Applying to Medical School (2023)

AnAMCAS application workshopis held every spring for current applicants (see schedule). The 2023 AMCAS webinar presentation and recording(for late summer/fall 2023matriculants) and FAQs are provided below.

AMCAS and other primary application & secondary applications and Casper and other situational judgment tests

• AAMC AMCAS Website|AMCAS Applicant Guide(pdf)
• AMCAS Course Classification Guide|AMCAS Course Classification Guide(pdf)
• AMCAS tutorials
• AMCAS Letter Service|AMCAS Letter Writer Application

Applying to State Medical and Dental Schools in Texas: Texas Medical & Dental Schools Application Service (TMDSAS)

• TMDSAS Website|TMDSAS Application Handbook(pdf)

Applying to Osteopathic (DO) Schools: Association of American College of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service (AACOMAS)

• Applying to Osteopathic Medical College
  • Apply Now
  • Application Instructions and FAQs

Casper (Computer-based assessment for sampling personal characteristics)

At this time,over 30U.S. medical schools require applicants to do an online situational judgment test (SJT) called Casper as a pre-interview screen. The test presents a scenario which includes an ethical dilemma and then asks applicants to comment on how the individuals in the scenario should proceed. Proponents of the test believe it measures personal traits such as integrity and the ability to reason. If applicants are required to do this, we strongly recommend that they do free online practices (seehttps://takecasper.com/sample-casper-test/andhttp://apetest.com/caspersim/practice-test/for two examples). The SJT requires timed, rapid typing about specific scenarios, so applicants need to practice that skill if possible. Note: There are on average just1-2 test dates per month, so be sure to register ahead of time. Please be sure to review the CasperFAQs. We recommend that you aim to take Casper by the end of July, so it does not delay any interview invitations.

The 2022 AAMCPREview™ professional readiness exam (formerly known as the AAMC Situational Judgment Test)

Learn more about thePREview exam.
Listof participating medical schools.
Register atwww.aamc.org/preview

Review test datesand theregistration deadlines for each testing window.
For questions about thePREviewtest and program, emailaskpreview@aamc.orgor call 202-540-5457.

FAQ for Applicants:

• • Coursework Section

    Q: How do I classify a course in AMCAS?

    A: Many Harvard courses do not fit perfectly into AMCAS course classifications, so you will need to use your best judgment. Classify according to the primary content or disciplinary approach of the course. So, biostatistics would be classified as math/stats, not biology. For further explanation, please see the AMCAS Applicant Guide. The OCS premedical/pre-health advisers cannot make this determination for you; AMCAS is the final arbiter of all course classifications. Your Science (“BCPM”) GPA is made up of your Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math (Statistics = Math) grades. For more information about how to classify your courses, see theAMCAS Course Classification Guide.

    If AMCAS changes a classification you made, and you disagree with the change, you can appeal the change via the Academic Change request option (available within the AMCAS application). You only have a limited time to appeal this decision, so review your application carefully as soon as it is verified by AMCAS.

    Q: I am not Advanced Standing but want to indicate to med schools that I have taken AP Calculus. How do I do this in the coursework section?

    A: AMCAS has asked that students not list AP calculus on their AMCAS application if it is not on that student’s Harvard transcript. You will have other opportunities to tell medical schools how you are fulfilling their requirements, either on the secondary application, on the interview day or later after acceptance. The Harvard Registrar will not validate the APs, but you may be asked at some point to have the official AP score sent from the College Board to particular medical schools.

    Q: Do I have to list future coursework?

    A: No. Some applicants may want to indicate to med schools how they will complete the requirements or that they plan to take more science courses. But most applicants do not fill this out. You are not under any obligation to enroll in courses you indicate you plan to take.

    Q: What should I list as the Course Number?

    A: The course number is generally the department name and the number that follows (e.g., Chemistry 17, Math 21a, etc.).

    Q: Should I list the Course Name exactly as it appears on my transcript? (e.g., “Frank Lloyd Wright and the”)

    A: What you list for Course Name does not need to correspond exactly to what is listed on your transcript. But make sure it is similar enough, so that AMCAS can easily match up your course with the one on your transcript. Med schools need to be able easily to discern what kind of course it was. It is fine to abbreviate course names.

    (Video) Medical School Application Explained

    Q: For a SAT/UNSAT (or SEM/UEM) course, do I select “Pass/Fail” for course type?

    A: Yes, AMCAS only has one option for pass/fail, so you select this regardless of whether the course was required pass/fail or optional pass/fail, and regardless of whether the grade on your transcript is “PA” or “SAT” or another binary grade notation. Note that the grade you enter should be the grade that appears on your transcript (e.g., “SAT” or “SEM”).

    Q: If I did a Harvard Summer School (HSS) abroad program, do I indicate that this was a study abroad program in AMCAS?

