Undergraduate Phase
Application
Students must submit the following to the MRPSP executive director by Feb. 1:
- Complete the online MRPSP Undergraduate Application
- Transcripts of all college-level course work - will be uploaded on application
- Experiences, including exposure to medicine, volunteer/community service and employment or other time commitments outside the classroom should be listed on the online application. Be thorough if you wish to be a competitive applicant. Prepare a well-written and thoughtful essay describing motivation to become a doctor and vision of practice.
- Three science faculty evaluation forms must be completed online. These will be designated on the application and be automatically sent via e-mail.
- Unofficial ACT or SAT score reports (include MCAT scores, if taken)
- One letter from a hometown medical provider or community leader describing the applicant's interest in practicing rural medicine which will be uploaded on your application.
Undergraduate applicants should submit the online application after fall semester grades are posted on the transcript. Note the deadline of Feb. 1. Sophomore applicants who will complete the 30 semester hours of required coursework should still apply by Feb. 1 even though they are currently enrolled in the final semester of the required course(s).
Applicants may not retrieve, amend or supplement their application once submitted.
Incomplete applications or those missing required documents will not be considered after the posted deadline. No exceptions will be made.
Interviews
Applicants will be screened for those who meet MRPSP admissions criteria and, if the number is sufficiently large, rank applicants for interviews based on the selection criteria. Interviews with MRPSP Commission members will be held in March. The purpose of these interviews by practicing rural physicians is to evaluate an applicant's:
- Knowledge of the mission, benefits, and expectations of the MRPSP
- Desire to practice in rural or underserved areas
- Communication skills
- Maturity
The UMMC School of Medicine Admissions Office will invite recommended MRPSP applicants to campus to be interviewed by Admissions Committee members. Applicants will be evaluated for Direct Admission consideration upon satisfactory completion of one year of active participation in the MRPSP and all medical school admissions requirements.
Selection
The MRPSP Commission will review applicant files and recommendations of the School of Medicine Admissions Committee and select those interviewed applicants who will be accepted into the program.
Acceptance to this program is conditional. The MRPSP Commission may rescind an offer of acceptance at any time if a participant fails to maintain expectations upon which the acceptance was based. Examples include, but are not limited to, a significant decline in academic performance, failure to complete prerequisites, program requirements or other course work in progress, patterns of unprofessional behavior or criminal incidents.
MRPSP enrichment activities
Each student must:
- Attend Medical Encounters in June and January.
- Complete a Community Needs Assessment (CNA) of their hometown.
- Prepare poster presentation of their Community Needs Assessment for display at the Mississippi Rural Health Association conference.
- Present the "Tar Wars" tobacco prevention program to one fourth-grade class.
- Read Dr. Atul Gawande's best seller "Better" or "The Country Doctor Revisited" edited by Dr. Therese Zink.
- Spend a minimum of 40 hours each calendar year with an approved rural primary care physician(s) in a town with less than a 15,000 population. These hours can be accumulated during the summer and school year. Each physician must complete an evaluation form and submit it to the MRPSP executive director. Lab coats with the MRPSP logo are provided to each participant for use during shadowing experiences.