Last updated: June 2026
MD Scholars LLC ("MD Scholars," "we," "us," "our") is a Missouri limited-liability company with a business address at 1641 Parquet Ct, St. Louis, MO 63146. We operate the website at mdscholars.com and deliver mentored research training programs. These Terms & Conditions ("Terms") form the binding agreement between you and MD Scholars LLC.
1. Acceptance of Terms
By (a) accessing mdscholars.com, (b) submitting an application, (c) paying tuition, (d) creating a student-portal account, or (e) participating in any MD Scholars program or related communication, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms, our Privacy Policy, and our Authorship Policy. If you do not agree, do not use our website or services.
2. Eligibility
Our programs are open to anyone who is at least 13 years old and on a pathway toward a medical, scientific, or biomedical career. Specifically:
- Minors (under 18): Must have a parent or legal guardian who reviews and signs our parental consent form. We may decline to enroll a minor without verified consent.
- International applicants: Welcome, including International Medical Graduates (IMGs) pursuing US residency. You are responsible for ensuring your participation complies with any visa, work, or licensure requirements in your country of residence.
- Identity verification: We may require government-issued ID, transcripts, or other documentation to verify your identity and the accuracy of your application. Knowingly falsifying information is grounds for immediate removal without refund.
3. Program Enrollment & Tuition
Our published tuition for each cohort is shown on the Enroll page:
- High School Track — $1,199 (early-bird pay-in-full: $1,049)
- College / Pre-Med Track — $1,399 (early-bird: $1,249)
- Medical School Track — $1,599 (early-bird: $1,449)
- Resident / IMG / Fellowship Track — $1,599 (early-bird: $1,449)
- 12-Month Advanced Track (HS & College) — $1,799 (early-bird: $1,599)
- Institutional Program — custom quote
The early-bird discount applies only when full tuition is paid at the time of acceptance. A two-installment payment plan is available for every track at no additional cost: the first installment is due at acceptance, the second by the end of Week 2 of the course. Two-installment plans do not qualify for the early-bird discount.
Enrollment is conditional on (a) acceptance into the program by our faculty review team and (b) receipt of full payment or the first installment. Once enrolled, you receive a unique MD Scholars student ID (format MDS-<Sem>-<Year>-<Track>-<N>), login credentials to the student portal, and a place in your cohort.
4. Payment Methods
We currently accept payment by ACH bank wire or by mail-in check / bank draft. Credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay options are scheduled to become available in a future release; we will notify enrolled students when those methods go live. Full payment instructions, including bank routing and mail-in address, are emailed to accepted applicants and listed on the Enroll page.
You are responsible for ensuring that your payment is correctly attributed to your enrollment (use your full name and program track in the memo / reference field). If a payment cannot be matched within 14 days of receipt, we may contact you for clarification or, if unresolved, return the funds and treat the seat as unfilled.
5. Refund Policy
Our refund window is measured from the official cohort start date:
- Through end of Week 1: Full refund of paid tuition, no questions asked.
- During Week 2: 50% refund of paid tuition.
- After Week 2: No refund. Tuition becomes non-refundable for the remainder of the program.
To request a refund, email support@mdscholars.com with the subject line "Refund Request — <your name>" before the end of your eligible refund window. Approved refunds are returned by the same payment method used for enrollment within 14 business days.
Refunds are not issued for (i) removal due to violation of the Code of Conduct (Section 6), (ii) failure to complete coursework or assignments, (iii) inability to attend live sessions, or (iv) administrative withdrawal for non-payment of the second installment.
6. Code of Conduct
By enrolling in MD Scholars you agree to:
- Treat mentors, staff, and fellow scholars with respect, professionalism, and academic integrity at all times.
- Submit only your own original work, or work for which you have proper attribution and authorization to share.
- Maintain strict confidentiality of any de-identified datasets, unpublished manuscripts, mentor research, or peer work product shared with you during the program.
- Not redistribute, share publicly, or commercially exploit course materials, slides, videos, or readings outside the cohort without written permission.
- Disclose any conflicts of interest, including financial relationships with the institutions or vendors whose data you may analyze.
- Comply with all applicable laws and university honor codes that govern your work.
We reserve the right to suspend or permanently remove participants who violate this Code. Removal due to misconduct does not entitle the participant to a refund of tuition already paid, and may be reported to the participant's school, university, or professional licensing body when appropriate.
7. Parental Consent for Minors
If the enrolled scholar is under 18 at the time of application, a parent or legal guardian must complete and sign our parental consent form before the scholar can access program materials, attend cohort sessions, or submit assignments. The consent form covers (a) participation in the program, (b) data collection and academic record-keeping, (c) communication norms (group sessions, 1:1 mentor calls, email), and (d) acknowledgment of the refund and conduct policies described in these Terms.
By signing the consent form, the parent or guardian represents that they have legal authority to do so and that they accept these Terms on behalf of the minor. The parent / guardian remains the primary point of contact for billing and administrative communications until the scholar reaches 18.
