UCF

University of Central Florida College of Medicine Orlando, FL · Public · MD

Average MCAT: 514
Average GPA: 3.92
Class size: 120 (5,422 applicants)
Tuition: $59,251 (per year, nonresident)
Out-of-state applicants: Welcome

Deadlines

AMCAS deadline: Nov. 16, 2026
Early Decision Program: Aug. 1, 2026
Secondary deadline: Dec. 1, 2026

Essays

Sacrifices and work-life balance (750 characters)

Medical school demands significant personal sacrifices, including long hours, emotional stress, and sometimes compromising personal time. Can you describe how you have prepared yourself for these sacrifices and how you plan to maintain a healthy work-life balance while managing the responsibilities of a medical student? (Limit 750 characters)

Collaboration (750 characters)

Can you please recount an experience from your academic or personal life where you actively collaborated with others to achieve a common goal? How do you anticipate applying this collaborative approach in your future medical education and practice, taking into account the diverse perspectives and expertise within healthcare teams? (Limit: 750 characters)

Why medicine vs other helping fields (750 characters)

We often hear that students want to pursue medicine to help people. Why did you choose medicine and not some other field where you can help others, such as nursing, physical therapy, pharmacology, psychology, education, or social work? (Limit 750 characters)

Integral to who you are (4,000 characters)

Tell us about something that is integral to understanding who you are as a person that we would not automatically know from reading your application. These may be things like qualities, characteristics, or events you feel are unique to your life experience. You could address personally important and/or challenging experiences in your background that have influenced your goals and preparation for a career in medicine and service to others. These may include experiences such as the quality of your early educational environment, socioeconomic status, cultural background, or other significant events or circumstances that you feel have shaped your character and defined you as an individual. (Limit 4000 characters)

Why UCF (500 characters)

Please share with the Admissions Committee why you are specifically interested in UCF COM (limit 500 characters).

Reapplicant

In this space, please briefly describe what you have done to improve your candidacy. (reapplicant question)

Florida residency (yes or no) (Yes/No)

Will you be a Florida Resident for tuition purposes at the time of matriculation? If you have claimed another state of residence on your AMCAS application, please review the Florida statute section 1009.21 and the State University System of Florida Board of Governors Regulation 7.005 to confirm you will be eligible to classify as a Florida resident for tuition purposes prior to selecting "yes".

Connection to Florida (non-residents)

If you are NOT a Florida resident, please describe any connection to UCF COM, UCF, or Florida.

Currently enrolled (yes or no) (Yes/No)

Are you currently enrolled in an academic program?

Plans if not enrolled

If you do not expect to spend the academic year enrolled in an academic program, please explain how you will use this time.

Editor's notes

Research isn't optional once you're here. Every student does the two-year FIRE project, and the 500-character why-UCF answer is the natural place to show you want that. UCF's own guidance says research helps most when you've seen a project through to a poster or paper, so describe what you actually did, start to finish.
The secondary is mostly short answers: three at 750 characters and one at 500. That's roughly 120 and 80 words. Write each one long, then cut to one example and one point. The single long essay (4,000 characters) is where depth goes.
Early Decision is only for Florida residents with a 3.8 GPA and an MCAT of 513 or better with no section under 128, and everything is due by Aug. 15. If you qualify and UCF is your clear first choice, it's the earliest answer you can get. If you miss any cutoff, apply regular and aim to finish the secondary well before Dec. 1.
Non-residents do get in: 38 of the 120 students in the Class of 2030. The secondary gives you a box to explain your tie to Florida or UCF. If you have one, use it plainly.

UCF