PreMed Program

AMCAS Application

The American Medical College Application Service is broken down into several main sections. The application itself may be completed in little time, provided you have adequately done the necessary background work. This application (aside from secondaries) is the only documentation medical school admissions committees review before either offering an applicant an interview or rejecting someone outright. Therefore, it is in your best interests to have several people examine it for spelling errors or incorrect information. Links below provide information specific to each of the sections.

Biographical Information

This portion of the application is very simple. It is important to select a permanent mailing address to which all secondary applications, correspondence, and - with luck - your acceptance letters will be mailed. It is also one of very few fields that can be modified following submission of your application.

Post-Secondary Experiences Information

The Post-Secondary Experience section can be synonymous with the Extra-Curricular Activities section. This section is reviewed by the admissions committees to determine the applicant's activities and interests. Activities commonly described in this section include paid employment, volunteer work, and research. The applicant may list no more than 15 experiences, so individuals who have been particularly active should take care in listing only the most suitable 15. If possible, group together similar experiences to provide the committees with more information. There is a limit to the character fields used to describe the activity. Therefore, be descriptive but brief, and avoid using all of the available fields. It is advisable to list only those activities that may carry some weight in terms of demonstrating responsibility, impact and commitment. In general, there is no value in including a list of hobbies.

Essays

This section contains the personal statement and is extremely open-ended, with no parameters or directions governing content. The only restriction is the character count, which limits the statement to about 1-1/2 to 2 pages. The essay is extremely important and likely will consume most of your time in completing your application. Unfortunately, there is no proven topic or style the applicant can use to guarantee an acceptance. The essay should be proof-read for accurate spelling and grammar. The University of Connecticut offers essay workshops that may be of value to applicants. There are commercial essay companies as well. If you plan to use one of these services, shop around and ask advice from other applicants who have used the services. Many are overpriced.

Schools Attended

This section provides the admissions committees with information related to colleges and universities attended. Regardless of institution and intent, if you took a college level class for credit, it must be included in this section.

Coursework

It is easiest to print out unofficial transcripts of your coursework to complete this section. Common questions for this section involve classes the applicant withdrew from and classes that have been retaken for grade forgiveness. Note: if the class appears on your transcript, it must be listed on the application. If you exclude certain courses, the information will appear in your transcripts anyway. Your overall GPA, and your grades in Biology, Math, Physics and Science (BMPS) will be averaged and automatically calculated. Your science GPA, statistically speaking, holds the single greatest determining factor for admission.

Standardized Tests

This section retains the histories of the Medical College Aptitude Test, and each score is released irrespective of the applicant's wishes. For this reason, it is inadvisable to take a standardized test for practice.

Designate Medical Schools

For all the reasons stated throughout this page, applicants not seeking early acceptance typically apply to 10-30 medical schools. In most cases, 10 applications are more than enough. Keep in mind that each school requires completion of a secondary application, some of which require significant time and effort. The cost of submitting one AMCAS application is $130, with an additional $30 for each additional school. Most applicants apply to a broad range of schools, from those that are very likely to accept them to those schools that are a stretch. Additional schools may be added to the application at any time.

Application Audit

The application is automatically audited using this section. Conflicting information and blank fields can be detected at this time. However, this is no substitute for your own personal audit. It is in your best interest to avoid any incorrect information, spelling and grammatical errors. There is a print option available on the AMCAS website. Print out a version and look for errors.