Where to start??

I know this sounds a little crazy–but can someone please tell me where to start with the application process?? I’ve heard different things from different people–and I’m starting to get a little worried that I don’t have the guidance from my advisor that I had hoped. I begin with AMCAS correct??? Sorry if this is a stupid question…but I just wanted to make sure–I’m sooo afraid to do the wrong thing.

You start by filling out the AAMCAS application for allopathic school and the AAOMCAS for osteopathic school. Then you have your pre-med advisor send your letters to the schools. You need to have your schools send all of your transcripts as well.
Then you wait for the schools to send you the secondary applications.
I am also applying this year. Starting in early May you can start filling out the application but you cannot send it out until June.

I would highly suggest that you get your “own” information w/o relying too much on what other people say including advisors. All the information about the process and when to apply/send lor/ etc. can be found at aamc.org or get a good “how to get into medical school” or even the MSAR has some information. There are a LOT of pitfalls if you do not know all the ins and out…good luck!

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You start by filling out the AAMCAS application for allopathic school and the AAOMCAS for osteopathic school. Then you have your pre-med advisor send your letters to the schools. You need to have your schools send all of your transcripts as well.
Then you wait for the schools to send you the secondary applications.


Just one thing–you don’t have your letters of recommendation sent to individual schools until after you receive secondary applications from them. Also you will only need to send transcripts to AMCAS at this point, not to the individual schools unless they specifically request it. (I don’t know how AAOMCAS works so this advice might not be valid there.) But AMCAS is the place to start!
As soon as you start the AMCAS application, get your transcript requests in so they’ll arrive at AMCAS early and be processed quickly.

AACOMAS is the same as AMCAS. Have the colleges and/or universities you have attended send the transcripts directly to them, not to the medical schools. They will not accept transcripts sent to them by the applicant.

Just wanted to clarify a bit… AACOMAS is the Osteopathic centralized application service. You would only fill out their application if you choose to apply to Osteopathic Medical schools. AMCAS is the allopathic centralized application service.
I’m not sure exactly what your situation is… so take this for what it’s worth…
If you’re associated with a school currently then that school should have a pre-med advisor and/or committee that will help you with collecting and then send out your letters of recommendation. If you are not affiliated with a school currently, then there are centralized letter agencies that your writers can send the letters to and the agency will send them out for you. It is recommended that you NOT read your letters of recommendation. I still don’t understand this… but that’s “the way it is”.
My personal recommendation would be this…
If you have a school you’re affiliated with then you should ask them what the procedure is for getting letters through them and sending them out (if they offer that service).
I would also start asking different former (or current) professors if they would be willing to write you letters. At my school they recommended that we get 1 science, 1 non-science, 1 from our school advisor, and 1 non-school related person to write our letters… I think we were required to have 5… Most schools only require 3 I think. For osteopathic medical schools, most require a letter from a DO. In order to get this letter (since I didn’t know any DOs locally) I looked up a local DO and called and asked her if I could shadow her… She allowed this and wrote me a letter based on that experience.
So, that would be the first step… work on the letters and talk to the premed committee if you have one…
Next step would be starting to collect your information (old transcripts etc) to start filling out the AMCAS or AACOMAS applications. I, personally, don’t know exactly when the applications open up for admission next year, so I can’t tell you when to start.
Good luck… believe me, this is enough work to keep you out of trouble for a few days or weeks…

Okay, this is going to take a little bit of work to follow my imagery, but bear with me because I think it will be helpful in the long run. If not you know where the “back” key is!
Note every reference to “AMCAS” means "AMCAS or AACOMAS"
See if you can visualize this process as a bunch of streams/creeks leading into a river. By that I mean that your eventual application, when it’s launched, will have required input from several different sources that should all be put into play at more or less the same times. All of those activities feed into the main stream of the AMCAS application… but even then, once the AMCAS application is launched, there will be other things to do (secondaries and requests from individual schools for specific information).
Prior to the AMCAS “launch,” you need to make sure you’ve determined:
* whether you’ll be using a school pre-med committee; if so, LORs will be sent to them
* who will be writing your LORs
* what schools you’ll be applying to - lots of research to figure out a good list for YOU
* your past records from all the schools you’ve ever attended - you need to have transcripts sent to AMCAS but you also need a copy of each of your transcripts in order to enter your coursework into AMCAS
* contact information for significant past volunteer or work experience, because you’ll be asked for it on the AMCAS
* there’s probably more that I’m forgetting.
First things I’d recommend: 1, look at the AMCAS application and determine what they’re asking for; 2, find out about your pre-med committee and find out what THEY are asking for; 3, familiarize yourself with the specific prerequisites and other application requirements of the schools you’re interested in. (for example, some schools say they will not accept anything but a committee letter - if this will be a problem for you, you need to contact them and find out under what circumstances they make exceptions to that policy, and how you’ll be able to meet their other requirements.)
Then, do all the things that each of those parties is telling you to do. NEVER TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED. The minutiae of this process are excruciatingly painful, that’s for sure, but you will kick yourself if you find out that there was something relatively simple you needed to do early on in order to enhance your application - and you didn’t know it. IF YOU ARE NOT 100% CERTAIN, ASK.
If you haven’t already done so, now’s the time - no later - to start talking to faculty members about LORs. If you are using a pre-med committee, they’ll want that information pronto. If you’re going to have letters sent either to a service or directly to individual schools, you may have a little more time. But if these are faculty members actively engaged in teaching, you want to talk to them long before finals hit when they have the crunch of grading final papers, tests, etc. AND submitting grades.
I gave each of my LOR writers a draft copy of my personal statement so they’d have a better understanding of why I was going into medicine. While I have no idea if it was helpful, I felt better about it because it gave them a chance to know me better before they wrote about me. I highly recommend this approach - it has the added benefit of forcing you to get SOMETHING on paper for your personal statement, even if you do revise it later.
Unless you’ve got a copy of your transcripts that you KNOW is the final, correct version, ask your college(s) to send you another copy now so that you can make sure it’s right before it’s sent to AMCAS.
Plan ahead so that you can apply early. While there are certainly lots of folks who are fortunate enough to get in despite a late application, you maximize your chances by applying early.
“The devil is in the details.” If you are not normally a detail person, you’ll need to resolve to treat this very differently from your usual routine and maybe recruit someone who’s more detail-oriented to help you. If you are not a punctual person, you’ll need to resolve that this is the one time you’ll be on time, if not early. Forget about deadlines - instead focus on the “opening dates” for applications. If you are deadline-driven you run the risk of thinking (for example) “Oh I’ve got until November 1 to get this finalized.” Don’t think that way about this particular endeavor, okay?
I could go on and on and on. I am convinced that one part of the reason I was successful on the first try is because I really did do all this stuff - I tried to anticipate every glitch and I attended to every detail. I was obsessive about it, I admit it. And it’s the only time in my life I’ve been early.
Good luck!
Mary

