Your AMCAS application is a lot like a plate at a barbecue. A lot of attention is given to the “meat” of your application – but it’s what you write about in the activities section that adds flavor and variety to the “meat” of your profile. You have a limit of 15 activities that you…
AMCAS Tips
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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 28, 2020 – if you want your best shot. But just how true is that? Medical school admissions myth vs. reality It is true…
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…
What You Need to Know Before You Fill Out Your AMCAS Application
Our recent webinar, Create a Winning AMCAS Application, was filled with important information and actionable advice for premeds like you looking to craft a singularly compelling application. We know it will provide you with immense value as you begin filing your submissions this summer. We also know the life of a premed is hectic. If…
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…
AAMC Traffic Rules: How to Use the Choose Your Medical School Tool
Sometimes the application season seems to stretch on forever. Especially at this time of year, as “hold” lists grow longer and waitlists stubbornly refuse to move, the wait can feel interminable. AMCAS’ new Choose Your Medical School Tool is designed to give this process a nudge. The idea is that as applicants confirm or release…
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…
How to Decide if You Should Retake Courses in Preparation for Applying to Medical School
The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) has applicants manually enter all coursework and grades into the AMCAS application. You may wonder why they have you complete this seemingly repetitive and arduous section, given that they collect official copies of all transcripts. It allows them to create a standardized GPA calculation from which to compare…
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…
4 Things to Do 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 when they have more seats available to fill. On the other hand, you don’t want to submit your application before it’s truly ready to be sent in….
Your Med School Personal Statement Roadmap
You’ve heard it again and again – the personal statement is one of the most important parts of your med school application. However, we know that admonition doesn’t make it any easier to write! But even though personal statements can definitely be challenging, they don’t need to be overwhelming! From our extensive experience coaching applicants…
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…
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…
Applying to Medical School: Selecting Extracurricular Activities
When considering your goal of attending medical school, you need to choose extracurricular activities that you will enjoy and that will also help you highlight the characteristics that med schools are seeking. 3 strategies for choosing the right extracurriculars Below we will provide you with strategies for finding and selecting activities that will set your…
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…
Can You Submit Your AMCAS Application BEFORE Taking the MCAT?
It’s risky to apply to med school before taking or retaking the MCAT for a few reasons: 1. Applying to med school is expensive and time intensive. It’s hard to know where you might be a competitive applicant if you don’t know how your scores compare to other students at a school. Your practice scores…
What NOT to Do in the Activities Section of Your Medical School Application
Don’t underestimate the importance of the activities section! Let’s take a look at some of the biggest mistakes to avoid in your activities section so you can make sure that you’re doing it right: Mistake #1: Providing less than 15 activities Simply submitting an application with less than the required 15 activities can lead to…
Is Your AMCAS Application Ready?
After years of premed preparation, it’s now just a week until the AMCAS opens, and then you’ll be taking a huge step in your med school journey: submitting your AMCAS application. (Deep breath!) It’s exciting, but also stressful: you know the competition is intense, so your application needs to represent you as effectively as possible….
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…
Ace the AMCAS Essay: 5 Effective Techniques to Improve Your Writing
In this blog series, you’ll get succinct, practical tips on how you can optimize your AMCAS application for acceptance to top medical schools. So far in this series we’ve talked about the WHO, WHY, WHAT, and HOW of creating an exemplary AMCAS essay. Now we’re going to offer some bonus tips that will help elevate your…
