FAU Schmidt

Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL · Public · MD

Average MCAT: 515
Average GPA: 3.85
Class size: 80 (4,165 applicants)
Tuition: $67,696 (per year, nonresident)
Out-of-state applicants: Welcome

Deadlines

Secondary deadline: Dec. 31, 2026

Essays

Why FAU (1,600 characters)

Describe why you would like to attend the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at FAU. What values, skills, talents, and life experiences would you contribute to our community?

Community service (1,600 characters)

Community engagement often requires humility, collaboration, and a willingness to learn from others. Describe a community service experience that significantly influenced your perspective. What did you learn about the community you served, about yourself, and how this experience has shaped the physician you hope to become?

Personal qualities (1,600 characters)

Medical students and physicians rely on many personal qualities beyond academic achievement. Reflect on an experience from employment, volunteering, research, athletics, military service, or other meaningful activity that helped you develop qualities you believe are essential for success in medicine. How have these qualities prepared you for the challenges of medical school?

Leadership (1,600 characters)

Leadership is demonstrated through initiative, service, and the ability to positively influence others. Describe a time when you identified a need or opportunity or took action to create positive change. What was your role, how did you work with others to affect change, and what did you learn from the experience?

Application-year activities (1,200 characters)

Will you be enrolled as a student this year? Whether or not you will be a full-time student, please provide details of your activities/employment for the application year.

Reapplicant (1,600 characters)

If you are a reapplicant for medical school, please share examples of personal or professional experiences that you believe have strengthened your application, contributed to your growth, and have better prepared you for the rigors of medical school since your initial application.

Academic hardships (1,600 characters)

Use this area to justify and/or explain any academic hardships on your transcripts (any failed and/or repeated courses due to any reason)

Prerequisite exceptions

Use this area to explain exceptions to these prerequisites at your institution

Editor's notes

The $30 secondary goes to everyone, and FAU tells you outright to compare your numbers to its entering class before you fill it out. The profiled class averaged a 515 MCAT and a 3.85 GPA. If you're well below both, spend the money elsewhere.
Florida residents have the edge in cost and in numbers: 28% of the profiled class came from out of state, and non-resident tuition is $67,696 against $28,112. Out-of-state applicants are welcome, but your why-FAU essay needs a real reason to be in South Florida.
FAU's secondary is four 1,600-character essays on service, personal qualities, leadership and why FAU. Plan them as a set before drafting. Use four different experiences, and don't let the service and leadership essays tell the same story twice.
Watch the calendar. Interviews run mid-September through February on a rolling basis, but the secondary cutoff is Dec. 31. A secondary submitted in late December is competing for the last interview days.