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JAMP |
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Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP)
OVERVIEW:
The Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP) was created during the 77th Texas Legislature in order to encourage highly qualified but economically disadvantaged students enhanced access to medical training programs within the state. The program is designed around the principle of getting people into medicine who, for one reason or another, never previously considered the possibility. Specifically targeted are those students that had never considered medical careers because they thought themselves inadequately prepared or who thought that they could never acquire the financial resources necessary. The Legislature set aside ten percent of each year’s entering class in public medical schools (128 state wide) for JAMP participants.
BENEFITS:
To address the issues, the legislature provided for selected students: 1. $1,000 per semester for the sophomore, junior, and senior years of college. 2. $2,000 per summer for attending summer intern programs at medical schools following the freshman, sophomore, and junior years. 3. Supplemental tutoring, mentoring, and computer support provided at no cost in support of all coursework starting in the fall of the freshman year (even before final selection is made). 4. Admission into a Texas state medical school if minimal grades and testing standards are maintained. 5. A medical school scholarship for all four years of school.
QUALIFICATIONS:
In order to qualify for the JAMP program, as defined specifically in the law, the high school student must: 1. Score at or greater than the state mean on the SAT and/or ACT. For the 2005/6 school year, these scores were: SAT: 1012 combined (503 Verbal, 518 Math); ACT: 20.2 Composite (19.4 English, 2.60 Math, 20.5 Reading, 20.3 Science). 2. Graduate in the spring semester from high school or home schooled program. 3. Begin coursework at SFA (or any other participating university) in the fall semester immediately following graduation. (NOTE: This precludes students who graduated at another time, or who have delayed college entry, or who are transferring to SFA. Sorry.) 4. Be Pell Grant eligible by completing and submitting the FAFSA before the freshman year at SFA.
Additionally, in order to qualify at the university level, the student must: 1. Complete 27 semester hours of credit during the freshman year (which can include a maximum of 3 advance placement (AP) hours). 2. Earn a minimum of a 3.25 GPA for the fall semester.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE: 1. Completion of the “Notice of Intent to Apply” form (by the student) during summer orientation, or during the first week of the fall semester, and submitting the form to the SFA JAMP Director in Kennedy Auditorium room 101. 2. Completion of the on-line JAMP application at www.utsystem.edu/jamp (by the student). The application is made available around the 1st of March and must be completed by the 15th of October. The application takes about two hours to complete (when all the required information is at hand) and includes the following sections: a. Biographic data. b. Residency information. c. Family history and data. d. Financial data. e. High school and university extracurricular activities. f. Educational data. g. Personal statement. 3. Completion of the JAMP Application Package (by the JAMP Director before the 1st of March), which includes: a. A minimum of two letters of evaluation (from University Faculty). Dr. Langford will also submit a Letter of support for the applicants. b. A copy of the SFA application. c. A copy of the high school transcript which includes class rank. d. ACT and/or SAT scores. e. JAMP Director’s Summary Report. f. Documentation of Pell Grant eligibility (thus meeting the law’s definition of “economically disadvantaged”) provided by SFA Financial Aid. g. Documentation of Texas residency status also provided by Financial Aid.
SELECTION PROCESS:
After evaluation of the completed application packages, students will be interviewed by representatives of the JAMP Council. Selection of all JAMP students is made by the JAMP Council in Austin during the months of February and March. The JAMP Council is composed of primary and alternate representatives from each of the state’s medical schools.
Selection is made based on a number of factors and is very competitive. Factors weighted heavily include 1. Grades. A 3.25 overall in the fall semester is minimal and 3.0 in the sciences required. Preference will be given to those with higher grades. 2. Course selection. Students following a traditional premedical freshman curriculum heavier in the sciences (math, biology, chemistry) may be given preference over those not stretching themselves with the more strenuous courses. 3. Personal factors. This includes integrity, ability to communicate, altruism, maturity, a history of service, and dedication to academics and medicine.
SFA has been allocated 2 student selections each year for the JAMP Program. Selection for these two SFA positions is made on a competitive basis only from those applications submitted by SFA students. Selections for these two positions are made in February of the sophomore year. Selected students begin their training during the summer following their sophomore year.
REQUIREMENTS FOR CONTINUATION AS A JAMP STUDENT:
1. Continue at SFA on a full time basis (minimum of 12 semester hours per semester). 2. Maintain a science and overall GPA of 3.25. Failure to maintain these minimal standards for any one year may be sufficient grounds for dismissal from the program. 3. All medical school prerequisites must be taken at SFA. These prerequisites include: 14 hours of biology (BIO 131, BIO 133, BIO 241, and BIO 327); 16 hours of chemistry (CHE 133/L, CHE 134/L, CHE 331/L, and CHE 332/L); eight hours of physics (PHY 131 and PHY 132); six hours of freshman English composition and rhetoric (ENG 131 and ENG 132, or ENG 135); three hours of Math either statistics (MTH 220) or calculus (MTH 233, preferred). All of these courses must be passed with a minimum of “C”. 4. Successfully complete three summer medical internships. These three internships take place during the summers following the freshman, sophomore, and junior years. A pre-matriculation internship following the senior year may also be required by the accepting medical school. 5. Progress towards completing a bachelor’s degree within four years. Without summer school this requires a course load of 16-17 hours per semester. Please note that the summer medical internship programs (above) last approximately six weeks and may interfere with SFA’s summer school schedule. Exceptions to this eight semester maximum may be pre-approved by the JAMP Council. 6. Take the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) in the spring of the junior year. 7. Meet at least monthly with the SFA JAMP Director. Meet at least weekly with both course tutors and pre-medical upperclassmen mentors.
SUMMER INTERNSHIP SELECTION PROCESS:
Each year the SFA JAMP participants will submit a ranked preference list of the medical schools to which the student wishes to attend for the summer internships. All JAMP students must attend at least two different schools during the three summers.
MEDICAL SCHOOL SELECTION PROCESS:
Students that meet all the JAMP program benchmarks at the end of their undergraduate program should submit the medical school application through the TMDSAS web site. Assuming all objective and subjective minimal criteria have been met, and that the interview process was satisfactory, the selection of the specific medical school is made following the normal matching process.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: For additional information, see the SFA JAMP Director, Dr. Langford
at Kennedy Auditorium, room 101, or by calling 936-468-2315, or at klangford@sfasu.edu. Alternately,
go to the JAMP Frequently Asked Questions section. |
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