Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society

Alpha Omega Alpha, founded in 1902, is the national medical honor society. AΩA is dedicated to the belief that in the profession of medicine, we will improve care for all by:

• Recognizing high educational achievement.
• Honoring gifted teaching.
• Encouraging the development of leaders in academia and the community.
• Supporting the ideals of humanism.
• Promoting service to others.

Election to Alpha Omega Alpha is an honor signifying a lasting commitment to professionalism, leadership, scholarship, research and community service. Membership in AΩA confers lifetime recognition for a physician’s dedication to the profession and art of healing.

Membership

Fourth-year medical students at the Covenant HealthCare College of Medicine at Central Michigan University will be inducted into the AΩA Honor Medical Society. The number of AΩA inductees is approximately 20% of the students in the graduating class.

Applicant criteria and characteristics

Inductees into AΩA should demonstrate high scholastic achievement, exemplary professionalism, achievement in medicine, teaching and/or research, leadership capabilities, and a record of service to others, the school, and the community.

Application process

Inductees into AΩA should demonstrate high scholastic achievement, exemplary professionalism, achievement in medicine, teaching and/or research, leadership capabilities and a record of service to others, the school and the community.

To distinguish high scholastic achievement:

• The top 30% of the M4 class will be invited to apply.
• The ranking will be calculated by early September of M4 year.
• The score will be calculated based on the Year 1-2 courses' total average, the average of total NBME shelf exams, and M3 clerkship honors.

The selection committee will evaluate invited applicants on their achievement in medicine, teaching and/or research, leadership capabilities and a record of service to others, the school and the community:

• Applicants will list their experiences demonstrating leadership, advocacy, service and scholarship/research.
• Applicants will submit three short essays according to the prompts provided.
• The selection committee, comprised of AΩA faculty, utilizes a rubric to score the essays and the leadership, advocacy, service and scholarship/research. Each application will be scored by at least two committee members and tallied by the councilor.
• The councilor presents an anonymous final list of rubric scores to the selection committee. The committee determines the top approximately 20% of the applicants. In the event of an unclear breakpoint or tie, scholastic achievement score can be utilized to provide a tiebreaker.

The Covenant HealthCare College of Medicine will only have an M4 induction. The number of AΩA inductees should approximate 20% of the students in the graduating class, striving to ensure a diverse class of inductees.

Selection

The AΩA selection committee will evaluate the applicants’ materials according to a rubric and determine the AΩA inductees by early September of M4 year. The associate dean of Student Affairs reviews the preliminary selection list to ensure no professionalism issues or other extenuating circumstances exist that would make a student unworthy of induction.