AMCAS - Your Centralized Application Service for U.S. Medical School Entry

The American Medical College Application Service aka AMCAS must be completed if you want to apply to allopathic (M.D. degree awarding) medical schools in the United States.

To be clear there are other medical school application services available. For example you'll use TMDSAS for allopathic and osteopathic medical schools in Texas. I guess they call it the Lone Star state for a reason since they're the only state with their very own medical school application.

If you're thinking of going to a college of osteopathic medicine where you'll receive your doctor of osteopathy (D.O.) degree then you'll be using AACOMAS when applying.

Applying to Medical School Basics

The golden rule to increase your chances of admission to medical school is to apply early. You want to be a position where you are ready to go with all of your materials in early June when AMCAS begins accepting applications each year.

To make sure you have a timely application you'll definitely want to review my medical school admission application outline that shows youw ant you need to do and when. Enabling you to have your best chances of being admitted to medical school.

Medical colleges use the American Medical Colleges Application Service because it streamlines the medical school admission process. Your AMCAS application is administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and since 2001 AAMC has used a web-based application: Begin your AMCAS application.

The work is not over once your application is submitted to the medical school application service of your choice.

You can now look forward to receiving secondary applications and prepare for medical school interviews because this is all apart of applying to medical school.

Getting Started With AMCAS

Completing your AMCAS application can be a hurdle in itself and you may have to rely on first year medical students and your pre med advisors. I did so don'Â’t be shy about asking for help because we're talking about your medical school future.

The AMCAS application has about nine sections ranging from basic identifying information (name, birthdate, etc) to standardized test scores.

Applying to medical school is not cheap and you will be charged $160 to apply to one medical school through AMCAS and $30 for each additional medical school. If you are facing a financial hardship you can apply directly to AMCAS for a fee waiver, although if you didn't get a waiver for the MCAT it may be difficult.

Don't let the application fee prevent you from beginning your medical school application. You can start working on your application even if you don't have the money for the application fee. You just can't submit your application to the individual medical schools until you pay.

Do try to come up with your money sooner than later because there are medical school application deadlines.

Transcripts

Not submitting your official transcripts can delay the processing of your application. You can begin submitting as early as mid May of each year.

If you ever attended any college (including community) or university, no matter how short the time you must submit a transcript from that institution. This includes if it was just one course, you withdrew before receiving a grade or credits were transferred elsewhere.

AMCAS will then go through a process of transcript verification to compare all the grades from your official transcripts and academic record to those you supplied on your application. It will be noted if a grade correction was made, if credit was received, and a lot of other things. Don't try to fool the system.

Work and Activities

Section five is your work/activities, which is pretty self-explanatory. This is your opportunity to provide details of how you spend your time outside of the classroom:

• working
• volunteering/community service
• researching or
• extracurricular activities.

For these activities you are going to:

• state its nature
• duration
• time devoted to (weekly).

You also can write a short paragraph on each extracurricular activity sharing your experience and how you were affected.

Letter of Recommendation

Your letter of recommendation is a very important component of your application to medical school. My advice on obtaining letters of recommendation is very simple.

Ask for recommendations several months in-advance of the deadline and only from individuals who can write strong letters on your behalf.

Medical Schools

This may seem obvious, but here is where you will choose from a list of medical schools where you want to apply.

You do not have to choose all of your medical schools at once. Feel free to add additional schools as you see fit as long as their application deadline has not passed.

Do not worry about knowing if a school's deadline has passed because you will not have the option of applying. Once a medical school's application deadline has passed it will not appear in the drop down menu of schools available for you to apply to.

Smart applicants will apply early and to a broad range of medical schools.

This means applying to schools from all tiers. You basically do not want to put all your eggs in one basket because you never know what a particular medical school will be looking for in applicants in any one year.

Medical School Essay

Your personal statement is roughly a one-page, typewritten, single-spaced essay where you need to address two questions: why medicine and why you. You are writing to show medical school admissions officers what you know of medicine, your life experiences, and why you deserve to become a physician.

If any of this seems overwhelming or youÂ’'re unsure about how to make your writing standout I may have the solution to your problems. Be sure to check out my exclusive book, Your Ultimate Guide to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement.

Other Medical School Application Services

Most of you will use AMCAS because it covers just about all of the medical schools (list), but there is an allopathic medical school that does not use this medical school application service:

University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

If you plan on applying to this medical school you must apply directly.

Not everyone is going to use the AMCAS application when applying to medical school.

If you want to attend a United States medical school that awards the Medical Doctor (M.D.) degree after you complete four years of med school, then you only have two medical school application service options:

• AMCAS
• TMDSAS

What's TMDSAS?

It's the Texas Medical and Dental School Application Service (TMDSAS) which you will use to apply to professional schools located in Texas.

Canadian Medical Schools

If you are planning on attending one of the 17 accredited Canadian medical schools you must use the Ontario Medical School Application Service.

Osteopathic Medicine

Planning on attending an osteopathic medical school to receive your Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) degree?

If yes, you will apply to osteopathic medical schools using the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service (AACOMAS).

More on Applying

There is a lot to take in when applying to medical school so please review the links below. They link to additional information which you may find very useful during your application to medical school.

Advice for applying to medical school.
Reasons to attend a particular medical school.
Preparing for medical school.
Medical school applicant activities before matriculating.
How to students pay for medical school.