updated:
2/ 2002
Next update: 2002
Copyright 1999-2002.
Alex Shteynshlyuger
Master.com.content
Medical School Admissions: The Application Process
Contents:
Application Process A-Z: MCAT, AMCAS, all else
- Letters of Recommendation
- Premedical Committee Recommendations
- Personal Statement
- Typical Questions on Secondary Applications
- Useful Links:
Application Process A-Z
All admission requirements to US medical school, with possible exception of English, must be completed prior to applying to medical school and before taking MCAT, since MCAT tests the knowledge covered in pre-med classes. The requirements are 1 year of each: Biology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, all labs and English.
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Next you must take MCAT, which is administered twice a year: in April and August. You must preregister for MCAT well in advance, so plan ahead. MCAT costs $160 to take but they will reduce the fee to $55 if you qualify. "Eligibility depends on the applicants and applicants parents to pay for MCAT registration." To get fee reduction you need to apply at least 2 months before the exam date. Go here to get MCAT fee reduction request form
If you're planning to apply to medical school, ideally you should take MCAT no later than April of that year. If you take the August administration, you will be placed at a great competitive disadvantage vis a vis others. Medical schools have what is called "rolling admissions" which means that they look at applications as they become complete and offer acceptances and rejections along the way.
Since medical schools do not get your August MCAT scores until mid-October and they do not look at your application until it is complete with MCAT scores, their class will be almost full by the time your application is complete and they look at it. Even if your qualifications are good you might end up rejected from the places that would have accepted you had your application been completed earlier. If your application (GPA, MCAT, etc) is less than stellar and depending on various other factors such as your state of residence, if you take the August MCAT you might be better off waiting a year to apply.
Applying to medical school involves two steps: filling out what is known as the AMCAS application, which is available as a program for IBM-compatible computers There is no version of AMCAS for the MAC. Paper application is also available, but I urge you not to consider it since filling out a computer version allows you for easy editing and correction, and there are many opportunities to make mistakes. In addition you will need to report your GPA using a formula that may differ from the way your school calculates your GPA. The computer program does it automatically--you will have to suffer a lot with the paper version.
Using AMCAS application you can apply to 90% of US medical schools--and using AMCAS is the only way you can apply to these schools.. Some schools do not participate in AMCAS application process--in particular most Texas schools and some Ivy League schools require that you call them for their application.
Applying through AMCAS costs about $35 per school. In general you will apply to at least 10 or as many as 20 schools which comes down to $350 minimum. On top of that each school to which you apply through AMCAS will send you an additional application, called "secondary application". Medical schools charge you anywhere from $50 to $100 in "processing fees" for secondary application, which means that if you apply only to ten schools you'll be down another $1000.
It is also possible to get fee waivers for AMCAS--they let you apply to ten schools without paying any fees. If you apply to more than 10 schools you get the first 10 free and pay normal fees for applying to other schools. Many medical schools also honor AMCAS fee waiver and let you send in the secondary application without paying the processing fee. Again, eligibility depends on your financial status and you MUST apply well before you plan to send your AMCAS since it takes a few weeks to process--which might mean your application would be delayed.
This is a good time to remind that once you apply, getting things out fast is very important. Send the AMCAS application back ASAP. Secondaries will start coming to you in a month or two. Do not keep secondaries for too long--get them out of the door as soon as you can so that your application can be reviewed sooner. Of course, do not sacrifice quality either--don't send complete trash to medical schools. Haste makes waste but the slow are left behind.
Remember to send your transcripts to AMCAS as soon as possible.
AMCAS has a number of sections:
- Your personal information: name, date of birth, parents, etc
- Academic Info: Schools attended, listing of ALL classes and grades you received. Also they require that you send official copies of all transcripts to them.
- A section where you can list your activities: jobs, extracurriculars, etc
- A section where you can put your awards, honors, etc
- A section where you put your essay (Personal Statement)--which could be one single-spaced page long.
