I recently interacted with a leader of the NGO, Educators for Fair Consideration (E4FC), one of my favorite websites for DREAMer information and excellent technical assistance on a variety of immigration/higher ed issues. She told me that there had been some movement on the part of medical schools to consider and admit DACA students—beyond that of the industry leader Loyola-Chicago medical school. In addition, the AAMC has made fee waivers available to DACA holders applying for medical school. While it is hard to imagine a world of DACAmented medical doctors, I suppose it is no more counterintuitive than is the world where DACAmented (Florida) and undocumented (CA) lawyers can become licensed and practice law. I pass on this information for its obvious interest to IMMPROFers, and for its advocacy value to all others. I think the list above and below is under-inclusive, as I know I have assisted several Texas and other states’ public medical schools over the years to admit and give in-state tuition to their undocumented applicants. However, I make it a point never to retain personal information on the students, so I am going back to collect more information and to see the effects of DACA on this population.
It is not widely known that LSAC has a generous fee-waiver policy to waive fees for the LSAT and Credential Assembly Service (CAS), for DACA recipients and even for DACA applicants: http://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/fee-waivers
Medical School Policies on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
In 2012, the Obama administration granted temporary relief from deportation for certain unauthorized immigrants who entered the United States as children, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). To date, more than 640,000 individuals have applied for DACA status, which confers lawful U.S. presence, a social security number, and work authorization, allowing for participation in medical residency training. Though there is still a small percentage of total applicants, the AAMC recorded an 8-fold increase in 2014 medical school applicants that identified a DACA status. Below is a partial list of medical schools
that have reported willingness to consider DACA applicants. Association of American Medical Colleges
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, NY
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, PA
New York Medical College, NY
Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine, IL
Stanford University School of Medicine, CA
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, CA
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, CA
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, FL
University of Michigan Medical School, MI
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, TN
Yale School of Medicine, CT
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, IL: http://www.stritch.luc.edu/admission
Harvard Medical School, MA: http://hms.harvard.edu/departments/admissions/applying/requirements-admission
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, MD
The AAMC cautions that this is not an up-to-the-minute nor comprehensive list of medical schools that consider applicants with DACA status. We encourage students with DACA status to directly contact admissions offices at medical schools to learn more about application policies and resources for DACA applicants. To add your Medical School to this list of schools accepting students with DACA status, please email
coa@aamc.org.