September 1, 2025
Written By
Michael Minh Le
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You’re looking into the University of Michigan Medical School acceptance rate, but what you’re really trying to figure out is if you're good enough to beat it. You want to know what kind of applicant actually gets in. And how you can become one of them.
This guide gives you the full picture. We’ll walk you through how hard it is to get into UMich Medical School, the stats that actually matter, what the school looks for beyond GPA and MCAT, and how to craft an application that doesn’t just check boxes, but gets remembered.
No generic advice. You’ll get the specifics of what gets applicants into UMich, not just any med school.
If you want to take all the guesswork out of it and see what a successful application really looks like, you can for free. At Premed Catalyst, we created a resource that gives you insider access to 8 real AMCAS applications that earned acceptances at top medical schools like UCLA and UCI, including mine. See what left lasting impressions with Adcoms, including personal statements, most meaningfuls, and more.
Get your free resource here.
For the 2025 entering class, the University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS) received over 10,000 applications. Out of those, just 168 students matriculated.
That puts the University of Michigan acceptance rate at around 1.6%.
You read that right. For every 100 applicants, only 1-2 actually make it in. Brutal.
But if you’re in-state your odds are a little better. Michigan is a public med school, which means in-state applicants do have a slight edge. In recent years, about 40–45% of the entering class has been made up of Michigan residents. That said, UMMS is a top-20 medical school nationally, and they pull applicants from across the country.
UMMS attracts some of the strongest applicants in the country, and their stats prove it. The average GPA for admitted students is 3.84, and the average MCAT score comes in at a hefty 516.
To give that some context: the national average GPA for med school matriculants is about 3.77, and the average MCAT is 511.7. That puts Michigan’s students above the curve.
UMich doesn’t post hard cutoffs for GPA or MCAT, but realistically, if your GPA is under 3.2 or you have MCAT section scores under 127 then you’re at a serious disadvantage.
To be eligible for admission, applicants must complete the following pre-med coursework:
Courses in statistics, genetics, and social sciences (like psychology or sociology) are not required but strongly recommended.
Beyond coursework, applicants must also meet the following baseline criteria to be considered:
UMMS does not require CASPer or the AAMC PREview exam. You can skip those.
Let’s talk money because med school isn’t cheap, and you need to know exactly what you're signing up for.
For the 2024–2025 academic year, University of Michigan Medical School tuition is about $45,000 per year for in-state students and over $70,000 for out-of-state students.
That’s just tuition.
When you factor in fees, housing, insurance, and living expenses, you’re easily looking at a total annual cost north of $90,000 for in-state and over $110,000 for out-of-state.
Now, before that number makes you cross off UMich from your list, there’s some good news. Over 85% of students receive financial aid, and the school offers a mix of need-based grants, merit scholarships, and federal loans. There are even full-ride scholarships for a select few students.
UMich also offers financial literacy resources and debt counseling to help you make smart long-term choices.
Every med school talks about excellence, innovation, and diversity. But few actually live it the way Michigan does. If you’re going to spend the next four years grinding through the hardest academic experience of your life, do it somewhere that actually supports you, pushes you, and surrounds you with people who make you better.
Michigan isn’t just a T20 medical school. It’s a launchpad. Here’s what truly sets it apart:
Michigan’s curriculum is designed to get you into the clinic faster. The Foundational Phase is just 12 months, making it one of the shortest among U.S. med schools. You won’t be spending two years buried in books before seeing your first patient. UMich Medical School trusts you to learn, apply, and grow in real-world settings sooner. That means more time to explore specialties, do research, or just breathe.
Through the Paths of Excellence program, you get mentorship, project funding, and structured training in areas like global health, public policy, medical humanities, and innovation. It’s your chance to go deep on something you care about and stand out when residency apps roll around.
Michigan Medicine is one of the top hospitals in the country, and it’s yours from day one. You’ll be learning in a high-volume, high-complexity clinical environment that trains you to think, act, and lead like a physician from the start. That level of exposure builds confidence that no simulation lab can replicate.
Ann Arbor is everything you want in a med school town: affordable, walkable, and filled with smart, interesting people. You’ve got research labs, tech startups, food trucks, and nature trails all within 10 minutes. It’s a place where you can work hard and still have a life, and that balance matters more than you think.
Michigan doesn’t want robots with perfect stats. They want real people with real stories. If you’re applying here, it’s not enough to just check the boxes. You need to craft an application that’s intentional, personal, and sharp. That means knowing your timeline cold, using your personal statement to actually say something that matters, writing secondaries that reflect your core values, and walking into interviews ready to show who you are.
The University of Michigan Medical School uses the AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service) for its primary application and operates on a rolling admissions basis. This means applications are reviewed and interview invitations are sent as applications are received. That means you need to apply early.
Here’s the application timeline you need to follow if you want to be competitive:
Your personal statement can’t just be your resume. That’s how you end up in the rejection pile.
This essay is your narrative. It’s where you connect the dots between who you’ve been, who you are, and the kind of doctor you’re becoming. And the only way to make any of it believable is by using your experiences as your proof.
You don’t get to say you care about underserved communities without showing up in free clinics or grassroots orgs. You don’t say you’re committed to mentorship without having mentored anyone.
Show don’t tell.