- A section where you specify to which Medical School you want to apply
When you're applying to medical school, you're required to provide letters of recommendation. In general medical schools require that your letter of recommendation comes from the Premedical committee at your undergraduate school. If your school does not have such committee, you will have to explain it to them. Usually they will ask you to provide about three individual recommendations, preferably two of them must be from science faculty. As someone who worked at one point at undergraduate admissions office, I can report a global consensus that parents in general are not particularly good sources of recommendation letters.
Premedical Committee Recommendations
Usually the premedical committee at your school will ask you to provide them with three-to-four recommendations from faculty, or anyone else such as supervisor where you volunteered, done research, etc, etc. Two recommendations should be from science professors but not necessarily from those who taught your pre-med classes. Choose and pick who to ask for recommendation.
The reality is that most people don't drink beer with their professors, and some but not all professors will tend not to remember you if you took a class with them 2 years ago. If you did well in their class, go to them anyway and BE PREPARED. Tell them you're applying to medical school, give them your resume or CV (list all honors, interests, etc), your transcript and a letter outlining why you want to go to medical school, why you're a good candidate--so that they know your interests. Provide them with as much good, positive information as you can.
If you took a class and wrote a paper that the professor liked, there is a good chance he or she will remember you and will be willing to write a good letter. Seminar classes that are small and allow for much interaction and class participation are rare in the sciences but more common in the non-sciences and are also good opportunities to show to professors that you care and a good, intellectually capable student--which translates into a good recommendation.
In fact if you're a freshman, sophomore or junior and thinking about applying to medical school, it is never to early to ask for recommendations. Always sign to waive your rights to read your recommendation. If you think the recommender might write shit about you--don't ask them for a recommendation. BE WARY. A bad letter is worse than no letter.
Find out how your school keeps recommendations. Some schools have recommendation service in career center but often premedical advisors or committee will take your recommendation for safekeeping. In fact, if you did well in a class--ask the professor to write you a recommendation for medical school.
It is said that the personal statement plays an important role in deciding who gets an interview. This may be true, since given that most applicants to medical school have pretty good "paper/academic" qualifications, admissions must have a way to select whom to invite for interview.
Of course, the importance of Personal Statement may vary from one school to another. The bottom line is that you must do a good job on it. It must be well-written and polished. In fact you should start writing the first drafts well before you apply to medical schools. It is up to you what you want to write here. Many people write about their motivations for becoming a doctor, their academic achievements/experiences---basically everyone tries to sell themselves so that the people reading the essay buy into your story and call you for an interview.
If you're stuck and want to see sample essays that people who got accepted to medical schools have written, get Medical School Admissions: The Insider's Guide by John Zebala, et al. Besides being a pretty good guide to medical school admissions, it has 50 Personal Statements that were written by students who were admitted to medical schools around the country--mostly Ivy League schools. Do not be a fool, do not plagiarize: This is a very well-known and popular reference book and I'll bet every admissions person knows all the essays by heart. But you can get ideas for your own essay from this book.
For help on writing your personal statement, you can also take a look at Perfect Personal Statements by Mark Stewart or visit Accepted.com, where you will find some good pointers for writing your personal statement and secondary essays.
I think it can be left unsaid that what these sources give is advice. Even good advice is nothing more than generalizations. It is not a set of God-imposed rules. It is probably a good idea to follow most of that advice, but I think you should not limit yourself to doing things others advise or discourage you from doing. In the end, it is your essays and you probably know best how to sell yourself.
I also highly recommend Purposes of Medicine article from Lancet for insight on the nature of medicine..
Click to see sample questions that previously appeared on Secondary Applications from various medical schools.
Download e-AMCAS for Windows now!
MEDICINE: A Chance to Make a Difference (for college students from AAMC)
US News & World Report Rankings of Colleges, Medical Schools
AAMC Student and Application Information (including AMCAS-e application download)
Medical scientist training program MD/PhD (plus participating schools)
AAMC Student and Application Information (including AMCAS-e application download)
Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) MD/PhD program (plus participating schools)
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