1. AMCAS Communications Spring 2015
The 2016 AMCAS® Application
AMCAS Communications
Spring 2015

2. In this presentation… 2016 AMCAS Application How does AMCAS work?
2016 Application Dates & Participation
The AMCAS Application
Sections of the Application
What Happens After Submission
Verification
Post-Submission Changes
Criminal Background Checks
Fee Assistance Program
More Resources for Applying
We’ll first talk about the AMCAS process in general, we’ll cover important dates for the 2016 application, and then we’ll walk through the application itself. We’ll also go over what happens after you submit your application. At the end, we’ll cover additional resources that may be helpful during the application process, including the Fee Assistance Program.

3. How does AMCAS work?
Application Submitted
Applicant completes & submits AMCAS application online
Applicant pays submission fees (or uses valid Fee Assistance Program benefits)
Application Processed
Applicant arranges for all required official transcripts to be sent to AMCAS
AMCAS performs verification of coursework and calculates AMCAS GPAs
Application Delivered
AMCAS distributes verified application to designated med schools
AMCAS delivers letters to designated med schools as they are received
Just to remind you of the overall process at AMCAS…
Once AMCAS has received both your application and has received and verified all of your required official transcripts, your application will enter the verification queue. AMCAS will then verify the coursework you entered into you application with the coursework listed on your official transcripts and will calculate your normalized AMCAS GPAs.
Once the application is verified (or processed, those two words are often used interchangeably) which takes about 6 weeks, AMCAS will deliver the application to the medical schools you designated. Letters of evaluation (once assigned to medical schools) are delivered electronically on a rolling basis. Remember, you can submit your application before your letters and transcripts are received. Letters are not required to verify an application.

4.
Visit aamc.org/amcas for all of the information you could ever want about AMCAS and to sign in to the AMCAS application. Sign in for the 2016 Application will become active on May 5 (click to highlight).
You can also get to other resources, like the MCAT page and Fee Assistance Program page from the AMCAS homepage.

5. April and May MCAT scores released (6/16 and 6/30)
2016 Application Dates
Date*
Event
January 6
2015 Fee Assistance Program opened
April 1
2016 AMCAS Resources available
May 5
AMCAS application opens
June 2
AMCAS application submission begins
July 1
Initial transmission of application data to medical schools
August 3
Early Decision Program deadline
Sept.-Dec.
Application deadlines
April and May MCAT scores released (6/16 and 6/30)
Application Deadlines
Application must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET of the deadline date
Transcript deadlines: must be received by AMCAS within 14 calendar days of the application deadline date
Visit
You should already be aware that the AMCAS application cycle operates one year ahead of the current calendar year. It is 2015 now, but the 2016 AMCAS application opens this spring, this is because this year’s application is for those who want to start medical school in The medical school application process does take a long time, so it’s important to plan aheard.
In terms of dates to be aware of for the 2016 cycle… This year’s Fee Assistance Program application has already opened—if you are interested in applying for this program do so earlier rather than later as benefits cannot be used retroactively. Resources such as the Instruction Manual and video tutorials updated for this application cycle will be posted to our website in early April.
The 2016 AMCAS application will open on Tuesday, May 5. You will be able to start submitting their applications to AMCAS on Tuesday, June 2. At this point AMCAS will start verifying applications as they come in, but the initial transmission of applicant data to medical schools will not occur until July 1 this year.
AMCAS is delaying sending medical schools verified application data by a week this year until scores for the April and May MCAT exams have been released. This delay will ensure that medical schools do not receive applications with old MCAT scores before those with new MCAT scores, which would unfairly give those with old exam scores an advantage. On July 1, medical schools will start to receive verified applications from AMCAS that contain both old and new MCAT scores, from that point forward, AMCAS will send medical schools verified applicant data on a rolling basis.
AMCAS application deadline dates are currently being confirmed with medical schools and this updated information will be available on the AMCAS website in early April. The Early Decision Program deadline for both application submission and receipt of all required official transcripts is usually on August 1st, but as that day falls on a Saturday this, year, the EDP deadline is August 3 this year.
One note on the timing of secondary applications:
Some schools elect to receive contact information from their applicants before the rest of their applications have been processed by AMCAS—this means you could receive a secondary application from these schools before your AMCAS application is verified.
*Dates subject to change

6. Tentative Participation
2016 AMCAS Participation
Tentative Participation
(finalized April 1)
Application
143 Schools/Programs
All MD granting schools in the United States with the exception of MD programs at Texas public schools
AMCAS Letters
139 Schools/Programs
Criminal Background Checks
105 Schools/Programs
As of yet, there are no changes to medical school participation in the AMCAS services this year. Participation will be finalized at the beginning of April and we will publicize any changes.
All M.D. programs in the U.S., with the exception of programs at Texas public schools participate in the AMCAS application and other services. Only two schools do not use AMCAS for Letters of Evaluations—this means that you will likely use AMCAS to send letters of evaluation to medical schools.
Most AMCAS-participating schools also participate in the AAMC-facilitated criminal background check process, we’ll talk more about background checks later on in the presentation.

