DPD Current Students

Admission is open to current Messiah students prior to their junior year who have met or exceeded the application requirements for LECOM. (Note: This means that applicants must have a total four years of college credits prior to entering this program. In some cases, students who enter Messiah with a full year’s worth of college credits, or take additional credits while at Messiah, may actually graduate in three years prior to entering this program. Applicants are required to be enrolled at Messiah for the two consecutive years immediately prior to LECOM matriculation and take a minimum of 60 credits at Messiah during this time period.)

• Application is initiated by the current student through this LECOM link.
• Students are required to contact Martha Stigelman, Coordinator of Pre-Health Professions Advising for their EAP enrollment requirements.
• Applicants are required to interview with a LECOM representative and must be in-person; either on a LECOM campus, in an offsite location or by videoconferencing.
• Students accepted into the LECOM EAP Podiatry program as current Messiah students will receive a provisional acceptance to this program.
• In order to maintain their LECOM EAP provisional accepted status, Messiah students will be expected to meet the GPA and shadowing criteria, submit all required information to LECOM in a timely manner, and to participate in the “keeping in touch” activities initiated by LECOM.
• Applicants must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.

 Required undergraduate courses:

• 6 Credit Hours of English
• 8 Credit Hours of Physics including labs
• 8 Credit Hours Biology including labs
• 8 Credit Hours Inorganic Chemistry including labs
• 8 Credit Hours Organic Chemistry including labs

Other Requirements

After graduating from Messiah University, at the time of their transition to LECOM, students must reach or exceed the following benchmarks: 

• Overall GPA of 3.4/4.0 or higher each semester prior to making application to this program
• Science GPA of 3.2/4.0 or higher
• Messiah University requires that at least 25 hours of documented podiatric medically-related experience be completed at the time of matriculation to LECOM.

• The time that it takes a student to earn his/her undergraduate degree from Messiah University varies.  Some students are able to complete the degree in fewer than four years depending on a variety of factors including summer school attendance, AP test scores and college dual-enrollment during high school.
• Regardless of the timing, the undergraduate degree must be completed prior to matriculating at LECOM,  and the student must have completed two years as a full-time student prior to their matriculation at LECOM.
• Most DPM EAP students major in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, applied health science or biopsychology.  With early and careful planning, other major choice may be appropriate. See Martha Stigelman for further details.
• If not selected for this high school EAP program, the student may reapply after completing 30 credits at Messiah University (and meeting the benchmarks enumerated above). They can also receive a guaranteed interview if they decide to apply as a traditional student.

• A grade of at least 'C' is required to transfer prerequisite coursework.
• No required class should be taken P/F
• Required classes should be taken at Messiah University unless prior approval is granted.
• Messiah University requires that at least 25 hours of documented podiatric medically-related experience be completed at the time of matriculation to LECOM.
• Students accepted into this program must be enrolled at Messiah as full-time students for at least the two consecutive years immediately preceding matriculation at LECOM.
• This program is open to transfer students.
• Provisionally accepted students may not apply to any other podiatric medical school.  Application to another podiatric medical school will result in the loss of the student’s provisional acceptance. 
• LECOM will try to honor students' choice of campus if multiple campus choices are offered.
• Applicants must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.