Imagine this scenario: a medical school applicant works hard to earn a competitive GPA and a high MCAT score; they submit their primary application on the opening date and submit their secondaries within two weeks of receiving the prompts; they do well at their interview and are told to expect a decision within a few …
The AMCAS Work and Activities section is where you will share all that you’ve done to prepare yourself for a career in medicine – your research, clinical experiences, paid employment, publications, leadership, extracurricular activities, awards, memberships, volunteer work, and advocacy and social justice efforts. The types of activities that you include, the length of time …
Sadly, the frustrating truth is that there’s no rule governing when a medical school must respond to your application. However, in this blog post, we’ll try to mitigate some of that frustration by answering some of the big questions you might have as an anxious med school applicant, including the following: When to Expect Secondaries …
As you begin your third year of medical school, what are you doing to prepare for the residency match? Chances are, you’re up to your eyeballs in rotations and exams and everything else that goes into the third year of your medical degree, and you’re probably not thinking much about your personal statement or future …
Your residency interview is your chance to show your target programs that you’ve got what it takes to join their team. Everything in your application – including your medical student performance evaluation and other evaluations – is fair game for interviewers. These are some of the most common questions/prompts you’ll hear: You’re also likely to …
Letters of evaluation are critical elements of a competitive medical school application. A strong letter will complement your essays and experience descriptions, giving admissions committee members a valuable outside perspective on your potential in the field of medicine. Medical schools accept three types of letters: individual letters, letter packets, and committee letters. However, many schools …
The 2026 Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) application asks you to choose ten Selected Experiences that communicate who you are and what’s most important to you. You’re then asked to highlight three of those experiences as “most meaningful,” with a short description of why, and you’ll have the opportunity to submit an optional essay on …
You’ve just been invited to a med school interview. Congratulations! This means that the admissions committee likes everything they’ve seen so far. Now they want to know more about you, which means meeting you – in person or virtually – and finding out what really makes you tick. It can be hard to show the …
When deciding where to apply to medical school, too many of our clients submit as many applications as possible in hopes of increasing their odds of acceptance. Unfortunately, this strategy is rarely effective. More often, it results in wasted time completing secondaries, wasted money spent on application fees, and frustration at the end of the …
Having worked in admissions for more than two decades, I have read thousands of experience and activity descriptions from applicants to medical schools and schools in healthcare-related fields. Some candidates seem to view this element of their application as less important than their personal statement, writing only cursory descriptions of their tasks. This “job description” …
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 one particular program? Maybe your spouse’s job requires them to be in that location, or your only living family member is in the area. …
Each year, I talk to at least one applicant who says they don’t want their ethnic or racial identity to be part of their medical school application. Their hesitation usually stems from a desire to be judged purely upon their merits. This is a noble principle that I respect. However, from the general perspective of …
In this 30-minute session, one of our admissions consultants will review your profile, assess your chances of acceptance at your target programs, and tell you exactly where you stand.
