Quillen College of Medicine FAQs

The Quillen College of Medicine Admissions Committee has total authority with everything to do with admissions. They determine and approve all policies, processes, procedures and decisions related to the selection of medical students for Quillen. There are no outside influences!

Is Quillen all about primary care?
The primary mission of Quillen College of Medicine is to educate future physicians, especially those with an interest in primary care, to practice in underserved rural communities. However, Quillen students are under no obligation to choose a career in primary care.

What about hospital affiliations and clinical exposure? Is exposure to teaching beds more limited at Quillen than what I would receive in a more urban setting?
Patient contact begins during the first semester. There are 3,000 patient beds available for teaching through affiliated hospitals.

What are the oldest MCAT scores you will accept?
Acceptable scores may not be more than two years old. To meet this requirement, applicants to the 2023 entering class may submit competitive scores from any administration of the MCAT taken from January 2020 through September 2022.

When should I apply?
Applications are received June 1 - November 15 of the year prior to admission. The application and all related material must be received by AMCAS by November 15.

What is the Early Decision Program?
The Early Decision Program allows applicants to secure an acceptance from one medical school by October 1. Applicants choosing this program agree to apply to no other medical school prior to the medical college's October 1, decision. Applicants not accepted during the early decision process may be deferred for consideration with regular candidates, or consideration could terminated. Please note that both early decision and regular decision applicants are held to the same high standards of admission; early decision applicants are not given preference over regular decision applicants by the Admissions Committee.

Does Quillen give preference to in-state applicants?
Quillen College of Medicine is a state-supported institution. Preference for admission is given to U.S. citizens or those who possess a U.S. Permanent Resident Visa and permanently reside in Tennessee. Applications from residents of Tennessee, TBR defined border counties and applicants from our contiguous Appalachian area are welcomed. Additionally, the college gives preference to active duty military personnel and honorably discharged veterans of U.S. military service. 

Quillen also favorably considers two groups of out-of-state applicants for admissions. Applicants whose domicile is within a 250 mile radius of Quillen and out-of-state applicants who graduate from a four year college or university located in the state of Tennessee within the preceding three years. Of particular interest are those applicants giving strong evidence of their commitment to a career in primary care and/or rural medicine. Please note, applicants accepted from these groups will be classified as out-of-state and will be charged tuition at the in-state rate plus 30%. 

From these groups, preference is given to applicants who have received at least a baccalaureate level degree from a regionally accredited institution prior to matriculation. Applicants not meeting the above criteria are strongly discouraged from applying here. 

Boarder county students from the following counties, who meet the in-state tuition fee waiver requirement as undergraduate or graduate students at ETSU, shall be considered as Tennesseans for admissions and tuition fee payment purposes at the Quillen College of Medicine.

Virginia:  Lee, Scott, Washington, Grayson

North Carolina:  Ashe, Avery, Haywood, Madison, Mitchell, Watauga, Yancey

For more information. . . 
https://www.etsu.edu/admissions/policies/border_county.php

Residency status for admissions and fee payment purposes is determined at the time of application according to governing regulations. 
A copy of the TBR guidelines for determining residency can be found at https://policies.tbr.edu/policies/policy-classifying-students-state-out-state-paying-college-or-university-fees-tuition.  However, information for the two new groups of applicants noted above will not be found on the TBR webpage.

What about Altus Suite?
All applicants progressiong to the secondary application stage are required to take Altus Suite consisting of Casper, Snapshot, and Duet, and report scores to Quillen.

Casper is designed to evaluate core personal characteristics considered important for success in medical school and practice. It consists of a series of hypothetical, everyday situations presented through a variety of formats including text, animation or live-action video. Each situation relates to one or more personal characteristics. Examinees are asked how they would respond or behave in the situation portrayed.

Snapshot is a short, one-way interview to highlight your communication skills and motivation for the profession so you can bring your personal statement to life.

Duet is a value-alignment that compares what you value in a program with what the program has to offer.

Advanced registration is required. Specific information about registering for Altus Suite is found at takealtus.com. There is a fee which is not part of the QCOM application fee. These fees are waived for applicants eligible for the AAMC-FAP. 

Early scheduling is advised and applicants should anticipate a four-week turnaround in score reporting. Applicants should schedule in sufficient time to allow for the reporting of results by the due date of their supplemental application information when requested. Scores from tests taken past the December 7, 2022 test date will not be accepted. Consideration for interviews will not occur until these scores are officially reported to us.

Do you accept transfer students?
Transfer applications to Quillen College of Medicine may be accepted from qualified students for admission to the second or third year of the curriculum on a space available basis.

How many applications do you normally receive?
Quillen College of Medicine normally receives 3,000+ applications.

What is the average number of applicants from whom you request supplemental information?
The number varies from year to year, but normally falls in the 500 range.

What is the average number of interviews granted?
Quillen's Admissions Committee generally interviews about 260 applicants each year.

What undergraduate major should I choose?
Applicants are encouraged to pursue their own intellectual interests in completing a broadly based undergraduate education demonstrating scholastic rigor, analytic and critical thinking, an aptitude for understanding complex systems in human biology, and the ability to apply knowledge.

What is your admissions committee looking for in an applicant?
Quillen's Admissions Committee evaluates each applicant on the basis of demonstrated academic achievement, scores earned on the MCAT, letters of recommendation, pertinent extracurricular experiences, evidence of non-scholastic accomplishment, and clinically related experience demonstrating motivation for the study and practice of medicine. They look for integrity, willingness, and ability to assume responsibility, high scholastic achievement, maturity, intellectual curiosity, and sound motivation.

What are the average MCAT scores and GPAs of accepted applicants?
Average scores for accepted applicants are continuously updated on our web site.  Entering Class Statistics

How do I establish Tennessee residency?
Residency status for admissions and fee payment purposes is determined at the time of application in accordance with governing regulations.
A copy of the TBR guidelines for determining residency can be found at https://policies.tbr.edu/policies/policy-classifying-students-state-out-state-paying-college-or-university-fees-tuition.

What are the differences in curriculum for the Rural Primary Care Track (RPCT) and Generalist Track?
In general, the core curriculum is the same for both tracks. In the preclinical phase the RPCT offers the students one day a week of educational activities in rural and underserved medicine to include rural precepting, cultural competence, and understanding Social Determinants of Health in a rural context. This can come through didactics, work assignments, and field trips. During the junior year, the RPCT students have a three month clerkship experience in several of our rural communities. The remaining eight months are composed of the same core clerkships offered to the non-RPCT students. Outside of the RPCT, the medical students in both the RPCT and the non-RPCT (generalist) courses and clerkships receive equivalent experiences. RPCT does require a little extra time in the preclinical years to cover the educational activities. Preclinical precepting requires travel up to one hour each way and during the third year it requires overnight stays in the communities.