Advanced Standing (Transfer)

Alpert Medical School occasionally accepts applications from eligible applicants for transfer into the third-year class. The number of openings will be announced on this website in December 2009.

Eligibility criteria for transfer applicants are described as:

1. Fulfills the admission requirements described in Selection Factors;
2. Currently enrolled in an accredited school of allopathic medicine (only) located in the United States or Canada; OR
3. Rhode Island resident* who is currently enrolled in a W.H.O.-accredited medical school outside the United States or Canada.

Transfers are made at the beginning of the third year of clinical training, which begins in the second week of May.  Applicants must have completed the basic science phase of their medical education prior to matriculation at Alpert Medical School. Premedical course requirements must have been completed at an accredited U.S. or Canadian college or university.  Individuals who have graduated from medical school are not eligible for advanced standing admission.

Generally, advanced standing applicants must demonstrate compelling and unforeseen circumstances that would justify the transfer. Applicants are also expected to have demonstrated a record of superior academic accomplishment and a high level of professionalism in medical school. In addition, consideration is given to the degree to which the applicant's previous medical education matches that of Alpert Medical School and prepares the applicant for continued medical study.

Candidates applying through the advanced standing admission route are required to present MCAT scores, an official medical school transcript, official transcripts from all other institutions of higher education you have attended including summer schools, three letters of recommendation from faculty members who have taught you in medical school, and one letter of recommendation from the Dean of Student Affairs.

* An individual is considered a Rhode Island resident if he/she graduated from a Rhode Island high school AND if the individual's parent(s)** have lived in Rhode Island for the previous two calendar years (as documented by federal tax returns).

**Custodial parent(s) if the student is a dependent i.e., living with the parent(s) when not in school and claimed as a dependent on prior two years' federal tax returns. Students who are independent i.e., not living with parents and filing individual tax returns for the previous two years, must have at least one parent residing in RI for the previous two years (as documented by federal tax returns).