ADMISSIONS POLICIES REQUIRED FOR ALL PROGRAMS

International Applicants/Non-U.S. Citizens

An international applicant is any applicant who is not a United States citizen or permanent resident (green card holder) of the United States. All academic programs on all PCOM campuses require citizenship or permanent resident status (green card) for enrollment. 

International Coursework

If an applicant has completed any coursework or a degree(s) from institutions outside of the United States, he/she must request an official course-by-course evaluation from World Education Services (www.wes.org) to be forwarded to the following address for review along with the application for admission:

Office of Admissions
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
4170 City Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19131

All prerequisite coursework must be completed at a U.S. regionally accredited college or university. International coursework will not count towards meeting any prerequisite coursework.

English Proficiency Requirement

Proficiency in written and oral English appropriate to graduate and professional study is expected of all PCOM students. Any applicant whose native language is not English must demonstrate objective competency in English within the past two years by satisfactory performance on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The minimum required score for the IBT (Internet Based Testing) is 79 and a minimum score of 26 is required for the speaking component. General writing assistance is available for theses and dissertations, however, as an institution offering only graduate and professional programs, PCOM does not offer remedial ESL coursework.

Every applicant whose native language is not English, or whose undergraduate instruction was not in English, must provide an English proficiency test score. A score is considered too old, and will not be accepted, if it is more than two years old from the start of your enrollment term. Country of citizenship does not exempt applicants from this requirement. Language of instruction at the college or university level, and how recent it has been, are the determining factors in meeting this requirement.

Applicants are exempt if: English is the exclusive language of instruction at the undergraduate level; or they have earned a degree from a regionally accredited U.S. college or university not more than five years prior to the anticipated semester of enrollment; or they have completed at least two full-time semesters of graded course work, exclusive of ESL courses, in a U.S. college or university, or at an institution outside the U.S. where English is the exclusive language of instruction, not more than five years prior to the anticipated semester of enrollment.  The Program Director has the discretion to override the TOEFL exemption in regard to verbal and written English proficiency.

Technical Standards

Each program has Technical Standards for Admissions that define the Physical Sensory and Cognitive Psychological requirements for enrollment. These standards are available at www.pcom.edu/admissions under Application Requirements and are required to be completed by an accepted student prior to enrollment.

Criminal Background Check Requirement