Application Process

Health Professions Applicant Handbook

II.  The Application: AMCAS/AACOMAS, Personal Statement, Transcripts, Acknowledgements, Non-AMCAS, Where to Apply, Early Decision

AMCAS/AACOMAS
Most health professions schools use a centralized application process. The central application for allopathic medical school is AMCAS (American Medical Colleges Application Service) and for osteopathic schools is AACOMAS (American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service). The list of others is in the appendix. Both AMCAS and AACOMAS are web-based applications and can be accessed through the website of their professional association (see Appendix).

The majority of the 126 allopathic medical schools in the U.S. participate in AMCAS; all 26 osteopathic medical schools use AACOMAS; the Texas medical schools use TMDSAS. Usually by May 1, you can access the current version of AMCAS/AACOMAS on the web and begin working on it.  The earliest date you can submit your AMCAS application is June 1, therefore you can wait until your spring semester is over to start working on it. As stated above, it makes sense to review your spring MCAT scores before submitting your application.

The applications include extensive on-line instructions with their material. Please read them - most of your questions will be answered. They also provide an email address for questions. The application will ask for general information (much like a college application), a detailed reporting of your academic history, and a single page personal statement. The first part is straightforward and merely requires a neat and concise outline of your background. The academic record portion requires you to translate all your college work into a standard format including grades and semester hours.


The Personal Statement

The personal statement is an essay designed to allow you to highlight what you feel is important about yourself and perhaps explain any discrepancies in your application. It is not strictly a “Why I want to be a doctor” essay, however a sense of who you are and why you are motivated to a medical career should be evident. If you apply to osteopathic schools, however, you do need to address your understanding of the osteopathic philosophy directly. Dental schools specifically ask about your motivation for dentistry.

Writing these essays requires some time on your part. Carol is available to critique a draft of your personal statement should you want that. It is a good idea to begin working on your essay early and have the chance to return to it over time to fine-tune it. Send (via email or snail mail) or drop a copy of your essay in Carol’s box any time and leave your address and email so she can return it to you. Please allow at least two-three days. 
Knowing where to begin is usually the most difficult part of writing this statement. There are two resources on the Health Professions Resource shelf in Dowling Hall which might help you - Write for Success offers a variety of guidelines as well as some sample essays, and Writing About Me by Barbara Huntington and Linda Masse is also worthwhile. There are a number of good essays written by former Tufts students as well. Start by thinking about yourself - what is important to you, what accomplishments make you proud, what experiences have greatly influenced you? These need not all revolve around medicine, but around you! 

You should plan on doing multiple drafts and having different people, including Carol, give you their reactions. Your end product should be a very well written, clear and concise essay. It should let the reader learn something more about you than what the application has already told them. In other words, don’t merely reiterate your resume. The reader should conclude that you would be an excellent physician and a wonderful addition to her medical school. That does not mean that you have to tell the reader that directly. Try to be an individual in this essay - don’t look for a formula or a gimmick. This is your one place to shine in the application.


Transcripts

AMCAS and AACOMAS will require you to send official copies of transcripts from all the colleges from which you took classes. It is useful for you to have copies yourself when you are completing the application. You should put requests in at the registrar’s office of each college to have transcripts sent when spring grades are posted. If you are taking science classes in the summer, be sure to discuss this with Carol or Shirley to see if applying later makes sense, or if waiting until next year is wiser. For Tufts, you should complete the Tufts transcript request form and leave it at the Student Service Desk along with the AMCAS transcript request form. You can download the transcript request forms off the web at the http://www.aamc.org/amcas website. Check the AACOMAS site to see if they have a form as well. Normally students submit their transcripts prior to submitting the actual application in June.

Your goal should be to carefully complete all the pieces of your central application by early summer unless you are taking required courses in summer school. In that case you should submit it in July or August. Do not wait until after August MCATs to complete it. You will submit your application directly to the application service. Be sure to print a copy of your application and keep it along with accurate records of everything you send with dates.


