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Step-by-step: entry requirements, MCAT prep, personal statement, interview format and the key deadlines.
Open the guide →Format breakdown, school-specific sample questions, FAQs and prep tips from tutors who interviewed here.
Read the guide →Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, founded in 1887, is the only institution in Oregon with authority to grant the MD degree and serves as the state's sole academic medical center. Located on a hilltop campus above Portland, OHSU is the Pacific Northwest's most prominent academic health sciences university. The school trains physicians with a strong emphasis on research, rural health workforce development, and underserved community medicine across Oregon's diverse geographic landscape.
OHSU is the only institution in Oregon that grants MD degrees, giving it a unique statewide workforce development mandate. The school is affiliated with the OHSU Hospital — a level I trauma center and the state's only academic medical center. OHSU offers strong dual-degree pathways including MD/PhD (MSTP), MD/MPH, and MD/MBA. The school's Area Health Education Center (AHEC) program places students in rural and underserved Oregon communities for training rotations.
Integrated curriculum. 4-year MD. Years 1–2: integrated science and clinical skills curriculum at the OHSU hilltop campus. Years 3–4: core clerkships at OHSU Hospital and Health System, including trauma, oncology, and rural AHEC training sites across Oregon. MSTP, MPH, and MBA dual-degree tracks available.
Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine (MD) has notable research strength in Cancer biology and oncology, Neuroscience and neurodegeneration, Cardiovascular disease, Rural health disparities, Infectious disease.
Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine (MD) interviews via MMI (multiple stations, typically 8–10, in-person or virtual). OHSU School of Medicine uses a Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format comprising 8–10 stations of approximately 8 minutes each with 2-minute preparation windows. Stations are held at the OHSU hilltop campus in Portland and cover ethical dilemmas, communication scenarios, collaborative problem-solving, policy discussions, and reflective prompts. Assessors include faculty clinicians, trained community members, and standardized patients. The full interview day spans approximately 4–5 hours and includes an admissions overview, a student-led tour of the OHSU clinical campus and Oregon Simulation Center, and informal interaction with current students. As the only MD-granting school in Oregon, OHSU's MMI specifically tests applicants' awareness of Oregon-specific health challenges and rural access issues.
Approximately 150 students per year.
Founded in 1887, based in Portland, OR. Programmes offered: Oncology, Neuroscience, Rural Medicine, Primary Care, Cardiovascular Medicine.
OHSU's MMI is blinded at most stations — your application does not follow you into station rooms. This means drill the 8-minute rhythm and ethical reasoning frameworks, not personal narrative. Oregon residency helps but OHSU does admit a meaningful number of out-of-state applicants, particularly those with rural Pacific Northwest ties or research backgrounds aligned with OHSU's strong oncology and neuroscience programs. The rural Oregon mandate is taken seriously: if you are from outside Oregon, demonstrating awareness of Oregon's healthcare geography (rural Eastern Oregon, coastal communities, tribal health) shows genuine fit research. The OHSU campus is notoriously hilly and isolated — asking about student life and community in Portland shows contextual awareness.
Two questions our tutors flagged as a strong fit for Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine (MD)’s interview style. Try answering them out loud, then open Prometheus for the model answers and follow-up tips.
Describe a time you received criticism that was difficult to hear — from a supervisor, a coach, a professor, or a peer. How did you respond in the moment, and what did you actually do with the feedback afterward?
Likely follow-up · What was your honest first reaction, before you had time to process it?
In 2023, the US Supreme Court ruled in SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC that race-conscious admissions programmes at universities were unconstitutional. The Court noted, however, that applicants may still discuss how race affected their lives, including through discrimination. How should medical schools approach diversity in admissions in this new legal landscape, and why does physician workforce diversity matter for patient outcomes?
Likely follow-up · What is the difference between using race as a category in admissions decisions versus considering an applicant's lived experience of race as a biographical fact?
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Build an MCAT prep plan that hits the median score profile for Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine (MD).
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Learn moreWe've helped students turn their MCAT, personal statement and interview prep into offers from Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine (MD) and other US medicine schools.
