MD Admissions

Student Resources

Debt Calculators and Loan History Information

National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) — provides a comprehensive listing of all federal loans including information on loan servicers.

StudentAid.gov — provides information on FAFSA, Direct & Grad PLUS loans and repayment plans such as Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and REPAYE. Also includes loan repayment calculators.

National Health Service Corps — provides cost-sharing grants to more than 30 states to operate their own loan repayment programs for primary care providers working in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs).

MD/Dual Degree Financial Aid Information

A number of MD students are enrolled in MD/Masters programs. We encourage all students who are considering or applying to these programs to come speak with us for counseling & planning.

Financial planning is required because the federal government has legislated different annual and aggregate borrowing limits for the Direct loan program based on a student's academic program. These limits cannot be changed and will affect your borrowing capability. The Grad PLUS loan is available to support additional funding for the academic program if you have received your limit.

Program Annual Direct Loan Semester Limit Aggregate Limit*
Bioethics, Translational Research, Law,  Clinical Epidemiology, Health Policy, Medical Ethics $20,500 $10,250 $138,500
JD $20,500 $10,250 $224,000
MBA, Public Health $25,000 $10,250 $224,000
MD

$42,720 (1st year)
$47,167 (2nd year)
$47,167 (3rd year)
$40,500 (4th year)

  $224,000

*Aggregate limits are cumulative and include any undergraduate, graduate, and medical loans borrowed in the Direct loan program.

For any semester when a student is a full-time Masters student (versus full-time MD) the program limits above apply for that semester. Please note --- School of Medicine financial aid packages do not apply during Masters semesters. Students paying MD tuition are eligible for MD loan limits and School of Medicine financial aid packages. 

Time-out — MD/Dual Degree Study — Leave of Absence

  1. Awards (scholarships) are only applied to MD tuition paying semesters.
  2. Students on a time-out study do not pay tuition and therefore are not eligible for Medicine scholarships.
    • During this time you remain a registered full-time student and you have a reduced budget consisting for fees, health insurance, and living expenses. Direct loans are available.
    • Loans are still eligible for deferment.
  3. Students considering combined MD/Dual degrees should review the program website for curriculum detail and then stop by to discuss financial planning.
  4. If you pursue a degree at another institution you are on a leave of absence from Penn. Therefore your financial aid will be processed by the school in which you are enrolled.
  5. During a leave of absence a student is not enrolled and is ineligible for financial aid.
    • Loans will enter grace period.

External Scholarship Opportunities

Alpha Lamba Delta Honors Society Graduate Fellowship — To be eligible for an ALD Graduate Fellowship, you must be a member of Alpha Lambda Delta who is enrolled or will be enrolled in a graduate or professional studies program during the coming academic year. 

American Association of University Woman — The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is the nation’s leading voice promoting equity and education for women and girls. Since our founding in 1881, AAUW members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — educational, social, economic, and political.

American Medical Association — The AMA-MSS is dedicated to representing medical students, improving medical education, developing leadership, and promoting activism for the health of America.

American Medical Women's Association — The American Medical Women’s Association is an organization which functions at the local, national, and international level to advance women in medicine and improve women’s health.  We achieve this by providing and developing leadership, advocacy, education, expertise, mentoring, and strategic alliances.

Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarships — The United States Army, Navy, and Air Force offer prospective military physicians a paid medical education in exchange for service as a commissioned medical department officer.

Baltimore City Medical Society Foundation — The mission of the Baltimore City Medical Society is to advance the ethical practice of medicine and improve the quality of medical care by providing advocacy, educational programs and essential resources for physicians.

Walter S. Barr Fellowships — The Horace Smith Fund was established to help deserving students finance their education, and is available to local students who are graduates of Hampden County, Massachusetts secondary schools. Fellowship applicants must be residents of Hampden County or qualified former residents.

Chinese American Medical Society — You must currently be in your first, second, or third year of medical or dental school in the U.S.A. when applying for this scholarship.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute — CHCI offers several Scholar-Intern Programs that provide not only monetary support, but hands-on experience in various fields. From media to health care to business, CHCI's Scholar-Intern programs will help you gain important skills while earning money for your education.

