Primary Application
AMERICAN MEDICAL COLLEGE APPLICATION SERVICE (AMCAS)
Ninety percent of American medical schools subscribe to the Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). This service provides them with your grades and your MCAT scores. It provides you with a single (albeit lengthy) application form which may be used for multiple applications, saving you writing out a new form for each school. The online application may be accessed around May 1.
You must supply AMCAS with an official transcript, fees, and the completed application form. Do not neglect the essay.
TRANSCRIPT
Get a copy from the Registrar's office or view it through Student Access+. Check it for accuracy. Use it to complete the AR (Academic Record) portion of the AMCAS form. Have the Registrar send an official transcript to AMCAS soon after you file your application with them. Each college or university at which you have taken courses must submit an official transcript accompanied by a Transcript Matching Form which you are to supply to them when you request your transcript to be sent. It is a page which comes from AMCAS and aids them in identifying your file. Do Not Send recommendations to AMCAS. If you are currently in school, your transcript may not be ready until June. After you have seen it and verified that it is correct, request that one be sent to AMCAS.
FEES & FORMS
Follow the directions carefully. The correct completion of the AMCAS procedure is worth 2 college credits in intermediate bureaucracy. Allow time.
ESSAY
Write one under "personal comments." Remember that this may be going to many different schools; don't address it to a specific one. See the section in this handbook on Essays.
Print out a copy of your AMCAS form so that you will be able to refer to it in any negotiations you may have with AMCAS or with the medical school. Interviewers may question you on parts of your application. You should know what they are referring to, so read your copy again shortly before your interview.
CHRONOLOGY OF PROCEDURE FOR AMCAS
1. Complete AMCAS forms on line beginning in May. Try to send them back to AMCAS by July 4.
2. Send off completed forms with fees.
3. Have official transcripts sent to AMCAS.
4. Expect notification that AMCAS has your materials (two or three weeks after number 2).
5. Expect notification from the medical schools you named on the designation form that they have received your application from AMCAS. (Allow two or three weeks after number 4). They may want application fees now. Pay up if you want further consideration. Send your recommendations. You don't have to wait for the schools to ask for your Pre-Med Committee recommendation as long as you know they have a file for you.
6. Mid-year grades can be sent directly to the schools from which you are waiting to hear, not to AMCAS.
7. If you receive financial aid and qualify for fee reduction, see the AAMC web site early in the spring semester for information about registering for fee reduction.
CORRESPONDENCE
Include your appropriate identification number on all correspondence with AMCAS, MCAT, or DAT.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF DENTAL SCHOOLS APPLICATION SERVICE (AADSAS)
The American Association of Dental Schools Application Service now has more than fifty subscribing dental schools. This service will allow you to apply to any of these dental schools by filling out a single application form.
AADSAS will make an effort to report your DAT scores on the standardized application materials to your chosen dental schools. However, if you retake the DAT after filing with AADSAS, you cannot be sure that they will automatically update your credentials with the new scores. To be safe, you should request that the new and better DAT scores be sent directly to each school.
If you do not hear from them within a month of submitting AADSAS, or September 30, whichever comes later, write or call and find out why. They may this time ask for your recommendations. In any case you may send them as soon as you know they have a file for you. Recommendations may be sent separately to each school or they can be sent to AADSAS according to their procedures. Check the AADSAS web site for changes. Pay attention to deadlines. See the procedure for the Pre-Med Committee recommendation.
NON-AADSAS SCHOOLS
For any of the several dental schools which do not use the AADSAS, you must complete their unique application form, supply them with official transcripts from each undergraduate school you have attended, the required fees, and your DAT scores. In addition, you will be sending them letters of recommendation directly.
