Applicant Eligibility

Preference is given to residents of North Dakota or those with strong ties to the state.

Applicants are encouraged to assess their suitability for the School based on the following preference criteria. Those who meet the criteria are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants who do not meet the criteria below will only be considered for admission if there are not enough qualified applicants who do. Please note that applications from potential students will be evaluated in the context of our School's Technical Standards of Capacity policy.

Eligibility 

All applicants to medical school at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) must be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents of the United States.

Residency

Anyone can apply to UND SMHS, but as a state-supported school, we grant admissions preference to North Dakota residents or those who have strong ties to the state. We also admit a small number of applicants from Minnesota and Montana. INMED (Indians into Medicine) applicants do not have a residency preference but do have other requirements.

There have been no applicants who did not meet a residency preference accepted in the recent past. Approximately 20 percent of UND SMHS matriculants were not residents of North Dakota at the time of application; these applicants met one of the other residency preferences.

North Dakota Residents

Applicants who are legal residents of North Dakota and have lived in the state for at least 12 months prior to Nov. 1 of the year of application. Strongest preference is given to current legal residents of North Dakota who graduated from a North Dakota high school.

Former Residents of North Dakota

Former residents of North Dakota whose parents are residents of North Dakota, and who graduated from a North Dakota high school, and who were previously residents of North Dakota for ten years or more

Ties to North Dakota

Applicants who are, or will be at time of matriculation, a graduate of a North Dakota university (public or private), excluding online degrees.

Or applicants who have a first-degree family member (mother, father, sibling, child or spouse) who is a graduate of a North Dakota university, excluding online degrees.

Or applicants who are legal ND residents for less than one year OR are currently not a resident of ND, but whose spouse is attending or is accepted for the next academic year to a North Dakota university or college at time of application submission, excluding online degrees, and they will be living in ND during the current academic year.

Minnesota Residents

Applicants who are residents of Minnesota. Stronger preference is given to Minnesota residents who graduated from a high school in the Red River Valley.

Minnesota Red River Valley Counties

WICHE

The UND SMHS participates in the Professional Student Exchange Program under which legal residents of western states without a medical school may receive preference in admission. Applicants are certified by the WICHE-sending state of Montana.

Certified WICHE students pay resident tuition if they are supported by their home state. To be eligible for this program, the student must be WICHE-certified in his/her state of legal residence prior to matriculation. The number of students to be supported in each state in the field of medicine depends upon state appropriations.

For addresses of state certifying officers, consult:

WICHE Student Exchange Program
3035 Center Green Dr
Boulder CO 80301-9752
303.541.0214
info-sep@wiche.edu

INMED

Applicants who are enrolled members of federally recognized tribes, regardless of state of residency, are encouraged to apply. INMED applicants must meet certain application requirements. Please contact the Indians into Medicine (INMED) Program for additional information.

Transfer Students

Opportunities to transfer are rare. We only accept transfers from students at the start of their third year of medical school and who are in good standing at an LCME-accredited school. If you wish to be considered for a transfer, you must contact the Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Admissions no later than February 1 of the year in which you wish to transfer.