The Application Process
For many medical schools in the United States, the application process begins with AMCAS, the American Medical College Application Service. Most medical schools in the United States participate in AMCAS, which is a benefit to you. You need to file only one application; AMCAS forwards a copy of it to every school that you are applying to.
This is a list of the schools that you'll need to get applications from
directly:
Brown University, Columbia University, New York University,
Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, University of North Dakota,
University of Missouri, University of Texas, and any school in Canada.
The AMCAS application consists of the following categories:
Biographic Information
This section contains what you think it would: background questions.
Post-Secondary Experiences
This lists your work experience, your extracurricular activites, and any
honors you may have. Many people have many such activities; it
is best to resist the urge to list everything - only put down
what is relevant.
Essays
You will write two essays for the primary application, and assuredly
more essays when you get the secondaries. The AMCAS essay section has
a "practice vision" essay of 1/2 page and a "Describe yourself in 10 years"
essay of one page. These essays do play a large role in their decision making,
so put real effort into them.
Transcript Requests
You'll need transcripts from every postsecondary institution attended.
Keep a copy of your transcript for yourself, so that while you are
working on your various applications, you can keep degrees, courses,
and dates correct.
Letters of Recommendation
AMCAS requires five letters of recommendation. It is good to get
letters from both practicing physicians and non-physicians.
Course Work
You must list every course ever taken since high school. This
includes courses for which you earned no credit. Enter the courses
in chronological order, and transcribe them to the application in
exactly the same manner as they appear on your transcript.
After submitting your AMCAS application, it will be sent to your designated schools. In the meantime, you will take the MCAT. Some schools will wait until after they have received your MCAT scores to send you a secondary application. Others will send them after you meet certain pre-qualifiers, which include a determination of your coursework, GPA, interests, etc. If you are sent a secondary application (and not all schools will send every applicant a secondary), the next step is submitting those applications. Your transcripts and letters of recommendation will follow your application.
If all goes well, your schools like your MCAT scores, your GPA, your coursework, your volunteer experience, and your supplementary applications - then they will invite you for an interview. This is the step where you see if the school really means business. If they didn't like you so far, they wouldn't have asked you to come, so prepare for the interview as if you were preparing to take another 8-hour test!
Here are some practice questions that you are likely to see at the interview.
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