UNC COM (Northern Colorado)

University of Northern Colorado College of Osteopathic Medicine Greeley, CO · Public · DO

Average MCAT: 506
Average GPA: 3.47
Class size: 80
Tuition: $55,000 (per year)
Out-of-state applicants: Welcome

Deadlines

AACOMAS deadline: April 1, 2027
Secondary deadline: April 1, 2027

Essays

Required essay (choose one of four) (500 words)

Please respond to one of the four essay prompts below in 500 words or less. Identity and Lived Experience: Reflect on a significant aspect of your identity or lived experience. How do you envision it shaping your practice as a future physician? Commitment to Community and Health Equity: Describe a time when you worked to address a health or social need in a community. What did you learn from that experience, and how has it prepared you for medical school? Collaboration: Reflect on a time when you engaged in a collaborative effort. What did the experience teach you, and how do you feel it will help you during medical training? Osteopathic Principles and Practice: What specific experience/exposure have you had with osteopathic medicine? How has this influenced your decision to become an osteopathic physician?

Reapplicant (250 words)

Reapplicant: What have you done to strengthen your application? Please be brief and explicit.

Nontraditional applicant (250 words)

Non-traditional Applicant: Please briefly describe your path to medicine. What motivated you to pursue medicine at this point in your life, and how will your experiences add to the quality of UNC COM's entering class? UNC COM considers applicants who are over 25 years old, three or more years post-graduate, or making a career change to be non-traditional.

Academic challenges (250 words)

Academic Challenges: If applicable, please describe any academic obstacles or personal setbacks (e.g., death of a family member, Low First-Year GPA, repeating coursework, challenges in prerequisite coursework, etc.) that impacted your education. What did you learn from the experience, and how have you grown as a result? How will this resilience support your success during medical training?

Editor's notes

Check the Plains to Peak numbers before anything else. If you're a resident of one of the 12 target states or a partner-school graduate with an MCAT of 502+ and a science GPA of 3.5+, you're guaranteed an interview if you pass screening, but only while slots last. That's a reason to submit AACOMAS in May or June, not in March.
Treat the supplemental as the main essay set. The school says it's designed to assess mission fit and asks about your identity and lived experiences, community and health equity, and collaboration. Line up concrete stories for each theme before the invitation arrives, because the first class skewed toward Colorado, small towns and disadvantaged backgrounds, and that's the mission you're writing to.
You'll interview twice, and the first round has no human on the other end. The asynchronous MMI decides who gets the live Kira interview. Practice answering scenario questions to a camera with a timer running.
This is a brand-new school on pre-accreditation, with no match or board data yet. That isn't a reason to skip it, but know what you're signing up for: COCA's first-year review is expected around January 2027, and full accreditation comes before the first class graduates.