Selecting the best school for you involves much research. For more information on how to apply to professional schools please select the appropriate document by school type from this list.
Students should apply to professional schools at the end of their junior year or at the beginning of their senior year. In order for your composite letter to go out in a timely manner (and not delay your overall application), you must have all your letters of evaluation completed by the deadline of April 1st of your junior year. If you do not have your letters of evaluation in by this date, the Premedical Council may refuse to write your composite letter.
Other options include applying:
- after the senior year if the student has developed a competitive academic profile.
- after a student completes post-baccalaureate study to improve a weak academic profile.
- after a year or several years of “life experience,” often due to a career change. There definitely appears to be a trend toward accepting applicants with some “life experience.”
AMCAS and Other Standardized Applications
Most medical schools in the United States require that students complete an application from the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). The AMCAS application can only be completed online.
AMCAS asks you for a broad range of basic information, including:
- Biographical data such as your name, address, date of birth, citizenship
- Information about any schools where you have received college-level credits
- Grades from all of your undergraduate courses
- Relevant activities you've engaged in since high school
In addition, AMCAS will ask you to submit personal comments (that is where you should enter your personal statement). Other standardized applications will have similar sections for you to insert your personal statement.
Students can begin working on their AMCAS applications in May; the application can be certified and submitted in June. Check the AMCAS site at www.aamc.org for exact start dates. Note that medical schools each have different deadlines for accepting applications, some as early as October.
Students applying to other health professions schools will also need to complete a standardized application. Again, application deadlines vary from school to school, so be sure to check individual school’s deadlines.
The following table lists applications by profession and where information about the applications can be found:
The average age of matriculating medical school students is approximately 26, which indicates that many students elect not to apply right away. Many recent graduates decide to first gain work experience perhaps in the biomedical profession.
If a student is rejected after applying to medical school, they may reapply after improving their qualifications by enrolling in a post-baccalaureate program or completing a master’s degree.
The applications are lengthy and require a personal statement (PDF 47 KB) Give your statement much thought and make sure that it is well organized and does not contain any grammatical or spelling errors. Think about your audience—about who you are writing this for and what they want to know about you. Take advantage of the Writing Center and the Learning Center on the Garden City campus. Ask faculty and fellow students to help you with your statement and to critically review it.
Before the end of your junior year, make sure to get a student copy of your transcript. Before sending in your application, check your transcript very carefully for accuracy, and then check it again. Common errors are grades assigned to advanced placement courses and transfer courses, and recent incompletes included in the GPA as “F’s.” Also make sure that all of your faculty evaluations have been turned in to OPPAF, as some faculty will not be on campus during the summer.
|
