Several stages in the medical student application and admissions process:

A brief outline of the process follows.

1. Before you apply to medical school

• Get as strong a GPA as you can
• Complete all the required courses for admission into medical school
• Build relationships with physicians, faculty and researchers who will provide your letters of recommendation
• Build a history of success outside of shoolwork - this could be a research project, or any extracurricular activity in which you stand out
• Prepare for and do well on the MCAT (MCAT test prep)

2. Your preliminary medical school application (AMCAS)

Your preliminary application for most US allopathic schools go through AMCAS. The 7 medical and dental schools in the University of Texas system (not including Baylor medical school) use the TMDSAS for their preliminary application. There are several elements that make up a good preliminary application. They include:

• Strong "numbers": MCAT scores and GPA.
• Great letters of recommendation
• A well written, clear medical school personal statement. This is a lot more important than people assume, so don't leave it to chance. Professional editing is definitely worth it (see Cyberedit for help on this).
• Your extra-curricular activities
• Choosing the right schools to which to apply. Strategies vary, so get a lot of opinions on how to do this. We recommend choosing:
  • 2-3 "safety schools"
  • 8-12 "competitive schools"
  • 2-3 "long-shot schools"

Use the Medical School Search tool to find out which schools would be "saftey schools", which would be "competitive medical schools" and which would be the long-shot "top medical schools" for your scores. 

Interviewers want to know if you will be a good match for the university. Don't assume all medical schools are the same. Some specialize in primary care, some insist on a research component to your education - know this before you go. If you show up at Duke or Stanford medical school and say you're not interested in research, you're going to have trouble.

5. Getting THE letter

One day the letter will come. Perhaps by snail mail, perhaps by email. Thick good, thin uncertain. Expect some rejections - not all qualified applicants get accepted where they should. Much of the admissions process is hit-or-miss, it's not science. Don't take rejections personally.

Once you've been accepted to two schools, withdraw your application from schools lower on your list - the schools you known you won't go to now that you've been accepted at a school high on your list. This helps other students get a spot.

Your next job is to enjoy the heck out of your last summer.

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