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It is recommended that you NOT read your letters of recommendation. I still don’t understand this… but that’s “the way it is”.



The general reasoning behind this is that recommenders may be less forthcoming in their evaluation if they know that you have access to the letter. This was certainly my experience in reading rec letters. It was pretty easy to see the differences in language when a recommender said “I’m am writing this open letter of recommendation” vs. the same writer writing a confidential letter.
It is definitely to your advantage to waive your rights to see you letters. Admissions committees give less credence to open letters.
Cheers,
Judy

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The general reasoning behind this is that recommenders may be less forthcoming in their evaluation if they know that you have access to the letter. This was certainly my experience in reading rec letters. It was pretty easy to see the differences in language when a recommender said “I’m am writing this open letter of recommendation” vs. the same writer writing a confidential letter.
It is definitely to your advantage to waive your rights to see you letters. Admissions committees give less credence to open letters.
Cheers,
Judy


… and this is why your approach to a potential LOR writer should be carefully done. It should be someone with whom you have nurtured a relationship - they should know more about you than your grades. And when you approach them for this letter, you need to ASK THEM, “Would you be able to write a strong letter of recommendation for me?” Watch for any hesitation, and if you see it, or hear excuses like “Well, I would like to but I’m so busy…” politely thank them, say, “I’ll get back to you then,” and drop it. You do not want wishy-washy LORs.
Having read lots of application files I can tell you that there is a big difference between LORs from professors who know you only as one of the top ten percent in the class, vs. people who actually found out about you because you stopped by for extra help, got involved in volunteer tutoring for others in the class, helped spearhead an effort to keep the labs open late for people doing makeups (whatever, you get the idea). Professors CAN write sparkling, enthusiastic LORs and they are a pleasure to read. And they can counterbalance a blah interview at least to some extent - AdComs know that an interview is only one day, whereas someone who writes about working with you over the course of a semester or longer is giving a longitudinal perspective that is extremely helpful.
This advice is really more for those who are looking ahead a year or more, of course. If you are just starting out, you need to be thinking about this - how can you make a strong and lasting imperssion on folks who may be your eventual LOR authors? Plan ahead.
Mary

Amen, Mary! Also, if you get to know well one professor EACH term, you will have a stable of people to choose from for your LORs. Let’s put it a different way…if one professor each term gets to know YOU well, you will have a stable.
Cheers,
Judy

THANKS everyone for your words of wisdom and suggestions…it is TRULY appreciated!!!

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“The devil is in the details.” If you are not normally a detail person, you’ll need to resolve to treat this very differently from your usual routine and maybe recruit someone who’s more detail-oriented to help you. If you are not a punctual person, you’ll need to resolve that this is the one time you’ll be on time, if not early. Forget about deadlines - instead focus on the “opening dates” for applications. If you are deadline-driven you run the risk of thinking (for example) “Oh I’ve got until November 1 to get this finalized.” Don’t think that way about this particular endeavor, okay?
I could go on and on and on. I am convinced that one part of the reason I was successful on the first try is because I really did do all this stuff - I tried to anticipate every glitch and I attended to every detail. I was obsessive about it, I admit it. And it’s the only time in my life I’ve been early.


This is so true! If there were ever a time to become somewhat obsessive, this is it. My personal method was to keep a spreadsheet updated with all the details of what I’d sent and where, and what was still outstanding.
Beyond that I would come running to OPM with some of the most neurotic questions on earth whenever I was perplexed about some aspect of the application process. Having this forum really helped. When you are feeling confused, please feel free to ask anything here! :slight_smile: Some questions have to be answered by AMCAS or by schools, but with many other things people who have gone through the process will know.
Good luck!