Central Michigan (CMU)

Covenant HealthCare College of Medicine at Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI · Public · MD

Average MCAT: 508
Average GPA: 3.69
Class size: 104 (8,250 applicants)
Tuition: $70,793 (per year, nonresident)
Out-of-state applicants: Limited

Deadlines

AMCAS deadline: Nov. 1, 2026
Early Decision Program: Aug. 1, 2026
Secondary deadline: Dec. 3, 2026

Essays

County affiliation

(If you select any affiliation) Please provide a brief summary of your affiliation with any County selected:

Gap year

(If taking a gap year) Describe what activities you have engaged in since degree completion.

Essay 1: Motivation and mission (1,000 words)

Describe your motivation for applying to the Covenant HealthCare College of Medicine at Central Michigan and your future career in medicine. Finally, describe how your preparation and background will contribute to the mission of the College of Medicine.

Reapplicant

[REAPP ONLY]: If you have applied to any medical school in previous cycles, what have you done since your last application to prepare yourself for a career in medicine? If you have not applied to medical school previously, write “N/A” in the box.

Editor's notes

CMU is a Michigan school by design. It aims for 80% in-state, and the 2026 class had 87 Michigan residents out of 104. If you're from out of state, your file has to answer the question the mission raises: why would you train, and maybe practice, with Michigan's underserved patients?
The one long essay is where the mission lives. A thousand words on motivation, career and contribution to a mission about underserved care means your best evidence should be service with those patients, not a list of titles.
Getting a secondary here means you passed a screen. From there, the interview is a virtual MMI with small-group exercises, so the committee is watching how you work with strangers. The school's own Premedly podcast has an episode on interviews worth an hour of your time.
Michigan residents at Michigan colleges with at least a 3.5 GPA and a 503 MCAT can apply early decision by Aug. 1 and hear by Aug. 30. It's binding, and you can't apply anywhere else first, so use it only if CMU is truly your first choice.