Connecticut Academy of Family PhysiciansThe mission of CAFP is to promote excellence in health care and to improve the health of the people of Connecticut through the advancement of the art and science of Family Medicine, the specialty of Family Medicine and the professional growth of Family Physicians.

Daughters of the American Revolution — These awards are in the amount of up to $5,000. Students must be attending or accepted into an approved, accredited medical school (including Osteopathic Medical Schools), colleges or universities. An application form must be completed for each scholarship you are applying for.

Dr. Thomas P. and Edwina H. Devlin Medical Scholarship — Applicants must be accepted at an accredited medical or nursing school.  We welcome applications only from residents of Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield, Wilmington, Winchester, and Woburn, MA.

William E. Dochterman Medical Student Scholarship — Through the William E. Dochterman Scholarship Fund, the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society provides scholarships to deserving medical school students who have graduated from a high school in El Dorado, Sacramento, or Yolo counties.

Fresno County Medical Society Foundation — The mission of the Society is to promote and develop the science and art of medicine, enhancement of the public health and the general welfare of the medical profession; to cooperate with organizations of like purposes and to unite with similar societies of other counties in the State of California as component societies of the California Medical Association.

Golden Key Society — Golden Key offers more than half a million dollars in scholarships and awards each year, including those for both undergrad and graduate students. This is just one of the many ways the Society enables members to realize their potential through the Golden Key legacy never failing commitment to the advancement of Academics, Leadership and Service.

Frank & Louise Groff Scholarship — Awards will be made at the discretion of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. However, as mandated by the Groff Will, scholarships are limited to those students who have graduated from a public high school within Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Hellenic University Club of Phila. Scholarship — We bring together Greek-Americans and others who wish to learn more about subjects and ideas rooted in Hellas/Greece and to celebrate 4,000 years of Greek culture.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute — HHMI is a recognized leader in biomedical research. Our research programs support people, not projects, and give our scientists the time and freedom to pursue difficult, long-range questions. We encourage creativity, collaboration, and interdisciplinary thinking.

International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons — Medical and dental students who have completed their first year of an accredited medical/dental school are eligible to apply.

Japanese Medical Society — By submitting the single application, you are applying for scholarships from various donor sources. The amount of awards varies depending on the donor but have ranged from $2,500 up to $20,000 in the past. In choosing scholarship recipients, the JMSA looks for candidates who: demonstrate academic excellence, show a strong interest in the JMSA and achieving its goals, propose a clear, achievable project that will benefit the JMSA and the Japanese community.

Jewish Federation of Greater Phila. — For more than 110 years, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia has been supporting and promoting the strength of the Jewish community in Greater Philadelphia (we serve the following five-counties locally: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia).

Lancaster City and County Medical Society — Provides funding to Lancaster County, PA residents attending medical school who exemplify good character, motivation, academic excellence, and demonstrate financial need. 

Madison County Medical Society — The Society is the liaison between the medical community, the lay community, the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, and the American Medical Association.

Thomas Brown McClelland Trust Scholarship — Medical school students who graduated from a high school in Miami-Dade County are encouraged to apply.  The high school can be public or private.  The students can be recently accepted and starting their first year, or they can be beginning their second or third year.  Candidates can apply all three years of medical school regardless of whether they have been awarded previously.

National Italian American Foundation — Scholarship awards range from $2,500-$12,000 and are awarded to undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate, medical, and legal students. Each scholarship award can only cover tuition and university-provided room and board. Scholarship recipients are eligible for one year of scholarship support. Scholarship applicants and winners can and are encouraged to reapply in subsequent years.

National Medical Fellowship — NMF scholarship programs recognize merit as well as financial need. Over the years, funding for scholarships has come from hundreds of foundations and from individuals. NMF actively seeks and welcomes partnerships to build the scholarship program.

New Jersey State Federation of Women's Club — The Margaret Yardley Fellowship Fund was established in 1930 to provide fellowship grants to deserving women who are New Jersey residents pursuing post-graduate advanced studies at the school of their choice.

Pennsylvania Medical Society — Scholarships for students from Allegheny, Blair, Lehigh, Lycoming, Montgomery, Berks, and Northampton counties. 

Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society — Phi Kappa Phi awards more than $1 million every two years to outstanding students, Phi Kappa Phi members and chapters

Pisacano Leadership Foundation — The Pisacano Leadership Foundation seeks to enhance the specialty of family medicine by identifying and promoting the development of the future leaders in the most comprehensive primary care field

Joanna F. Reed Medical Scholarship — Awarded to students who reside in Alabama and northwest Florida and who attend, or have been accepted for entrance by, recognized private medical schools wherever located and who are pursuing a degree in pre-medicine. The scholarship shall be awarded on the basis of the applicants prior academic performance, recommendations from instructors, financial need, and the Selection Committee’s evaluation of the applicants’ motivation, character, ability and promise of fitness as practicing physicians.

Saginaw County Medical Society — Provides low interest loans to medical students with ties to the Saginaw area.

Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara — For residents of Santa Barbara, CA.

Sigma Chi Foundation — In addition to individual scholarships, the Foundation is proud to assist students through larger grants to the General Fraternity

Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans — Every year, The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans supports thirty New Americans, immigrants or the children of immigrants, who are pursuing graduate school in the United States.

Worcester District Medical Society Scholarship — The criteria for scholarship awards will be based on scholastic achievement, financial need and community service. The applicant must be a legal resident of Central Massachusetts at the time of applying to medical school and currently attending an accredited medical or osteopathic school.  He/She must submit a current transcript, two letters of recommendation, and an essay stating the applicant’s reasons for selecting a career in medicine and why they feel deserving of the award.

Vietnamese Medical Association — The scholarships are offered to qualified US residents who are enrolled in accredited US medical schools.

Bread & Roses Community Fund — Jonathan R. Lax Fund encourages gay men to obtain additional education. Men must live in the five-county Phila. region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Phila.) and Camden County. 

Point Foundation — Point Foundation (Point) is the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students of merit. Point promotes change through scholarship funding, mentorship, leadership development, and community service training.

Scholarship America — Works directly with students, parents, donors, colleges, business, and communities to empower people to achieve their educational goals. 

Tylenol Future Care Scholarship — Awards for students pursuing careers in healthcare.

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation — Supports advanced doctoral students completing dissertations that further the understanding of the educational pathways and experiences of high-achieving, low-income students.

Orazio DiMauro Foundation Scholarship — Applicants must be a resident of Brideport, CT or the surrounding towns.

Dunloggin Scholarship — To be eligible, a student must have completed the first year of medical school. Scholarships will be granted for one year and may be renewed twice, providing for three successive years of scholarship support. In addition, when a recipient successfully completes the final year of medical study, some reimbursement for the first year's expenses may be granted. In awarding funds, a preference is shown for those students who attended McDonogh School on a scholarship.

Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation — Our purpose is clear. The need more urgent than ever. Whether the issue is jobs or climate change, fiscal reform or health care, our national affairs are all too often seen as mired in division and paralysis, highly polarized and drowning in private dollars. And the institutions that conduct our nation’s affairs lack public confidence, especially the trust of younger Americans.

Child Neurology Foundation — The Child Neurology Foundation announces the availability of one summer clinical research scholarship for a first- or second-year U.S. or Canadian medical student who has an interest in training as a child neurologist. The award will be made for clinical research focused in the field of neuro-developmental disabilities in children to be conducted under the direction of a child neurology/NDD subspecialist during the summer break. Selected applicant will receive a $3,500 scholarship to support his or her research project.

NCAA Walter Byers Post-Grad Scholarship — The Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program is separate and distinct from the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Program, which provides numerous annual awards with smaller stipends. The stipend for each Byers Scholarship is $24,000 for an academic year. The scholarship amount will be reviewed every two years so that the purchasing power of the award will remain reasonably close to the award as initially conceived in 1988.

Stars Scholarship Foundation — Supports permanent residents of South or West Texas.

National Football Foundation — Founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational organization that runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people

The Roothbert Fund — The Roothbert Fund was created in 1958 by Albert and Toni Roothbert to help men and women in need of financial aid to further their education. The principal focus of The Fund is its Scholarships Program, through which it makes grants for undergraduate or graduate study at accredited colleges or universities. Scholarships may only be applied to study at an accredited institution based in the United States. The Fund seeks candidates who are "motivated by spiritual values," and works to foster fellowship among them.