Rural and Underserved Populations to Medicine
About the Rural and Underserved Populations to Medicine Program
The Rural and Underserved Populations in Medicine (RUP2M) program was established in 1998 for second-year Texas A&M University (TAMU) System students considering a career in medicine and who are from medically underserved areas or parts of the state without adequate numbers of primary care physicians. The program is designed to recruit and jointly admit highly qualified TAMU system students with conditional admissions to the Texas A&M Vashisht College of Medicine (requirements for admission must be met).
Partnership Universities
The Rural and Underserved Populations to Medicine is a cooperative program between the Texas A&M University Vashisht College of Medicine and the following partner universities:
- Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View
- Tarleton State University, Stephenville
- Texas A&M International University, Laredo
- Texas A&M University, College Station
- Texas A&M University, Commerce
- Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi
- Texas A&M University, Kingsville
- West Texas A&M University, Canyon
- Texas A&M Education Center - McAllen
- Texas A&M San Antonio
- Texas A&M Central Texas
The program is designed to recruit and jointly admit a select group of students to our partner universities with guaranteed admission to the Texas A&M Vashisht College of Medicine.
Eligibility and Selection Criteria
To be eligible for admission into the RUP2M Program, You MUST reside in a rural, medically underserved, or primary care, or health professional shortage area as defined by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Please visit the HRSA website to verify your eligibility based on your permanent
address https://data.hrsa.gov/topics/health-workforce/shortage-areas/
by-address
The application period will open on September 1 and close on November 1 of each year
Interviews are offered to applicants who have expressed an interest in medicine as a career; are U.S. citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents (Preference will be given to Texas residents)
- A minimum cumulative overall GPA of 3.5 and a BCPPM GPA of 3.5 at the time of application
- Complete Biology I and II with lab, Chemistry I and II with lab, with a grade of B or better in each course
*Can be in the process of taking Bio or Chem II at the time of application
- Ability to communicate and interact
- Capacity for improvement
- Service orientation
- Motivation for medicine as a career
- Maturity, stability, and tolerance
The Application
- Important: The application must be filed on line through the Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine's Admissions Management Portal (AMP)
- When creating an application account for the Early Assurance Program please select 'Create Early Assurance Program Account'
- Must use an @tamu.edu or system school email address to create an EAP account
- After submission of completed application items, applicants may check the status of their items by logging into the portal and selecting the 'Status' link for review. It is incumbent upon the student to check for outstanding items and ensure they are submitted by the deadline
- Transfer students are ineligible
Please contact med-eap@tamu.edu with any questions during the application process
Letters of Recommendation
- Two individual letters of recommendation on approved departmental letterhead are required.
- One letter must be from a teaching faculty member. This is a professor, instructor, lecturer, etc. whose class you've taken.
- Letters must be on official letterhead and addressed to Mr. Fernando Vasquez, Assistant Dean of Admissions. All letters must be submitted through the application portal.
Transcripts
Unofficial transcripts are required to make the application complete. All transcripts must be submitted through the application portal.
Application & Selection Timeline
After Applications have been evaluated, the selection committee will choose a select number of applicants to forward in the process and conduct interviews. From this pool, the final applicants will be chosen.
Students are chosen for their intellectual capacity, motivation for medicine as a career, selfless service, and ethical responsibility to self and others.
Selections will be announced after all interviews are completed.
Important: Acceptance to the RUP2M Early Assurance Program requires attending a mandatory seminar the Spring following the application cycle.
Current Texas A&M or System Student
Key Qualifications
- U.S. citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents {preference for Texas residents)
- To be eligible for admission into the RUP2M Program, you MUST reside in a rural, or
medically underserved, or primary care, or health professional shortage area as defined
by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA). Please visit the HRSA website to verify your eligibility based on
your permanent address (https://data.hrsa.gov/topics/health-workforce/shortageareas/
by-address) - Current second-year/sophomore Texas A&M University System school degree seeking students
- Minimum 3.5 cumulative GPA at time of application
- Complete Biology I and II with lab (grade of B or better)
- Complete Chemistry I and II with lab (grade of B or better)
*Can be enrolled in Bio OR Chem II at time of application
- After evaluating applications, the selection committee will conduct interviews with a chosen pool of candidates
- Final selections are based on intellectual capacity, motivation for medicine, commitment to selfless service, and ethical responsibility
- Results will be announced after all interviews are completed
Requirements for Early Assurance
These requirements are for students to remain in the undergraduate early assurance program and must be completed upon matriculation into the Vashisht College of Medicine.By the time of enrollment in medical school, RUP2M students must fulfill the following:
- Satisfy the Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine's undergraduate prerequisite course requirements:
- Grade of B or higher
- 47 semester hours*
- A maximum of 15 hours of AP credit may be applied to the 47 hours of prerequisite coursework with prior written approval
- Earn a cumulative 3.5 overall grade point average (GPA) and 3.5 BCPM (biological sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics) overall GPA
- Must maintain a minimum semester GPA of 3.5 or higher (excluding summer)
- Score a minimum of an 50 percentile MCAT score with no less than a 40 percentile in each subsection
- One retake of the MCAT is allowed if the minimum percentile is not achieved on the first attempt
- Complete a mandatory seminar course in the Spring specifically designed to uncover:
- The intricacies of the medical school application process
- Medical school curriculum
- Issues that describe medicine as a practice and a career
*Seminar course is not for credit and is by invitation only
- Participate in advising activities:
- Advising sessions with the EAP Program Manager and Coordinator
- MCAT preparation
- OPSA Workshop to be eligible for their Letters of Recommendation services
- Gain clinical experience:
- Shadowing, volunteering or employment in a clinical/healthcare setting with direct patient contact
- At least five to 10 hours per month or a minimum of 60 hours per year
- Perform community service:
- Participate in non-healthcare community service
- At least five to 10 hours per month or a minimum average of 60 hours per year
- Complete your degree plan as prescribed and within the standard acceptable time frame
- After admission to the RUP2M program, complete all coursework toward degree at Texas A&M University or home institution
- Commit solely to the Texas A&M Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine
Contact Us
If you're interested and want to learn more, we'd love to hear from you.
We're here to help you explore your future as an Aggie doctor!
Guillermo Canedo, M.S.
Program Manager – Early Assurance Pathway Programs and Recruitment
May Vega, MA, M.Ed.
Program Coordinator – Early Assurance Pathways Programs and Recruitment