Admissions & Requirements FAQ

Feinberg has a modified rolling admissions process that utilizes a batched approach to sending acceptances. We interview candidates August through mid-February. Our pool of interviewees is very large, so many decisions are pending until after the interview season is completed. Some prospective students receive acceptances during the active interview season, the first acceptances being sent in December, but most of our slots are not committed until March. 

All completed applications are holistically reviewed and evaluated. The Committee on Admissions seeks candidates who have demonstrated academic excellence, leadership skills, intellectual curiosity and personal maturity. A premium is placed on breadth and rigor of the academic program and the life experiences of the individual. Applicants should be liberally educated people who have studied, in some depth, subjects beyond the conventional premedical sciences. The Committee on Admissions admits candidates who major in many subjects besides science, including history, English and communications. Research and activities that demonstrate the applicant’s view of medicine as a service profession are positive factors in the review process. Interviews are required of all candidates considered seriously for acceptance. Interview invitations are issued solely at the request of the Committee on Admissions.

A completed application consists of the AMCAS web-based application, MCAT scores, the Feinberg secondary application and letters of recommendation. Applicants start the process by completing an AMCAS application and designating Feinberg as one of the schools to which they wish to apply. All applicants who apply are given the opportunity to complete a secondary application.

There is no age limit.

Application review time varies from applicant to applicant.  Interview invitations are released on a rolling basis from August through early February of the application cycle.

Your application status will be available through our applicant portal.  Invitations to complete the Northwestern Secondary Application and to interview will be sent by email.

If you are invited to interview, you will receive an email from our Office of Admissions letting you know how to schedule your interview day.

If applicants would like to notify us of an update to their application or wish to have other communications added to their application file for consideration, we ask that they upload these to the Applicant Portal (the site where the secondary application is accessed) through the “Document Upload” tab. Please note that additional recommendations (accepted after a student is invited for interview) need to be sent directly from the recommender either via AMCAS or e-mail (med-admissions@northwestern.edu) 

Only those transcripts initially submitted through AMCAS are required for review of your application. If applicants would like to notify us of updates to their coursework, we ask that they upload these to the FSM Applicant Portal. One may submit there, a written communication re: the coursework update or an updated unofficial transcript. We do require a final official transcript for every entering student prior to their matriculation date.