PRE-MED HANDBOOK

The Application

Consider for a moment the problem facing the admissions committee of a medical school that recruits largely from the national pool of applicants. There may be eight or ten thousand applications for perhaps 100 or 150 positions in the entering class, and it will be possible to interview only a few hundred of these applicants. Most of the top-rated applicants will receive multiple acceptances. How is it possible to interview the best of those students who may be most interested in your medical school? How should grades and scores be balanced with other more subjectively evaluated qualities such as personality, motivation, leadership, etc.? It is not a simple problem and committees have different methods of selecting those who will be interviewed. You must keep in mind that your first, and in many cases only, contact with the medical admissions committee will be through the AMCAS application. Since the first impression will be made by the application it is essential that it be carefully and thoughtfully prepared. An application containing errors may suggest a sloppy, careless applicant. A negative impression will also be created by misspelled words, poor grammar, or a poorly organized Personal Comments section. Care must be exercised in both form and content. The AMCAS application is completely web-based and can be found at http://www.aamc.org

GO BACK TO HANDBOOK INDEX  |   GO TO WHERE TO APPLY