8. Student Portal & Course Materials
Upon enrollment you receive personal credentials to portal.mdscholars.com (or the equivalent path on mdscholars.com). The portal contains weekly lecture videos, slides, PDFs, datasets, assignment-submission tools, mentor Q&A, a progress tracker, and your completion certificate when issued. Credentials are personal and non-transferable. Sharing your portal account with a non-enrolled person is grounds for immediate removal without refund.
Access to course materials remains active for the duration of your cohort and a reasonable archive window thereafter. Specific archive durations are listed in your acceptance email and may vary by track.
9. Intellectual Property
- Owned by MD Scholars: Curriculum, lecture content, slide decks, internal datasets, brand assets, software, and program design are the intellectual property of MD Scholars LLC and our faculty contributors. You receive a personal, non-transferable, revocable license to access these materials for the duration of your enrollment and any archive window.
- Owned by you: Work that you produce during the program — abstracts, manuscripts, posters, presentations, code, and figures — belongs to you, subject to (a) the ICMJE-aligned Authorship Policy, (b) any data-use agreements you sign, and (c) institutional review board (IRB) constraints when applicable.
- Joint or external data: Where projects use mentor-provided or third-party datasets, the data-use agreement governs reuse, redistribution, and publication rights. Read those agreements carefully before signing.
10. Authorship & Publications
Authorship on works that arise out of your MD Scholars work is determined by the ICMJE-compliant Authorship Policy. Paying tuition or enrolling does not, by itself, entitle anyone to authorship on any specific paper. Disputes are resolved per the Authorship Policy.
11. Certificates of Completion
Scholars who complete all required coursework, assignments, and the capstone deliverable receive an MD Scholars Certificate of Completion. Each certificate carries a unique ID using the format MDS-<Sem>-<Year>-<Track>-<Number> (for example, MDS-FA-2026-HS-0001) and is verifiable at mdscholars.com/verify. We reserve the right to revoke a certificate retroactively in cases of confirmed academic misconduct that affected its issuance.
12. Privacy & Data Use
Your personal information is handled per our Privacy Policy. By enrolling you also consent to MD Scholars using aggregated, de-identified outcome data (admissions rates, publication counts, conference acceptances) for program-evaluation, marketing, and research purposes. We will not identify you publicly without your express written permission.
13. Communications
By providing your email or phone number you consent to receive transactional communications from us regarding your application, enrollment, payment, coursework, and certificate. We may also send occasional program announcements (info sessions, new tracks, alumni events). You can opt out of non-transactional emails at any time by replying with "unsubscribe."
For incoming questions, use:
- contact@mdscholars.com — general questions, public inquiries, press
- team@mdscholars.com — partnerships, institutional sales, mentor recruitment
- support@mdscholars.com — enrolled students (subject line: Billing or Education)
14. Disclaimers
MD Scholars provides research training and mentorship. We expressly do not guarantee:
- Acceptance into any college, medical school, residency, fellowship, or other academic or professional program.
- Publication of any specific abstract, poster, or manuscript in any specific venue.
- Any specific career outcome, salary, licensure, board score, or examination result.
- That any specific person will serve as your mentor, or that your assigned mentor will remain available throughout the program.
Our programs supplement, but do not substitute for, the academic instruction provided by your school, university, or training program. They are not a substitute for clinical training, medical advice, or formal credentialing.
15. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:
- MD Scholars LLC's total cumulative liability for any claim arising out of or related to these Terms or your use of our services is limited to the total amount of tuition you paid to MD Scholars in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
- We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, lost goodwill, or business interruption, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
- You agree to indemnify and hold harmless MD Scholars LLC, its officers, employees, and faculty mentors from any third-party claim arising out of your breach of these Terms or your misuse of our materials.
16. Termination & Withdrawal
We may suspend or terminate your access to the student portal and / or the program at any time for cause, including but not limited to: non-payment, violation of the Code of Conduct, academic misconduct, identity falsification, or material breach of these Terms. Termination for cause is documented in the admin panel as a "drop" event and revokes portal access immediately.
You may withdraw voluntarily at any time by emailing support@mdscholars.com. Voluntary withdrawal does not retroactively cure violations of the Code of Conduct, and the refund policy in Section 5 governs any monetary settlement.
17. Modifications
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date, and we will email enrolled students. Continued use of our services after a material change constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you disagree with a material change, you may withdraw under Section 16 and request a pro-rated refund of any unused, future tuition.
18. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Missouri, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles. The parties first agree to attempt good-faith resolution by direct email correspondence for 30 days. If unresolved, disputes will be heard in the state or federal courts located in St. Louis County, Missouri, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. Each party bears its own legal fees unless the court awards otherwise.
19. Force Majeure
Neither party is liable for failure to perform due to circumstances beyond reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, war, civil unrest, pandemic, public-health emergency, internet outage, or government action. When such circumstances cause cohort delays, MD Scholars will use reasonable efforts to extend the cohort or transfer enrolled scholars to a future cohort at no additional cost.
20. Severability & Entire Agreement
If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Authorship Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and MD Scholars LLC and supersede any prior representations or agreements regarding the subject matter.
Questions about this policy? Email contact@mdscholars.com.