Secondary essays reveal what AdComs see in you beyond your numbers and whether you’ll thrive in their community. Below are the prompts from the most recent 2025–2026 application cycle at University of Michigan Medical School, along with how to address each one.
Essay 1 (MD Applicants):
Prompt: How do you hope to impact medicine and improve patient care in the future and why do you need a medical degree to fulfill these goals? (1500 characters, ~250 words)
This one asks for your vision and your path. Be clear about the specific issue in medicine you want to tackle, why it's meaningful to you, and why only earning that MD puts you in the right position to do it. Ground it in a story or experience that launched your goals, and briefly tie in how Michigan's program or its values fits into making you the doctor you want to become.
Essay 1 (MSTP Applicants):
Prompt: Describe why you are applying to the University of Michigan MSTP. If you’re interested in a specific department, program, or area of research for your PhD, provide a brief explanation. We recognize that your interests may change. If relevant, describe your gap/growth year plans. (1500 characters)
For this version, focus tightly on what draws you to Michigan’s MSTP specifically, whether it’s a lab, a mentor, or a research focus. Let them know you’ve thought about how this dual degree will build your future. If you have a gap or growth year, one sentence is all you need to frame how it’s part of your preparation, not a detour.
Essay 2:
Prompt: Please describe the impact of your identity and experiences on your growth and development, and how it may impact your career as a physician. (1500 characters)
Be honest and specific, whether identity is about culture, family, socioeconomic background, lived experiences, or something else. Pick one or two key experiences that shaped your worldview or values, show how they inform your empathy, judgment, or resilience, and then make it clear how being shaped that way will make you a better physician.
Essay 3:
Prompt: The University of Michigan Medical School strives to be a place of empowerment, advocacy and change in health care. What experiences have you had in empowerment and advocacy for others that would help to advance this mission? (1500 characters)
Talk about real action, like the times when you spoke up, organized, supported, or created opportunities for people who didn’t have them. Focus on what you did, what you learned, and how you’d bring that same energy into Michigan’s culture of advocacy. Keep the story lean and purposeful.
Essay 4:
Prompt: Outside of medicine, and beyond what we can read in your application, tell us what you are curious about or what you have chosen to explore. (1500 characters)
This one’s your chance to show personality and depth. Pick something genuinely meaningful, like hiking, poetry, coding robots, urban sketching, whatever. Then link it back to traits that matter in medicine (curiosity, discipline, creativity, empathy). Bonus points if you mention how you’d keep exploring it in Ann Arbor or at Michigan.
Optional Essay 5 (Reapplicants):
If you're reapplying, you can write approximately 250 words reflecting on how you've grown since your last application. This is not your space for excuses. Instead talk about your actions and insights and how they propelled you forward.
For the MD program, you’ll need at least three letters of recommendation, and by the time you interview, you should have three to four locked and loaded in AMCAS. No committee letter? Totally fine.
There’s no strict rule about who writes them, but that’s not a free pass to collect generic praise from distant professors. Pick people who actually know your story. Choose recommenders who’ve seen you bounce back from setbacks, lead under pressure, and grind when no one else would.
If you’re applying for an MD–PhD, expectations go up. You still need at least three letters (or one committee letter), but you can submit up to six, and one has to come from a research mentor. Not optional. They want proof you can think like a scientist, not just shadow one.
No matter your path, every letter needs to go through AMCAS. That’s non-negotiable. And remember: the best letters don’t come from titles. They come from real relationships.
The University of Michigan Medical School uses a hybrid interview format, which means you’ll face a mix of traditional interviews and MMI-style stations. You’ll complete two traditional, open-file interviews, each lasting about 30 minutes, with members of the admissions committee.
After that, you’ll go through six short-form interviews, each about 6 minutes, following the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) model. These are scenario-based and evaluate how you think on your feet.
The interviews are held virtually and take place on Fridays, with a live info session the Thursday evening before. The full process runs from noon to 5 p.m. Eastern, giving you plenty of time to meet faculty, talk with current students, and understand Michigan’s approach to medicine.
You’ll be asked about your motivation for medicine, how you handle ethical situations, your communication style, your teamwork experience, and how you've grown from challenges. They want depth, not polish.
Finding the right med school is about fit, not just reputation. Different schools light fires under different kinds of students. Below we’ll help you determine if UMich is a good fit for you.
University of Michigan Medical School is a good fit if…
University of Michigan Medical School may not be a good fit if…
Every year, thousands of qualified applicants put all their energy into one or two top programs and end up reapplying the next cycle. Don’t make that mistake.
There are over 150 MD and DO programs across the country, and dozens of them could be the right fit for you based on your stats, mission alignment, and career goals.
Yes, Michigan is incredible, but so are a lot of other schools, in states you may have never considered. Your future isn’t limited by geography. That’s why we created guides on medical schools in different states to help you build an informed school list.
Let’s be honest: knowing Michigan’s acceptance rate doesn’t make it any easier to figure out if you can actually get in. You’re not just looking for numbers. You’re trying to figure out if your app stacks up. The only concrete way to do that is to see real apps that earned acceptances.
That’s why at Premed Catalyst, we created a free resource that gives you access to actual AMCAS applications from students who got into top medical schools like UCLA and UCI, including my own. You’ll see what they wrote, how they structured their activities, and what made them stand out.
Get the free resource here.