    A. Yes. If you took courses abroad through a Harvard Summer School (HSS) program, you must first add a second entry for “Harvard University” in the “Schools attended” section of your AMCAS (in addition to your main entry of your “Harvard University” undergraduate degree program).

    In the box called “School Name,” in which “Harvard University” appears as an option, please type into the box to add “—Study abroad” so that it will say “Harvard University—Study Abroad—Name of country in which you studied abroad.”

    See Also

    1.03 Course and Examination Requirements for the MD Degree (Pathways and HST)

    Next, assign “undergraduate credit,” enter the dates of your HSS summer program, and for “Other options,” check the box “Study Abroad Program.”

    When you get to the “TRANSCRIPT REQUEST” page, you will be prompted to answer the question “Does AMCAS require an official transcript from Harvard University-Study Abroad?;” answer “No,” and select “Foreign Institution or Study abroad program sponsored by U.S., U.S. territorial or Canadian institution- Credits transferred” as your “Transcript Request Exception Reason.”

    Next, answer “Yes” to the question “Was credit for Harvard University-Study Abroad transferred to another institution?”. As “School where transfer credits appear,” select “Harvard University” (which refers to your first entry of “Harvard University” under schools attended, where you recorded your undergraduate degree and major, and for which you should make a transcript request for your Harvard College transcript; your HSS Study Abroad summer course/s appear on this transcript).

    Note that courses taken in the summer are entered as part of the upcoming academic year (e.g., a course taken in the summer of 2021should be entered as part of the 2021-2022academic year, along with the year in school status (i.e., SO, JR, or SR).

    For all Study Abroad-related questions about course work and institutions attended: See the “Foreign Coursework” and other relevant sections of the AMCAS Applicant Guide. If your question is not answered by these instructions, please contact the AMCAS Help Line at 202.828.0600.

    Q: I took organic chemistry, CHEM S-20, in the Harvard Summer School, for which I received a full year’s worth of Harvard credit (8 credits) / Q: I took an intensive semester-long language course (e.g., French Bab), for which I received a full year’s worth of Harvard credit (8 credits). How do I indicate that these courses were equivalent to a full year’s worth of credits? How do I make sure that the full weight of these grades is entered into my GPA calculation?

    A: Your transcript will indicate the amount of credit you received. But do make sure that you double check that these courses were coded and calculated correctly when your verified AMCAS is returned to you.Do not code these courses as “Full Year” courses.For all summer courses, assign the upcoming year’s status (e.g., courses between FR & SO year will be listed as SO status). For an intensive term-long 8-credit course, assign the term’s status (e.g., for junior year spring, JR/ 2021/ S2).

  • Work & Activities Section

    Q: In the description section, is it better to write full sentences or in resume form? (e.g., “I volunteered at the Red Cross for four years” versus “Volunteered at the Red Cross for four years”)

    A:From theAMCAS Applicant Guide(aamc.org): “Medical schools receive all text entry responses as plain text. This means that formatting options such as bulleted lists, indented paragraphs, and bold/italic fonts do not appear for reviewers.” Because of this and for the ease of the reader, it is preferable to write these descriptions in sentences rather than using a resume style of writing.

    Q: Should I say only what I did or also what I got out of the experience (i.e., should I reflect on what the experience meant to me)?

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    A: We think that keeping your “Experience Descriptions” (700 or fewer characters) brief and to the point makes sense. Med schools will glance over your activities very quickly, and you want to make sure they are able easily to pick out the main points.

    For the three activities you select as your “most meaningful experiences,” you have an additional 1325 characters to write about the experience. See the instructions that go with this additional “Experience Summary.” Remember that you also have your personal statement for additional reflection on any experience described in the “Activities” section you feel merits more attention.

    Q: I was the director (or a member) of a student-run volunteer group, and there is no supervisor who can verify my role and responsibilities for this activity. Who do I enter as the “Contact” for the organization?

    A: Supervisor contact information must be provided. If the activity was organized by a student group, list a faculty/staff advisor or another administrator who can verify your experience, if possible. This person does not need to know you personally. You may use a student director as contact if there are no administrators who can validate the activity. As a courtesy, be sure to notify the person whose name you list for this contact.

    Q: Should I fill up all 15 slots for activities and/or go right up to the word limit?

    A: Probably not. Many applicants will not have 15 substantive activities that they can list. Also, most activities will not require using all the space allotted to you in the description section. Be concise and to the point.

    Q: If I was involved with an organization for an entire summer but only sporadically during the year, what do I fill in for hours per week, dates, etc.?

    A: By selecting the ‘repeated activity’ option, you are able to enter up to four separate date ranges, including future end dates up to the start of the matriculation year. Specify the total hours spent on this activity for each date range.If you do not select ‘repeated activity’, you will only see one time range; if you enter an activity that began sophomore fall and ended junior spring as one continuous time range, you add up the total number of hours for the duration of the activity.

