Medical School Application Timeline

When applying to medical school, it is pertinent that you have a timeline organized for yourself. This is because the items that are important for your application need to be done prior to the application opening. Usually, you should plan to organize and finish your application in the first 5-6 months of the year you plan to apply (e.g. you should dedicate January-May/June of 2024 if you are applying this summer). This timeline will be in a format of a bullet-pointed list to give you an idea of what needs to be done each month prior to AMCAS/AMDOCS opening. 

• January 20XX:
  • Find and ask professors/PIs/supervisors for letters of recommendation. More information about LOR writers can be found later in the post. 
  • Register for your MCAT, you should ideally want to take it by May at the latest. 
  • See if you need to register for the AMCAS PREview exam
  • Start brainstorming about what you want your personal statement to be about 
• February 20XX-April 20XX:
  • Study for the MCAT 
  • Start drafting versions of your personal statement 
  • Start narrowing down what applications you want to include in your application and the descriptions you want to include for them 
  • Once you receive your MCAT score back, start making your school list based on your GPA and MCAT
  • Consult MSAR about the requirements you will need for each school you select
• May 20XX:
  • AMCAS and AACOMAS application opens up during the first week of May, so plan to start filling out the background information of your application 
  • Plan to finish your profile at the end of May, as you will need your application to be verified before it is approved 
  • Order your official transcripts from your school so you can complete the coursework portion of your application 
  • Remind your LORs to submit their letters of recommendation to you so you can add them to your application 
  • Have your personal statement done and polished by this month so you can submit it and it can included in your application 
• June 20XX:
  • Take your CASPER exam and AAMC PREview no later than this month
  • Applications to schools are submitted during June, so you will start hearing back about secondary applications 
• July 20XX - Aug 20XX:
  • Write secondary applications for the schools you hear back from
  • You may also hear back for interviews, so schedule those for as early as possible and prepare

With that timeline in mind, let’s dive deeper into how to tackle two of the items needed for application: letters of recommendation and personal statement.

‍Letters of Recommendation: 

Letters of recommendation, or LORs, serve to showcase different academic professionals’ opinion of you and your interactions. They ultimately provide a key summary to your unique abilities, talents and characteristics that you have displayed in different contexts. 

In most instances, medical schools will require a minimum of 3 letters of recommendations: 2 from science professors and 1 from a non-science professor, and will accept up to 5 letters. However, it is most recommended that an applicant submit 4 total letters of recommendation, 2 science professors, 1 non-science professors, and 1 from a PI/doctor that you’ve worked closely with.

It’s important to reach out to professors whom you feel has an accurate, personalized grasp of who you are and your abilities. More personalized, detailed letters of recommendation carry more weight in your application over more general LORs. For this reason, it’s also important to forge good relationships with professors and other academic professionals, as you may be able to ask them for a letter of recommendation eventually. 

A letter of recommendation can be requested from your professor at any point in time, regardless of what year you are. At the latest, you should be sure to ask at least 4-5 months before you plan to submit your application, but it is recommended to ask for a letter as soon as you finish a class during which you fostered a strong connection with a professor. Once written, they can be stored in Interfolio, a software that allows you to request and store letters of recommendation until submission time.

Letters of recommendation are a pivotal part of your medical school application, and play a large role in conveying your character and capabilities to medical school admissions. Therefore, it’s important to prioritize this aspect throughout your pre-medical journey to ensure you can best portray yourself in your application, while also fostering great connections with professionals throughout your years.

Personal Statement: 

Let’s start with a brief overview of the personal statement. The prompt for the personal statement for AMCAS is “Use the space below to explain why you want to go to school.” The AMCAS defines it as “an opportunity to share something new about yourself that isn’t conveyed elsewhere in your application.” 

The maximum length for the personal statement varies based on the schools you apply for. AMCAS (MD schools) and AACOMAS(DO schools) have a requirement of 5,300 characters(or 1.5 pages). Texas medical schools (TMDSAS) on the other hand have a requirement of 5,000 characters.  

What should you even write about and how do you even start? It is recommended that you incorporate the following two points into your personal statement. 

1. Think of the initial “seed” that made you want to even consider medicine. What pushed you into this path?some text
   1. Was it a death in the family? Your own personal health issues? Love for science? It could be anything that made you consider a career in medicine.
2. Pick two - three meaningful experiences that have increased your desire to pursue medicine.some text
   1. These experiences usually consist of your interactions with a patient or an impactful observation between a patient and a physician. 
   2. Ex: You might share when you felt a profound connection with a patient while working as a scribe, MA, EMT, etc

You can organize your statement any way you want but here is a potential outline: 

1. Engaging hook that draws the reader into the “initial motivation” for your desire to be a doctor. 
2. First meaningful experience 
3. Second meaningful experience 
4. Third meaningful experience (not necessary, only if you have enough characters remaining and would love to add in another)
5. Conclusion that wraps everything up and ends on a strong note

Now that you have a basic idea of what to consider writing about in your personal statement, we will discuss some tips and advice: 

1. Make sure that after each experience you wrote about, you are able to answer the question: “Does this show why I want to be a doctor and not another profession?” In other words, reflect after each experience! 
2. Show. Do not tell. Use good imagery, details, and anecdotes to make your personal statement engaging for the reader. Use a lot of “I” statements. 
3. Do not write negative statements, and especially do not speak badly of another doctor. 
4. Be careful with elaborating on the discussion of red flags in your application. For instance, if you had to withdraw from a semester, briefly explain in two-three sentences why you had to and move on. Do not dwell on it! 

After you have your first draft of your personal statement, it is recommended that you revisit it multiple times to edit it and revise it. The first draft is never the final draft. There are many individuals you can ask to read your draft too. These can usually include the Sweetland writing center, a friend, family member, a professor you are close with, your mentor, or a pre-med advisor.