Princeton sophomores have four early assurance options, each with its own specific focus and eligibility requirements. Each program seeks students who have a demonstrated understanding of why they are pursuing a career in medicine gained through experience and who want to attend the specific medical school offering the program. Read up on the programs and the medical schools and decide whether or not one of them fits your goals and interests. You do not have to be sure that you would attend at the time that you apply, but you do have to convince the program of your fit for what it’s offering at the time that you apply. We will have information sessions for most of these programs this semester, so keep an eye on Vitals for announcements about them!

None of the early assurance programs require you to commit at the time of acceptance. Both the Penn Med and Rutgers - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School programs provide opportunities to spend time on campus in the summer to get a feel for the vibe before making decisions. For all of the programs, you can hold your acceptance unless you take the MCAT, at which point you must release it. Every application process that you do, you learn something about yourself and about how to present yourself, so we encourage you to put in applications for programs that you qualify for.

Princeton sophomores have four early assurance options, each with its own specific focus and eligibility requirements. Each program seeks students who have a demonstrated understanding of why they are pursuing a career in medicine gained through experience and who want to attend the specific medical school offering the program. Some pros of early assurance programs include: early peace of mind; flexibility in course scheduling; bypassing the costly regular application process; and becoming a better applicant simply by putting together an application. Some cons include: additional pressures that may come with a conditional acceptance; some programs requiring you to give up your summers; and having to deal with the unanswerable existential question, "What would have happened if I applied through the regular application process?" Read up on the programs and the medical schools and decide whether or not one of them fits your goals and interests. You do not have to be sure that you would attend at the time that you apply, but you do have to convince the program of your fit for what it’s offering at the time that you apply.

Read through the websites for both programs to see what qualities they seek in applicants. For example, FlexMed emphasizes team players who are also change leaders and advocates for others. ACES seeks students who are engaged in their community and show enthusiasm for medicine. All medical schools are going to evaluate the core competencies that they seek in entering medical students, and they’ll be looking closely at your clinical experience, leadership, service orientation, and intellectual curiosity (shown through academic work and sometimes research). Think about where you might have gaps in your experience and address those. If everything is solid, think about what you love and continue to follow that thread. All aspiring physicians can benefit from continued engagement with providers, patients, and the healthcare system via clinical experience. You might also want to watch our early assurance program info session for an overview of all of the  programs.

The med schools that offer Early Decision (ED) programs - and not all do - typically select 5-10 students by this means. This number is quite a bit lower than the number of ED candidates admitted to most undergraduate colleges.  One applies at the earliest moment possible in June, and med schools are not obligated to notify applicants until October 1.  No one should apply "ED" without checking with the med school about the competitiveness of his/her credentials and discussing your idea with advisers at HPA.  A med school dean or director of admissions should tell you that your grades and MCAT scores are competitive for their ED program, or at least what the numbers of last year's admitted ED candidates were.  Applying early is very risky because when you submit your initial AMCAS application you may indicate only that one school.  If you get deferred into the "regular" pool of applicants - and you won't know until Oct 1st -, or if you're outright rejected, only then may you apply to other schools.  Applying to these other schools in October gives you a very late start, and will put you at a disadvantage. 

At Princeton we typically have 0-1 person apply ED each year, usually to their state school.  They have spoken to us and to admissions people beforehand, and their numbers are well above the averages for accepted applicants at that school.  For a vast majority of applicants, however, the risks of the ED option (delaying your application at other schools) outweigh the benefit of focusing on one school.