program gives students the education needed to manage large institutions as well as the analytical, organizational, and financial skills to manage any size of organization.
DO/MPH
A DO and Master of Public Health combined degree gives students the essential training to explore new pathways in public health while working to combat the disparities that often accompany public health initiatives. Students receive a four-year osteopathic degree and learn about different approaches to public health, so it is an ideal track for anyone who wants to become a leader in their community following graduation.
DO/PhD
The DO/PhD program is for exceptional students who want to become doctor/researchers in six to seven years. The second half of the degree is in biomedical sciences, so students receive the necessary training to pursue their own research interests while also learning about osteopathic medicine fundamentals. Students can create their own focus of study by consulting with a faculty member and then pursue those research interests to better transition into various professional fields like a medical researcher working in the private or public sector.
Detailed Academic Curriculum of the DO Program
Campus and Faculty
The entire, almost 40-acre UNTHSC/TCOM campus is located outside of the Dallas–Fort Worth area and is a blended urban and suburban campus. The Medical Education and Training building is where most of the TCOM’s classes are given with its 250-seat lecture halls. The MET building sits directly across from the Student Services building, where students can go to handle administrative issues.
Affiliated Teaching Hospitals
- JPS Health Network in Fort Worth
- Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth
- Texas Health Resources (THR) Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth
- Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Dallas
- Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi
- Medical City Fort Worth and Medical City Dallas
Research Fields
UNTHSC/TCOM has a distinguished history of innovative, groundbreaking research in several areas from forensic identification and aging to vision sciences and translational research. The school has four distinct research institutes on campus:
- Center for Forensic Identification
- Institute for Health Disparities
- Institute for Translational Research
- North Texas Eye Research Institute (NTERI)
Notable Faculty
Paul S. Saenz – DO, physician for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs
Michael R. Williams – current president of UNTHSC
David Siderovski – current chair of the UNTHSC Department of Pharmacology
TeCora Ballom – United States Assistant Surgeon General, Rear Admiral
J. D. Sheffield – DO physician, Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from Coryell County
Official Admissions Office Website
https://www.unthsc.edu/students/future-students/admissions/
Address:
3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard
Fort Worth, TX 76137
Main phone: (817) 735-2000
Admissions Office
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (817) 735-2003
Fax: (817) 735-2225
FAQs
1. Do I have to take the MCAT to get in?
Yes, to be considered for a spot in the DO program at UNTHSC/TCOM, you must submit MCAT scores no older than three years.
2. Do I need an undergraduate degree to get in?
You do not need a full bachelor’s degree to get into UNTHSC/TCOM, but you need to have completed at least 90 credits from an accredited US or Canadian college or university. On the other hand, having a full bachelor’s degree will improve your chances of getting in.
3. Does the school accept transfer students?
Yes, the school does accept transfer students as long as they transfer from an accredited university in the US or Canada.
4. Is the TMDSAS application system different from AMCAS?
The Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service is a unique system that applies only to medical, dental, veterinary, and podiatry schools in Texas. Even though it is its own system, the service has the same function as the AMCAS, in that it is a centralized service for all applicants to submit their medical school application.
5. What do I need to send to TMDSAS?
The standard TMDSAS application requires letters of evaluation, MCAT scores, GPA, transcripts, criminal background check, and a photo to be considered a complete application.
6. Do I have to be a Texas resident to get in?
You do not have to be a resident of Texas to apply to the UNTHSC/TCOM, but the school makes clear its mandate to accept 90% of Texas residents, so getting into the remaining 10% of spots in the school is competitive.
7. Can I reapply to the school if I’m not accepted?
Yes, the school encourages unsuccessful applicants to reapply the next year, or whenever they decide to reapply. Students who are placed on hold should contact the Office of Admissions directly to find out more about their application.
8. What kind of interview format do they use?
The school uses a MMI format for its entrance interviews, which are held after students submit their secondary application.
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