    Q: Can I consolidate activities and awards under one entry?

    A: Yes, feel free to be flexible. If you have been involved in three different service activities but do not have a lot to say about each one individually, perhaps list them as one activity and call it “Various service activities.” If you have received a fellowship for an internship, you can mention the fellowship in the description section of the internship; it does not require its own entry. If you have little to say about an activity or award, this is probably an indication that you can fold it into another entry or leave it out. You want to make understanding how you have been involved as easy as possible for the reader, and consolidating activities, awards, etc., can help you do this.

    Q: Is it appropriate to include activities in which I participated for only a year (e.g., First or Sophomore year), or for short period of time only, etc.?

    A: Any activities you list are fair game for questions during interviews, so list only those activities that were significant and that you know you would be enthusiastic to talk about.

  • Letters of Evaluation Section & Process

    Review the AMCAS letter service links on their website: AMCAS Letter Service|AMCAS Letter Writer Application

    Q: How many letters do I need to “add” in AMCAS?

    A: You will only enter one “committee letter” in the Letters of Evaluation section. This “committee letter” consists of the committee letter written by your House (or the Dudley Community), as well as your individual letters of support. For “Letter title,” enter “Harvard Committee Letter.” For primary contact’s title, enter “[House name/or Dudley Community] Academic Coordinator.” For primary contact’s first name, enter “Academic,” and for their last name, enter “Coordinator.” For primary contact’s email address, enter your Academic Coordinator’s email address, and for their mailing address, enter the US Postal Service address for your House Office.

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    Q: Will AMCAS process my application before my House letter is uploaded?

    A: Yes, these processes are completely separate. Plan to submit AMCAS by mid-June. Your letters of recommendation will be sent to AMCAS by your House/the Dudley Community by mid-August.

    Q: What is the AMCAS Letters program and what do I need to do?

    A: For most U.S. medical schools, AMCAS is going to serve as a central repository for applicants’ recommendation letters. Letters will be sent to AMCAS and then AMCAS will make them available to each of the medical schools on your list. There are three things that you will need to do in order to ensure the successful delivery of your recommendation letters through AMCAS.

    1. Within the AMCAS application, you will need to “add” a committee letter to let AMCAS know about the letters they are going to receive from your Premedical/Pre-Health Committee.
    2. An AMCAS Letter ID is automatically generated when “adding” a committee letter in AMCAS. Your Academic Coordinator (see instructions in the first FAQ answer in this section for how to add their contact and other information)will receive an email from AMCAS with instructions for how to upload your letters to the AMCAS Letter Service.
    3. You need to assign the committee letter to each of the schools that participate in the AMCAS Letters program to which you are applying. Please see Completing the AMCAS 2022Application (available at the top of this page) for more detailed instructions.
    4. For MD-PhD applicants: If you are applying to both MD and to MD-PhD programs, and wish to send a different selection of individual letters and/or different versions of your Committee Letter to your MD and your MD-PhD schools, respectively, you will create two separate AMCAS Letter IDs for these two sets of letters. You will then assign the MD schools Letter ID to the schools where you are applying MD only, and the MD-PhD Letter ID to the schools where you are applying MD-PhD.

    Q: I created multiple AMCAS Letter IDs for each individual recommender rather than just the one that I was supposed to do. What do I do?

    A: If you have created multiple Letter IDs (the IDs that get generated in AMCAS when applicants “add” letters that will be sent on their behalf), keep the Letter ID for the Committee Letter (to which your individual letters will be attached), which will be uploaded to the AMCAS Letter Service by your Academic Coordinator. Be sure to correct your AMCAS application to indicate that the other letters will no longer be sent.

    Q: Do I need to let my Academic Coordinator know to which schools I am applying?

    A: Yes, your Academic Coordinator will need your list of schools. For a school that uses theAMCAS Letter Serviceprogram, your letters will be sent as explained in the previous FAQ. As long as you complete your AMCAS Letter section correctly and meet your House/the Dudley Community-deadlines for turning in their materials (e.g., list of medical schools, individual rec letters turned in by your recommenders, list of which letters to send, etc.), your letters will be successfully transmitted via AMCAS to medical schools by August 15. For a school that does not use the AMCAS Letter Service Program, your letters will be sent by your Academic Coordinator directly to those medical schools, bypassing AMCAS. Only one MD program in the United States does not participate in the AMCAS Letter Service – the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine. For this school you will need to arrange for your Academic Coordinator to send a paper copy of your letters via U.S. mail. For those of you applying to Texas schools, Osteopathic (D.O.) schools, and/or Canadian, European, or other foreign medical schools, your Academic Coordinator will transmit your letters to these schools electronically or, in some cases, by mailing hard copies directly to the schools. Please consult directly with your Academic Coordinator for detailed instructions.

