While every U.S. medical school offers you an education that will prepare you for a career as a successful physician, the social mission of each school vary greatly, and you should understand these nuances before you apply. Successful applicants will not only have the essential qualifications a particular school wants, but will also have proven…
AMCAS Tips
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4 Quality Control Tasks to Complete Before Submitting Your AMCAS Application
The AMCAS system may be open for several months, but it’s to your advantage to apply earlier rather than later so that med schools can consider your application while they have more seats available to fill. On the other hand, it’s a mistake to submit your application before it’s truly ready to be sent in….
Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Med School Personal Statement
Our recent webinar, How to Write a Compelling Medical School Personal Statement, featured Accepted med school expert Mary Mahoney, who combines her medical knowledge with her talent for creative storytelling. Mary’s experience and advice will help premeds compose meaningful personal statements with impact. We know the life of a premed is hectic, so if you…
Activity Descriptions for Med School: 4 Questions That Will Make Yours Awesome
Having worked in admissions for over a decade, I have probably read thousands of activity descriptions for medical school and related healthcare fields by now. While this part of the application may not seem very important, it can actually be the component that makes or breaks your chance of acceptance. It can be quite damaging…
The Medical School Application “Deadline”
In just a few days, many of you will want to submit your medical school application. You’ve probably heard that you need to submit on the first day possible – May 31, 2022 – if you want your best shot. But just how true is that? Medical school admissions myth vs. reality It is true…
2022-23 AMCAS Work and Activities Section: What to Include (With Examples)
The AMCAS Work and Activities Section is where you can share all of the awards, memberships, research, clinical experiences, paid employment, publications, leadership, extracurricular activities and volunteer work you received or participated in during college and after. To give you a better idea of what to include in this section of the application, I am…
Reapplying to Med School: Your Primary Application
The previous posts have focused on identifying problem areas in your application and offering ideas to help you address them. You might be feeling a bit fragile after such a critical review – if so, then you’re doing it right. This exercise demands that you be ruthless and identify every potential flaw. Your ego might…
Retaking Classes For Med School: What Every Premed Needs to Know
If you have retaken classes in the past or will need to retake a class in the future, this post will tell you what you need to know—both in general and tailored to either the AMCAS application or the AACOMAS application. All grades earned are calculated into the cumulative GPA.While your college campus may offer…
5 Dont’s for Your Medical School Personal Statement
The personal statement is the only place in the AMCAS, AACOMAS and TMDSAS primary applications where you get to present yourself directly to the admissions committee. Here, you can persuade them to give you an interview, or – if you’re not careful – unknowingly reveal red flags that undermine your entire application. Since it plays…
How to Write the Statement of Disadvantage
If you have experienced any form of social, economic or educational disadvantage—at any time in your life—you can apply to medical school as a disadvantaged applicant. To receive this designation means that you will need to complete an additional essay on the AMCAS application. The character limit for this short essay is 1,325. Examples of…
Get the Scoop on Elevating Your AMCAS Application
Did you miss our recent masterclass, Create a Winning AMCAS Application? This was a fantastic primer on bringing your A-game to your AMCAS application—the first step on your journey to med school. This year, when applications are up a massive 18%, it’s vital that you find out what your strongest competitors already know from this…
AMCAS Traffic Rules: How to Use the “Choose Your Medical School” Tool
Everyone is probably aware that this is an “unprecedented time” for medical school applications. With applicant numbers at an all-time high, admissions staff working remotely, and interview dates stretching into the spring and possibly later, this application season has been like nothing we’ve seen before. But there is one constant in the application process –…
Ace Your Med School Application 2020 Webinar is Live
We had a wonderful turnout for our recent live session, Ace Your Med School Application: A Live Q&A with 3 Med School Experts. It was packed with important information, and the attendees asked our panel great questions. If you couldn’t join us, you don’t have to miss out on all that valuable insight. The session…
Med School Applications Kick Off: Ten Tips to Get You Through the Season
Medical school hopefuls are getting ready to work on those applications. This can be a hectic time as you try to stay on top of everything. Here are ten tips to help you hit the ground running: Get cozy with the AMCAS/AACOMAS. These two services – the American Medical Colleges Application Service (AMCAS) and the…
Med School Admissions Veteran Shares Her Experience: How to Get In [Episode 314]
Accepted admissions consultant Cydney Foote sheds light on the medical school application process [Show Summary] Are you not quite ready to submit your AMCAS application? Don’t panic. We’ve got the advice you need to polish off your personal statement, MMEs, and activity descriptions. Listen to the podcast for answers to “How many schools should you…
How to Choose the Best Experiences for Your AMCAS Application
It’s that time of year when premeds across the world are gathering everything they need to put on their AMCAS application. In this article, I’ll walk through one facet (one of the largest) of this dainty little application, the experiences section. I will outline what makes a good experience to write about, which ones should be deemed…
5 Ways To Start Your Med School Personal Statement
Writing your personal statement can be daunting, and the hardest part is getting started. Here are five ways to start writing. 1. Remember your audience. Admissions officers spend generally five minutes or less on your personal statement and read about 40 to 50 essays a day. Your essay needs to grab their attention and stand…
What do Medical Schools Look for in Your Application Essays?
After reading thousands of applications over the years, I’ve noticed that there are common strategies that successful applicants use in their application essays. You, too, can use these strategies to earn an interview and acceptance. The best application essays: 1. Avoid verbatim repetition It may be impossible not to mention the same activity or experience…
What NOT to Do on the Medical School Coursework Section
This part of the medical school application can be time consuming since you will have to enter in the title, units, and grade as well as classification for every college level class you’ve ever taken. It’s easy to make mistakes here since there are so many to list. Besides entering in the basic information about…
Med Applicants: Be Strategic With Your Activities
This is the second post in our series on applying to med school in the most efficient and timely manner. You’ve got six months to make this happen. Make sure you do it right by following the tips in Med School Action Plan: 6 Steps for the 6 Months Before You Apply. In the time…
