Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine prerequisites

2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

Most medical schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab and list it as required.

Biology is not individually required at Oakland: it counts toward the 24 science and maths credits, and one lab in biology, chemistry, or physics satisfies the whole laboratory requirement. Take the year anyway; the MCAT and the rest of your list assume it.

2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

Most medical schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab and list it as required.

General chemistry counts toward the 24 credits but is not named as a requirement of its own.

2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

Most medical schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab and list it as required.

Organic chemistry is not among the courses Oakland names. It still counts toward the 24 science and maths credits, and it is required nearly everywhere else.

1 semester · 3 credits

One semester, lab rarely required. Roughly two thirds of schools require it outright and the MCAT tests it heavily, so treat it as required even where it technically is not, and take it before you sit the exam.

2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

Most medical schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab and list it as required.

Physics counts toward the 24 credits but is not individually required. Its lab is one of the three that can satisfy Oakland's single laboratory requirement.

1 semester · 3 credits

Most medical schools ask for 2 semesters · 6 credits and list it as required.

Oakland states no formal English requirement, but expects strong writing and communication skills and a broad education spanning the social sciences, history, arts, and languages.

1 semester · 3 credits

One statistics course, required. Oakland accepts either a maths-based or a social-science-based statistics course, so a psychology or sociology statistics course counts.

1 semester · 3 credits

One semester. Required outright at a minority of schools (several of them highly selective) and accepted in place of statistics at most of the rest. Take it if calculus is already in your major's path.

1 semester · 3 credits

One semester. A minority of schools require it, but a quarter of the MCAT is psychological and social foundations: this is the cheapest points on the exam.

1 semester · 3 credits

One semester. Same reasoning as psychology: required by fewer schools, tested directly on the MCAT.

1 semester · 3 credits

One semester. Required by a small number of schools and a common way to fill the upper-division science coursework that strengthens a science GPA.

1 semester · 3 credits

Oakland strongly recommends an anatomy course and an advanced cellular or molecular biology course.

1 semester · 3 credits

One course in the social or behavioural sciences, required on top of the 24 science and maths credits. Oakland also recommends humanities (philosophy, history, literature, language, anthropology, ethics, theology) and further behavioural science (psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology, ecology).

150+ hours

Almost no school publishes a number, but admitted applicants typically report a few hundred hours. 150 is the point where you can speak about patient care from experience rather than in the abstract; sustained hours over years read better than a summer sprint.

50+ hours

Aim for 40-50 across more than one specialty, including primary care. DO programs weigh shadowing more heavily and several ask for hours with a DO specifically. If DO schools are on your list, get those hours and the letter early.

150+ hours

Service with no medical angle. Committees are reading for a habit, not a total, so one commitment held for two years beats five one-off events.

100+ hours

Effectively expected at research-heavy MD programs and genuinely optional at many DO and community-focused schools. If research is not your path, put those hours into clinical work and say so clearly rather than padding a semester in a lab.