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 CMU College of Medicine 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

The top 30% of the M4 class will be invited to apply to AΩA. Students will be assigned a score calculated based on the Year 1-2 courses total average on exams, the average of total NBME “shelf” exams, and by clerkship honors. Invited applicants will submit a CV with their experiences demonstrating leadership, advocacy, service and scholarship, and an essay to the given prompt.

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.