Acknowledgements

The application services provide on-line status check capability now so you can always see what is happening with your application. Keep track of that and be sure that all the pieces required have been received and things are progressing. Once AMCAS and AACOMAS process your application, they will send it to the schools you designated.

Secondary Applications

Those schools will, in turn, send you “secondary applications.” The vast majority of schools do not screen, therefore you should expect to get secondary applications from all the schools to which you apply. The turnaround time is up to 4 weeks for this to happen. “Secondaries” vary - some may only ask for the school’s application fee and your letters of recommendation; others may ask for extensive further essays. In either case, you should complete them as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the Carol is unable to critique any of these essays. Once your “secondary” is in, your letters of recommendation have arrived, and your MCAT scores are reported, you have a completed application. Most schools will notify you when this occurs or provide an on-line status check option as well. It is your responsibility to insure that all materials have arrived at each medical school and to insure that your file is complete. 

With “secondaries” will come a request for your letters of recommendation to be sent. You will follow the procedures in the HPRC Information Packet to have your letters mailed. In specifying what letters will be mailed on the application you should list the committee name, its chair (Prof. Harry Bernheim) and Carol’s name, email address and telephone number.


Non-AMCAS Schools

Remember that there are a small number of schools that do not participate in AMCAS. Your best source of information on this is the Medical Schools Admissions Requirement 2006 (available to order on-line at www.aamc.org.) Not only will you learn which schools do not participate, you will have their email and snail addresses so that you can contact them directly for their application materials. Schools that do not participate include all the Texas schools, which have their own centralized application (http://www.utsystem.edu/tmdsas/.) The few schools that are not part of a central service may offer electronic options for obtaining and submitting applications, so check the Web. Those applications are filed directly with each medical school, thereby reducing the total processing time. You will send transcripts directly to them as well as recommendations. You will most likely be able to use some or the entire essay you wrote for AMCAS.

Canadian schools have their own strict, and often distinctive, application processes and also minimum requirements. Those in Ontario use a central application service known as OMSAS, found at http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas.


Other Central Applications

Most of the health professions now have their own centralized applications as well. For dental schools it is AADSAS, for podiatry schools it is AACPMAS, etc. Information on these can be found in the appendix of this handbook. Also there is a “Predental supplement” to this handbook.


Where to Apply

You will not be able to make final decisions on where to apply until the summer, but you can begin working on your central application and requesting applications from non-participating schools in spring. You can also begin researching schools through the MSAR (mentioned earlier) or Osteopathic Medical College Information Book, all of which are on the Pre-Health Resource Shelf, or through research on-line at http://www.aamc.org or http://www.aacom.org.  As you choose schools, you should consider your state residency as a primary factor. As a dependent student you are a resident of the state where your parents reside. The majority of state schools accept very few students from out-of-state. Nationally, students apply to 13 schools on average. Applying to a larger number does not necessarily increase a student’s chances of admission. Please be sure to consult with Carol when you have a tentative list of schools.

TIP: Read about medical education in general BEFORE researching individual schools so you have a context for your choices. Only then should you visit individual school websites. Schools will often announce their mission – e.g. educating tomorrow’s medical leaders, supplying physicians for rural areas in their state, being at the cutting-edge of medical research – on their websites.


Early Decision

A very small number of medical school applicants may consider the early decision option that many medical schools offer. This option allows a student to apply early decision to one (and only one) medical school no later than August 1, 2009 and have an answer by October 1, 2009. Students may not apply to any other medical school until October 1. This option makes sense for those students who have a clear first choice of a medical school AND are strong candidates for that school. You should consult with Carol if you are seriously contemplating an early decision application, to discuss the risks involved. 

TIP: Keep accurate records of everything you request and send out, keep photocopies of applications you submit, and keep all notices you receive from schools as well as notes on phone conversations. You can always check on line, and both application services will give you a phone number to call if you have questions or problems. AMCAS is 202-828-0600 and AACOMAS is 301-968-4190 
Please agree to have information about your candidacy released to your premed advisor.