Penn State BS/MD Program: Acceptance Rate, Requirements, and the Seven-Year PMM Path
By Rona Aydin
What Is the Penn State BS/MD Program?
The Penn State BS/MD program is a cooperative seven-year path run by Penn State’s Eberly College of Science and Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC) at Thomas Jefferson University. Penn State calls it the Accelerated Premedical-Medical Program, or PMM, and the application lists the major as Accelerated Premedical Medical. Jefferson lists it as the Penn State Accelerated BS/MD Program.
Students spend three years at the University Park campus, with no required summers, and then four years at the medical college in Philadelphia. The Penn State B.S. is awarded after the first year of medical school and the Thomas Jefferson M.D. after the fourth. Penn State says more than 1,000 students have earned both degrees through the program.
The program is separate from Penn State’s four-year Premedicine major. Students in that major complete four years and a bachelor’s degree before applying to medical schools in the usual way.
What Is the Penn State BS/MD Acceptance Rate?
Penn State does not publish one. The program’s pages give the class size, about 25 students a year, and describe the review in three stages, but they do not state how many students apply or how many are interviewed. Oriel Admissions treats any specific acceptance rate quoted for this program as an estimate, since the university has not released the numbers behind it.
What the program does publish is the score profile of the students it takes, and that is the better guide to a family’s odds.
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Students entering each year | About 25 | Penn State admission requirements page |
| Minimum test score to be considered | 1470 SAT or 32 ACT, single test date | Penn State admission requirements page |
| Average score of previously accepted students | 1570 SAT or 36 ACT | Penn State admission requirements page |
| SAT range of students interviewed last cycle | 1510 to 1600 | Penn State admission requirements page |
| Waiting list | None, and no transfers into the program | Penn State admission requirements page |
| Students who do not finish | Typically 1 to 2 per entering cohort | Penn State program FAQ |
Two things follow from the table. A 1470 clears the gate but sits 100 points below the average admitted score, and the interview range began at 1510 last cycle. A student at the minimum is eligible, not competitive. Programs that publish their applicant counts, and therefore a real acceptance rate, are compared in our guide to the easiest BS/MD programs.
What Are the Penn State BS/MD Requirements?
Penn State lists the following for the initial review. Test scores are required, and the university says it no longer requires a science or writing section from either test.
| Requirement | What Penn State asks for |
|---|---|
| Test score | Minimum 1470 SAT or 32 ACT, earned on one test date. Self-reported scores are accepted and official scores are encouraged |
| Grades | A strong GPA and rigorous classwork, which may include honors, AP or IB courses. No numeric GPA minimum is published |
| High school units | Four units of English, two of algebra, one of plane geometry, one half unit of trigonometry or higher math, three of science, and three from social studies, humanities or the arts |
| Status | A current high school senior. Students who have already graduated are not eligible |
| Citizenship | Open to international students |
| Résumé | One page listing the most meaningful accomplishments and activities of the high school years |
| Jefferson questions | Required responses to questions from Sidney Kimmel Medical College, available in the application once the PMM major is selected |
| Transcript | The Self-Reported Transcript and Academic Record (STARS), which can take up to 48 hours to arrive after a Common App submission |
| Recommendations | Not used in the review |
AP credit is accepted but does not shorten the program, and students cannot begin at the medical college ahead of their cohort.
When Is the Penn State BS/MD Deadline?
The application opens on August 1 and closes in mid October of senior year. For the Fall 2027 cohort, the Common App and MyPennState applications closed at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on October 13, 2026. Penn State says the deadline can change each year, so a junior planning for Fall 2028 should check the program page in August 2027.
The date matters more than at most colleges. Applications received or completed after the deadline cannot be considered for the program, and STARS can take two days to arrive, so Penn State advises completing the Common App about a week early. Students who use the Common App choose Rolling Admission. Our BS/MD preparation timeline puts this deadline next to the others a senior will face.
How Does the Penn State BS/MD Review Work?
Decisions are made by Penn State Undergraduate Admissions and the Penn State-Jefferson Joint Admissions Committee in three parts. First, applicants must meet the criteria above to enter the initial review. Second, a limited number of top candidates are selected to continue. Third, those finalists are invited to interview at Sidney Kimmel Medical College in January, and offers go out in mid February.
