Do you have a dream school, the one place you’ve always wanted to study medicine, and no other school will do? Do you have a compelling reason for attending this one particular program? Maybe your spouse’s job requires them to be in this location, or your only living family member is in the area. Or does the program have a particular track, professor, or other feature that specifically appeals to you?
If this is the case, you might want to consider applying to medical school through the AMCAS’s Early Decision Program (EDP).
The requirements of the EDP are simple: Apply by August 1st to a single AMCAS-participating school, and promise to attend that school if accepted. You must also agree to not apply to any other medical schools while awaiting your chosen school’s decision.
Early Decision Program Advantages
The advantages of early decision are pretty clear. If you apply through the EDP and get accepted, you’ll know early on that you’ll be going to your dream school. This means no lengthy applications to 20 or more schools, no juggling interviews with your job or class schedule, no endless months of nail-biting and suspense. By October 1st (usually), you’ll be in and done!
Sound good? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.
Early Decision Program Disadvantages
Early decision is not an easy back-door into medical school. You need to be a highly competitive candidate and meet (hopefully, exceed) the school’s requirements. While participating in the EDP shows your enthusiasm for the medical school, you must still complete its secondary essays and effectively show your fit.
If you aren’t accepted to your chosen school, you can then submit applications to other programs. However, by the time you find out whether you have been accepted to your early decision school – which could be as late as October – those additional applications will be extremely late in the cycle. As you probably know, many programs extend interview invitations and acceptances on a rolling basis, so the earlier you apply, the better. This is why the AAMC cautions candidates to apply through the EDP only if they think they have an excellent chance of admission.
Another disadvantage is that by focusing entirely on one program, you’re cutting yourself off from possible funding offers at other schools. And if your scores are high, you have a much better chance of finding a program willing to finance your education (not to mention, one that might be a better fit for you) if you spread your net more widely.
What Should You Do?
Researching your chosen medical school is critical if you’re considering early decision. Some schools encourage students to apply early decision. For instance, Northeast Ohio Medical University says, “Ohio candidates with above-average academic profiles selecting the early decision plan receive a significant advantage over candidates that elect the regular decision plan,” and the 2024-2025 MSAR reports that nearly one-tenth of the students in NEOMED’s most recent matriculating class were ED. Rutgers New Jersey Medical School is another school that welcomes early decision applicants. They begin reviewing applications within 48 hours of receipt and extending acceptance offers by mid-July, unlike many schools that instead wait until October to announce decisions. In its most recent class of 174 students, 58 applied through the EDP (2024-2025 MSAR). Other schools, such as the Perelman School of Medicine, admit that their early decision program is “very limited in scope” and had no early decision matriculants in the last cycle (2024-2025 MSAR).
Clearly, early decision is not for everyone. But for candidates who can show that they are the perfect fit for their dream school, it might be a chance worth taking.
To succeed as an early decision candidate, you’ll need an application that’s strong, compelling, and as close to perfect as humanly possible. And we can help you create such an application. Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with an expert who will help you get accepted.
Since 2001, Cydney Foote has advised hundreds of successful applicants for medical and dental education, residency and fellowship training, and other health-related degrees. Admissions consulting combines her many years of creating marketing content with five years on fellowship and research selection committees at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She’s also shared her strategy for impressing interviewers in a popular webinar and written three books and numerous articles on the admissions process. Want Cydney to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!
Related Resources:
- Medical School Selectivity Index, a free tool
- Five Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your Med School & Secondary Essays, a free guide
- Start Medical School in 2025: How to Get Accepted This Year, podcast Episode 567