Honors Program in Medical Education (HPME)

For the Gifted Student Aspiring to a Medical Career

The Honors Program in Medical Education (HPME) offers a unique educational experience for talented students anticipating a career in medicine or medical science. The HPME fosters flexibility and creativity in the undergraduate education while reducing the pressures related to gaining acceptance to medical school. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the reduced pressure by exploring and challenging themselves personally and professionally to prepare a solid foundation for success in medical school and for leadership roles in their careers in medicine.

A pioneering program established at Northwestern in 1961, the HPME admits students simultaneously to one of the undergraduate colleges at Northwestern University in Evanston and Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. HPME students participate in a flexible, individualized undergraduate program that may be completed in three or four years prior to matriculation to Feinberg School of Medicine.  You may opt to pursue an additional degree or international experience after your undergraduate program without jeopardizing your Medical School admission.

Students are admitted to the HPME by a special admissions committee that works in conjunction with the Northwestern University Office of Undergraduate Admission. Once you are accepted into the program and meet the GPA and curricular criteria of the program, the University assures you a place in the first-year class of the Feinberg School.

The program’s goals are knowledge, understanding, and self-realization. Though the HPME requires you to take specific science courses that will give you a strong foundation for the basic science work you will undertake in medical school, each student’s course of study will be different. You and your faculty adviser will design a curriculum to help you pursue your own special academic and personal interests. You will choose from one of three curricular options; in the School of Communication, you will study communication sciences and disorders. In the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences you will choose courses in the social sciences and humanities from a wide array of offerings.  In the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, you will pursue studies in engineering. While the program in medical engineering is tailored for HPME students, you may elect to study any field of engineering offered at Northwestern.

A COMPLETE PROGRAM

As an HPME student, you will spend your undergraduate years on the Evanston campus in the Weinberg College, School of Communication, or McCormick School.

In the Weinberg College, you will devote approximately one-third of your course work to chemistry, physics, and the biological sciences. You also will take courses in the social sciences and humanities and graduate with a bachelor of arts degree.  You may elect to take a year of study abroad in a Northwestern-approved program.  It is encouraged that students take a fourth year on the undergradute campus if they elect to study abroad for a year.  However, the option of a year abroad is still possible with a three year undergraduate curriculum.

In the School of Communication, you will study the anatomy and physiology of hearing, speech, and the central nervous system related to cognition and memory. In addition, you will take courses in chemistry, physics, and biological sciences. Your curriculum will be enriched by studies in the social sciences and humanities.

At the McCormick School, you will pursue three or four years of study in engineering that includes courses in chemistry, physics, biology, the social sciences, the humanities, mathematics, and engineering.

After successfully completing your undergraduate studies, you will move to the Feinberg School of Medicine on the Chicago campus as a member of the first-year class.

Students who do not complete the requirements for a baccalaureate degree while on the Evanston campus will be granted, upon completion of additional study at the medical school, a bachelor of science in medicine, a bachelor of science in medical engineering (for those choosing the engineering option), or a bachelor of science in communication (for those electing the communication sciences and disorders option). The doctor of medicine degree is awarded after you complete the Feinberg School’s degree requirements.