Students who meet the requirements but are not interviewed are usually still considered for Penn State. In most cases they are offered the four-year Premedicine major or asked to use the reconsideration option in their MyPennState account to apply to a major outside the College of Science. Applicants below the 1470 or 32 minimum receive an email asking them to use the same reconsideration option.
A student can be admitted to both PMM and the Schreyer Honors College, but only one offer can be accepted, and PMM students are not eligible for Schreyer tuition scholarships.
What Does It Take to Keep the Seat?
The medical school seat is conditional. Penn State expects PMM students to perform at an A or B level, and students not performing at a 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, particularly in the sciences, can be asked to withdraw from the program. Those students are typically eligible to stay at Penn State in another program of study.
The MCAT is required. The current minimum is a composite of 508 with no less than 127 in each of the three science sections and at least 125 in Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills. Most PMM students take the test in their third year after the required science courses. Penn State says that typically one or two students in each entering cohort do not meet the MCAT or academic levels.
A 508 is near the national average for medical school matriculants, which puts this program in the middle of the field. Our guide to BS/MD continuation requirements compares the MCAT and GPA conditions across programs.
How Much Does the Penn State BS/MD Program Cost?
There is no program premium. Students pay the regular Penn State tuition rate for the three undergraduate years and the regular Sidney Kimmel Medical College rate for the four medical years. Because the undergraduate phase is three years instead of four, the path saves one year of tuition and living costs and brings a physician’s salary forward by a year.
Jefferson’s general admissions FAQ states that international students are not eligible for its financial scholarships and loans, so an international family should plan on paying the medical school rate in full. Our guide to what BS/MD programs cost works through the eight-year math.
How Should a Student Prepare for the Penn State BS/MD Program?
Start with the score. Oriel Admissions advises students aiming at this program to plan testing so that a single sitting can reach 1510 or higher by the spring of junior year, since the program does not superscore and the interview range began there last cycle. For Ivy League admission, a student needs nearly all As in the hardest classes the school offers, and the same standard applies here.
Then build the clinical record. The one-page résumé and the Jefferson questions are the only places an applicant speaks for themselves, since recommendations are not read. Oriel Admissions has students lead with sustained clinical exposure, such as shadowing or hospital volunteering across two or more years, and one activity that shows how they handle people under stress. Our guides to medical research and clinical extracurriculars and BS/MD supplemental essays cover both.
Finally, weigh the trade. Penn State’s program trades a year of college for a conditional seat at a medical school with a 508 MCAT bar. Our comparison of seven-year and eight-year BS/MD programs and our BS/MD acceptance rates table put it next to the alternatives, including the eight-year Baylor BS/MD program, which admits six students a year on a 1430 floor.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Penn State BS/MD Program
Penn State does not publish one. About 25 students enter each year, and the program does not release the number of applicants or interviews.
The minimum is 1470 on the SAT or 32 on the ACT from a single test date. Previously accepted students averaged 1570, and last cycle the interview range was 1510 to 1600.
Seven years. Students spend three years at Penn State University Park and four years at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.
For Fall 2027 the deadline was October 13, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. The application opens August 1, and Penn State says the date can change each year.
Yes. Students need a composite of at least 508, with at least 127 in each science section and 125 in CARS, to move on to the medical college.
Yes. Penn State says international students are welcome and encouraged to apply.
No numeric high school GPA is published. Once enrolled, students who fall below a 3.5 can be asked to leave the program.
Oriel Admissions advises that it suits a student with a 1510 or higher from one sitting who is certain about medicine and comfortable with a conditional seat. A student who wants to keep every medical school open should apply to the four-year Premedicine major instead.
Sources: Penn State Eberly College of Science: Accelerated Premedical-Medical Program admission requirements, Penn State Eberly College of Science: Accelerated Premedical-Medical Program FAQs, Penn State Eberly College of Science: Program academics and cost, Penn State Eberly College of Science: Premedical-Medical (B.S./M.D.), Thomas Jefferson University, Sidney Kimmel Medical College: Penn State Accelerated BS/MD Program, Thomas Jefferson University, Sidney Kimmel Medical College: Admissions FAQ
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