OHSU

Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine Portland, OR · Public · MD

Average MCAT: 509
Average GPA: 3.66
Class size: 150 (6,000 applicants)
Tuition: $76,788 (per year, nonresident)
Out-of-state applicants: Limited

Deadlines

AMCAS deadline: Oct. 15, 2026
Secondary deadline: Rolling (August-December); deadline given in each applicant's secondary notification email

Essays

Question 1 (1,550 characters)

What is a moment in your life that could have or changed your trajectory?

Question 2 (1,550 characters)

Describe the effect of an endeavor that didn't go according to your plan.

Question 3 (1,550 characters)

What is an ordinary place that feels extraordinary because of what happened there?

Question 4 (1,550 characters)

Tell us about what environments allow you to thrive the most and the least.

Question 5 (1,550 characters)

Discuss your experience of recent personal feedback that was difficult to receive.

Question 6 (1,550 characters)

Describe a time when you had to reconsider or change a deeply held belief or perspective. What prompted this change?

Question 7 (1,550 characters)

Describe a time when selfishness served you well.

Question 8 (optional) (1,550 characters)

Are there any additional ties to the state of Oregon you wish to share? If yes, use the space below. If no, leave blank. Please note that this does not factor toward your consideration as an Oregon resident or Oregon Heritage.

Question 9 (optional) (1,550 characters)

We know that many of our applicants in the OHSU UME Program may have familial relationships with individuals who are OHSU faculty, residents, staff, or current students who serve as evaluators in our admissions process. We have added this question in hopes to prevent perceived or actual conflicts of interest that can occur when an applicant has a family member (or someone with a similar close personal relationship) they may encounter through the admissions process. If you have any such connections, please list those individuals’ names and departments below. If no, leave blank.

Employment/activities history (4,000 characters)

Please use this space to explain anything on the activity timeline that may be confusing and/or for any activity gaps of 3 months or longer in your timeline above in the last 5 years.

Supplemental information 1 (4,000 characters)

Based on your own experiences or the experiences of family and friends, do you believe that the area in which you grew up was adequately served by the available health care professionals? Were there enough physicians, nurses, hospitals, clinics, and other health care service providers and how did that affect your experience and relationship with health care? Please explain.

Supplemental information 2 (4,000 characters)

Please describe the nature of the adversity and how social, economic, academic, or other circumstances affected you and your opportunities.

Supplemental information 3 (optional) (No maximum)

We acknowledge that our application is not fully comprehensive. If there is anything additional you would like to let us know about you, please briefly state it here.

Editor's notes

Take the eligibility rules literally. OHSU sends the secondary to everyone without a prescreen and keeps the $120 if you turn out to be ineligible. Check the 2.80 GPA, the 497 MCAT from 2023 to 2026, and the citizenship, DACA or green-card rule before you pay.
Oregon ties are the biggest factor you can't write your way around. Eighty-two percent of entering students are Oregon residents, while 93% of applicants are from out of state. If you have Oregon Heritage (a parent living in Oregon, or an Oregon high school or college), you're treated like a resident in review, so make sure it shows. If you don't, your file has to show the achievements and the interest in rural, underserved or primary care that OHSU names for non-residents.
The secondary is long and oddly specific: seven short questions about trajectory, failure, a place, environments, feedback, a changed belief and selfishness. Don't recycle one story seven times. Map your experiences across the set before you write any single answer.
There's no deferral, and the rolling system keeps seats open until interviews end. A February interview is a real shot, so don't read the calendar as rejection. Do read the no-deferral rule as a reason not to apply until you're sure you can start in August.