    Q: Can I customize the group of letters I send from medical school to medical school?

    A: No, all medical schools will receive a single PDF containing the committee letter from your House/the Dudley Community and the individual recommendation letters that you choose to include. (MD/PhD applicants: see below.)

    Q: I am an MD/PhD applicant. Does the process change for me?

    A: The letter transmission process is the same for an MD/PhD applicant as it is for an MD applicant. If you will apply to MD/PhD programs only, you will only need one AMCAS Letter ID. If you are applying to both MD and MD/PhD programs, and wish to send two different letter selections, follow the instructions in the third FAQ in this section. For example, applicants in this category may want to include four to five letters for MD-only programs and five to seven letters for MD/PhD programs (to include additional research-focused letters). Once you have created two separate AMCAS Letter IDs for these two selections of letters, your Academic Coordinator will be able to transmit the MD-only PDF to your MD schools, and the MD/PhD PDF to your MD/PhD schools.

    Q: Do I need to list Additional Authors under the Committee Letter details in the AMCAS?

    A: No, leave these fields blank. However, make sure to fill out the Primary Contact/Author fields with the words “Academic” and “Coordinator” as per the instructions in Completing the AMCAS 2022Application (available at the top of this page).

    Q: Will I be notified when my letters have been transmitted to medical schools?

    A: Yes, you will be able to see if your letters have been transmitted to and received by your schools in the “My Documents Statuses” section or your AMCAS application.

    Q: Can I send in a letter that came in late, after my letters were already sent?

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    A: Letters arriving to your Resident Dean’s Office after the committee letter packet has been sent will need to be submitted to AMCAS separately. This is highly discouraged and should happen only in the rarest of circumstances. Please use theAMCAS Letter Serviceto send any additional letters.

    Q: When will my Committee Letter PDF be sent?

    A: The Academic Coordinators will transmit all Committee Letter PDFsto medical schools by mid-August if the applicant abides by the deadlines set by the Premedical/Pre-Health Committees by which to submit all required application-related materials. This timeline for completing and transmitting letters is similar for all of our peer institutions. Medical schools are aware of this timeline for when to expect your letters, and have confirmed that receiving your letter PDF by mid-August will not place you at a disadvantage in the admissions process.

  • Secondary Applications

    Q: What questions have medical schools asked within their secondary applications?

    A: Read theexamples of secondary application questions(scroll down to the end of the page) that medical schools have asked applicants on their secondary applications. Keep in mind that next year’s questions may be different and the specific questions vary from school to school. Many students access questions from the secondary applications of previous years on studentdoctor.net or the “Medical School Secondary Essay Prompts Database” on the prospectivedoctor.com site.

    Q: Washington University (or another medical school) has a math requirement and on their secondary application say they accept AP Calculus but only if it appears on a transcript (and they will not accept the ETS score report in lieu of the score appearing on my transcript). What should I tell them? Will this hurt my chances for admission?

    A: Washington University’s secondary application asks you to list which courses satisfy their year-long math requirement and, if an AP is used, that it should appear on the transcript. APs do not show up on the Harvard transcript unless you activated Advanced Standing. If you did not take math at Harvard and would like to use your AP Calculus scores to satisfy this requirement, please list the AP on your Washington University secondary.

    In the additional information section, you should explain that you would like to petition that the AP be counted in place of coursework. Each House has access to a letter from the Math Department explaining the equivalence between an AP Calculus score and math courses offered at the College. For now, list your AP on the Washington University secondary and explain the situation briefly in the additional information section.

    You will not need this letter until later in the process, if at all, and you should ask this to be sent to a medical school only if they explicitly request it.Please be aware that not all medical schools with this policy (e.g., John Hopkins University School of Medicine) will accept this letter and, therefore, not all medical schools will accept your AP test scores.In most circumstances, whether or not you have already verified that you satisfy a school’s math requirement will not affect your chances of being admitted.

  • Ordering & Sending Harvard Transcripts to AMCAS

    For instructions about how to obtain your official Harvard transcript, please see theFAS Registrar’s Office instructions.

    If a school has placed a financial hold on your transcripts, AMCAS will not grant an exception under any circumstances.

  • State Residency Concerns

    Our office is not equipped to answer questions related to this topic, as the definitions and requirements of residency vary from state to state, and within states, and sometimes from one medical school in the state to another. Also, residency is often defined differently for different purposes. Please contact state medical school/s directly for all questions related to how to validate, establish, or re-establish state residency in a particular state.

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  • Contact AMCAS for Help

    Remember that the quickest answers to many questions can often be obtained by contacting AMCAS directly:

    1. AMCAS Help Line: 202.828.0600; office hours M-F 9:00am – 7:00pm EST. 24-hour automated phone line.
    2. On theapplicant website, see especially the AMCAS Applicant Guide.
    3. Emailamcas@aamc.org