Applying to Medical School

The Application

Each year has its own application cycle. If you are intending to begin medical school in Fall 2023, you are applying in the 2023 cycle. If you are going to begin in Fall 2024, you are in the 2024 cycle. Applicants typically apply to medical school the summer before the year they plan to begin (apply Summer 2022 to begin in Fall 2023) if they are not planning to take a gap year.

Your application has many parts, and the preparation takes years of planning and dedication. Every application needs:

• GPA
• MCAT score
• Activities including clinical experience and shadowing
• Letters of recommendation
• Primary application
• Secondary application
• Interview

Depending on the school, you may also need:

• Prerequisite classes
• Research (some schools strongly recommend six months or more)
• Altus Suite Casper, Duet, and/or Snapshot
• AAMC PREview

Primary Application

The primary application is the Common App of medical schools. There are three application services (AMCAS, AACOMAS, TMDSAS) that send your application wherever it needs to go.

Secondary Application

Secondary applications may be automatic after your primary is processed, or schools may screen your primary application before sending you a secondary. Each school has its own secondary with its own fee, and the questions are in an essay-format to get to know you better, why you want to be a doctor, and why their school specifically. 

Depending on the school, secondary applications might also include a requirement to take situational judgment tests including Casper or PREview.

Interview

After schools review your primary and secondary applications, they could invite you for an interview. Congratulations! This is great news. They like who you are on paper, and they want to meet you to make sure you are as awesome as your application suggests. 

Some schools are conducting interviews in-person on their campus, and others are maintaining virtual interviews.

Interview formats include closed file, open file, panel, group, and the multiple mini-interview (MMI).

AMCAS

AMCAS is the application service used by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). This service sends your primary application to allopathic (MD) schools throughout the United States but not Texas.

As of the 2023 application cycle, the cost of applying using AMCAS is $170 for your first school and $43 for every additional school. The AAMC offers a fee assistance program for eligible applicants.

AMCAS Application Components

The AMCAS has three main sections: 

1. Personal Statement
2. Work and Activities
3. Letters of Evaluation

Personal Statement

Use the space provided to explain why you want to go to medical school. 

This is AMCAS's prompt for your personal statement. You are given 5,300 characters to explain why you want to become a physician.

Work and Activities

AMCAS also allows you to include a maximum of 15 work and activities, and each receive 700 characters for explanation. You also need to know how many hours you spent on each activity, the dates you were a part of the activity, a contact name and email/phone, and the type of experience. Experience types include a drop-down menu selection from:

• Artistic Endeavors
• Community Service/Volunteer - Medical/Clinical
• Community Service/Volunteer - Not Medical/Clinical
• Conferences Attended
• Extracurricular Activities
• Hobbies
• Honors/Awards/Recognitions
• Intercollegiate Athletics
• Leadership - Not Listed Elsewhere
• Military Service
• Other
• Paid Employment - Medical/Clinical
• Paid Employment - Not Medical/Clinical
• Physician Shadowing/Clinical Observation
• Presentations/Posters
• Publications
• Research/Lab
• Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant

From your maximum of 15 activities, you may choose three that are most meaningful to you. These most meaningful activities receive a separate 1,325 characters in addition to the 700 characters already given.

Letters of Recommendation

AMCAS allows a maximum of 10 letters of recommendation. The categories for a letter are individual, committee, and letter packet. After your letters are uploaded, you may choose which and how many letters get send to a particular school.

AACOMAS

AACOMAS is the application service used by the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM). This service sends your primary application to osteopathic (DO) schools across the United States but not Texas.

As of the 2023 application cycle, the cost of applying using AACOMAS is $198 for your first school and $50 for every additional school. The AACOM offers a fee assistance program for eligible applicants.

AACOMAS Application Components

AACOMAS has four main sections:

1. Personal Statement
2. Work and Activities
3. Letters of Evaluation
4. School-Specific Questions

In addition to these, AACOMAS also has the option for you to submit your ACT and SAT scores.

Personal Statement

AACOMAS does not offer a prompt to the personal statement, but has the same purpose as AMCAS. You are given 5,300 characters to explain why you want to become a physician.

Work and Activities

For AACOMAS, the work and activities section is split into experiences and achievements with categories for both sections. You are given unlimited entries with 500 characters for each activity. You also need to know how many hours you spent on each activity, the dates you were a part of the activity, a contact name and email/phone, and the type of experience. AACOMAS allows you to add new experiences after you submit your primary application.

Letters of Recommendation

AACOMAS allows a maximum of 6 letters of recommendation. The categories for a letter are individual, committee, and letter packet. After your letters are uploaded, you do not choose which letters are sent to schools; each letter goes to every school.

TMDSAS

TMDSAS is the application service used by Texas schools. This service sends your application to every allopathic (MD) and osteopathic (DO) school in Texas, though there are some schools who still accept AMCAS if you are applying to a MD/PhD dual degree.

As of the 2023 application cycle, the cost of applying using TMDSAS is a flat fee of $200 regardless of how many schools. TMDSAS offers a fee assistance program for eligible applicants.