Overview of the SBU-SUNY Upstate Early Assurance Program

St. Bonaventure University maintains an Early Assurance Program (EAP) with SUNY-Upstate Medical University School of Medicine in Syracuse, N.Y.

The EAP program is designed to free students from the pressures associated with applying to numerous medical schools, allowing them more freedom to pursue unique academic interests and experiences. It is NOT intended to accelerate the length of time of an undergraduate education.

Application Requirements

To be eligible to apply, students must have met certain GPA and course prerequisite requirements:

• A minimum 3.5 grade point average.
• Any 5 out of the 8 science courses listed below completed prior to application. All science courses must have the corresponding lab with the exception of Biochemistry:
  • General Biology I & lab (3-4 semester hrs.)
  • General Biology II & lab (3-4 semester hrs.) 
  • General Chemistry I & lab (3-4 semester hrs.) 
  • General Chemistry II & lab (3-4 semester hrs.) 
  • Organic Chemistry I & lab (3-4 semester hrs.) 
  • Biochemistry (3-4 semester hrs.) 
  • General Physics I & lab (3-4 semester hrs.) 
  •  General Physics II & lab (3-4 semester hrs.) 
• The courses below are additional pre-requisites that do not need to be completed prior to application, however they need to be successfully completed prior to enrolling as a medical student:
  • English elective (3 semester hrs.)
  • Composition or Writing course (3 semester hrs.)
  • Statistics (3 semester hrs.)
• Sophomore status at SBU.
• A letter of recommendation from the SBU Health Professions Evaluation Committee.
• A copy of your SAT or ACT score report. (Preference given to students with 1360 (ERW+M) new SAT or 1300 (CR+M) old SAT or ACT composite 29.
• A personal statement (see the Upstate online application form).
• An official transcript of four semesters of completed college coursework.
• An official high school transcript.
• An application fee payable to SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Accepted students are required to:

• complete their remaining two years of college
• maintain a 3.5 or higher science pre-requisite GPA and overall GPA each semester at St. Bonaventure University
• earn no lower than a B- in any course
• continue relevant volunteer and clinical experiences

Accepted students are required to obtain a minimum score of 509 on the MCAT exam. Applicants are not required to be residents of New York state, but New York state residents are preferred.

Applications are available online each March and must be returned by July 1, following the sophomore year. Visit the SUNY Upstate web page with a link to the online application.