This is an archived copy of the 2020-21 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://catalog.utexas.edu/.

Admission

Dell Medical School seeks to recruit and train future physician leaders who want to revolutionize the way people get healthy and stay healthy. To that end, the Admissions Selection Committee is looking for evidence of excellence in four areas:

  1. Personal Attributes: integrity and ethics; reliability and dependability; service orientation; social and interpersonal skills; teamwork; capacity for improvement; resilience and adaptability; cultural competence; oral communication.
  2. Life Experiences: students and physicians will repeatedly fall back on their unique life experiences, as they treat patients and work with colleagues. A broad range of such experiences will create a valuable diversity of perspectives.
  3. Academic Accomplishment: Dell Medical School has adopted a leading-edge curriculum that’s uniquely designed from scratch and focused around 21st-century health care. A strong academic record indicates that students will excel in this accelerated curriculum.
  4. Mission Contribution: Dell Medical School seeks to create a vital, inclusive health ecosystem and help make Austin a model healthy city. Students with demonstrated strengths in leadership, creativity, teamwork, resilience, and community engagement will help further advance this mission.

To be a successful physician leader in 21st-century health, you need a large portfolio of competencies. There is very little evidence that the “smartest” applicant with the best undergraduate grades will make the best physician or the best graduate of a medical school.

Understanding, however, that academic capability is necessary to successfully navigate the rapid pace of medical education, the Dell Medical School’s Admission Selection Committee will carefully review each applicant’s history for evidence of academic aptitude and stamina. The Admissions Selection Committee wants to ensure that every Dell Medical School student possesses the broad range of attributes, experiences, contributions, and capabilities necessary to succeed as a student and a physician.