JAMP STUDENTS ATTEND CLASSES AT UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER
Pre-medicine students from various universities in Texas participating in the Joint Admission Medical Program are now attending classes at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.Created in 2000 by Senate Bill 940 of the 77th Texas Legislature, JAMP was designed to support and encourage economically disadvantaged students to go into medical careers in Texas, Leila Torres, JAMP program coordinator for the health science center, said.
After completion of the program, students receive scholarship money to pay tuition at any JAMP-participating medical school upon acceptance. Torres said the biggest percentage of students that are accepted into the program are minorities.
“This is good because the state wants to develop more minority physicians in hopes that they will go back to their communities and serve them,” she said.
The students must also have a 3.25 grade point average or higher in their first 15 hours of undergraduate courses and at least a 3.0 GPA in science courses.
JAMP faculty directors from participating universities submit two students to the program based on their qualifications and interest in medicine. Each summer, students go to various medical schools in Texas and complete a rigorous curriculum of courses.
Within the first week alone at the health science center, JAMP students attend lectures in physiology, learn medical terms and take tours of the various labs on campus. They also receive preparation for the Medical College Admission Test through classes that review the sections that will be included on the exam and a full- length practice test given at the end of the summer.
All JAMP students are required to take the MCAT no later than the spring semester of their junior year.
By the end of the summer, the students are already several steps closer to getting into medical school than many of their peers who are also studying to be doctors.
“I know that without JAMP, it would have been more of a struggle for me to get into medical school,” Jose Ochoa, a McAllen native, said. “I consider myself to be pretty lucky to be able to be a part of this program and meet all of these great doctors and see all of these different medical schools.”
For more information, contact Leila Torres, JAMP program coordinator at the health science center, at 817-735-2204.
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