Medical schools are educational institutions that teach medicine. The first step in becoming a doctor is being accepted to medical school. Medical school admissions can be competitive, but the criteria and requirements vary from country to country.

In most North American medical schools, a number of undergraduate courses are required in order to be accepted. Courses may include general chemistry, organic chemistry, biology and physics.http://www.canadiancareers.com/meds.html An undergraduate degree is usually required before being considered for admission into a medical school. The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is a computer-based test for prospective medical school students in the United States and Canada. Each medical school require a certain score on the MCAT before an applicant is accepted.

While medical schools do not require completion of a formal pre-med major, each school does have required courses that need to be completed in college. While each school has its own requirements, most generally want you to have completed:

• 1 year of biology
• 1 year of inorganic chemistry
• 1 year of organic chemistry
• 1 year of physics

Medical schools may also require successful completion of other courses, such as calculus, statistics, English, and psychology.

• While you may dream of going to one of the top medical schools in the country, you should cast a wide net when assembling the list of schools you're applying to. First-time applicants have a slight edge, so you want to make sure you get accepted on the first round. If you only include dream schools the first time you apply and don't get in, your chances of getting accepted to other schools are lower the second time around.

1. Include one or two stretch schools in your application pool.
2. Research the class profiles of medical schools, making sure you include one or two schools where your qualifications exceed their average accepted applicant.
3. Apply to schools in different geographic areas.
4. Recognize that schools that have combined BA/MD or MS/MD programs have fewer spots available, as these programs directly feed into the medical school.
5. Apply to a medical school associated with your state university systems, as state medical schools usually give priority to in-state applicants.http://www.studentdoc.com/medical-school-plan-2.html

The Medical School Admission Test (MCAT) is required as part of the application process by most medical schools in the United States. You'll want to have completed it successfully before submitting your application, so plan on taking it before the fall semester of your senior year in college.

• Medical schools vary in how they treat multiple MCAT scores. Some schools will only look at your highest score, but other schools will take all scores into consideration. Because of this, you should aim to score well enough on your first exam so that you won't have to take the MCAT twicehttp://web.jhu.edu/prepro/health/Applicants/mcat.html

MCAT Scores

According to the Princeton Review, most medical schools "give the MCAT as much weight as the GPA" in the application process. The lowest score you can get is a 3; the highest, a 45.http://www.princetonreview.com/medical/mcat-test-preparation.aspx The average MCAT score is a 24. Each score has its own threshold for what a good MCAT score is, but here are the average MCAT scores for students accepted by several medical schools:

• Harvard University, 35
• Johns Hopkins University, 34.9
• University of California, San Francisco, 33.8
• Washington University in St. Louis, 36.3
• Queen's University, 32.9
• McGill University , 32

• Make sure you understand the deadlines for each school, and submit your application as early as possible. Applications will only be reviewed by the school when they are complete, so you'll want to make sure that your MCAT schools, transcripts, and letters of recommendation go in at the same time you submit your applications.

Although getting into medical school isn't easy, if you select the schools you're applying to carefully, do well on the MCAT, and apply early, you will have maximized your chances of getting into medical school.