7. The AMCAS Application Identifying Information Schools Attended
Biographic Information
Course Work
Work/Activities
Letters of Evaluation
Medical Schools
Essay(s)
Standardized Tests
Now, we’ll go ahead and jump into the application. There are 9 sections in the application, and we’ll talk about each one in a bit more detail.

8. Accessing the Application
Use the same username and password that you used for MCAT or the Fee Assistance Program, otherwise click “register”
Access the application in the upper right of the AMCAS homepage at aamc.org/amcas. Log in using your AAMC account—you already have an AAMC account if you registered for the MCAT, applied to the Fee Assistance Program, or signed into the AAMC website.
A good thing to know about this page—every morning during the application season, we update the message on this page with our daily processing status.
AAMC registration collects your basic information and pre-populates some responses in your AMCAS application. The registration system will complete an automatic check for duplicate registrations. If you are a re-applicant, you should use the same username and password you used in the past.

9. AMCAS Main Menu
This is a screenshot of the main menu in the AMCAS application. This page is always just a click away from anywhere in the application by clicking the Main Menu button in the top right. The sections of the application are accessible from the both the horizontal bar at the top and the list in the center of the page.
The sections automatically display Complete or Incomplete based on whether all of the required fields in that section of the application have been filled in. The action buttons on the right become active when certain information has been entered into the application. Your application’s status is always displayed in the left column and clicking on the Details link will provide more information on what that status means, as well as detailing the status of transcripts and letters.

10. 1. Identifying Information
The first section of the application is called “Identifying Information” and is composed of much of the information you entered during registration, so some fields will be pre-populated. Make sure everything is correct and also include any school-issued ID numbers which will help AMCAS match your transcripts to your application.

11. 2. Schools Attended
In the “Schools Attended” section, the second section of the application, you are required to enter information about any post-secondary institutions you have attended, regardless of credit earned or transferred. Full instructions on which schools you must enter are available by clicking “Help” at the top of the screen in the application.
This is where you will decide whether to release your application information to school-designated advisors (circled here). Doing so allows them to see your information and help you develop your application strategy.

12. 2. Schools Attended
In the schools attended section, you’ll also determine which official transcripts are required by AMCAS, and you can request exceptions for those that are not required (although this is rare, as the majority of transcripts are required by AMCAS). A link to a transcript request form (which facilitates proper matching of your transcript to your application) is in this section and can also be found from the Main Menu of the application.
If you participated in a study abroad program—which to AMCAS means that you were sponsored by a domestic institution and credit has been transferred—then you should carefully read the sections on Study Abroad and Foreign Coursework in the AMCAS Instruction Manual. You should also watch the tutorial on entering study abroad coursework to determine how you should enter this information in your application.

13. 3. Biographic Information
The next section, biographic information, is pretty self-explanatory, so we’ll leave it at that.

14. 4. Course Work
The fourth section of the application is Course Work. This is typically the section that takes the most time to complete. You will see that the schools you entered in section two are shown here in the schools attended box, and you will enter information about all of the courses you took at this school.
There are links in this section to video tutorials that demonstrate how to enter some of the different types of coursework you might have such as study abroad coursework or AP credits.

15. 4. Course Work
Use a personal copy of your official transcript to complete this section
For each course ever taken at a postsecondary institution, regardless of whether credit was earned, you will fill in information about the course, including: Academic Year and Term, the Year in School, the course number and name, the grade or symbol on the transcript if applicable and the credit hours shown on the transcript, if applicable. You will indicate if there was a lab associated with the course and choose any applicable special course type by using the checkboxes.
One note on entering these courses—AMCAS requires applicants to enter the final grades for all attempts at any course that has been repeated, regardless of your institution’s grade forgiveness or covering policies. That means that all grades from all attempts of any course will be factored into your AMCAS GPA. Failure to do so will result in your application being returned to you which, could result in missed deadlines and forfeited fees.
AMCAS recommends that you request a personal copy of your official transcript from your registrar(s). Unofficial transcripts often have slight variations from official transcripts which can become an issue during the verification process. If your application has too many errors AMCAS will send it back to you so you can fix it, or it may just take longer to verify your application than it would if you had used an official transcript.

16. 4. Course Work Average # of courses entered: 52
On average, applicants enter about 52 courses in this section of the application, from usually 2 or 3 schools. Once you’ve entered all of your courses, you can review them and make edits as necessary on the summary screen.
Average # of courses entered: 52
Average # of schools: 2-3

17. 5. Work/Activities Maximum of 15 entries
Applicants can enter 3 additional date ranges for repeated activities
Maximum of 3 “Most Meaningful”
Section 5, “Work and Activities”, is where you have an opportunity to share with medical schools all of your work experiences and activities. You may add up to 15 entries in this section; for most activities, you are required to list a contact person and either an or phone number, so that medical schools may verify this information if they so choose. You may select up to 3 experiences as the “Most Meaningful” where you will be provided with an additional prompt and asked to reflect on the experience a bit more.
You can include repeated experiences so instead of entering a summer job three times, you would enter it once and indicate repeated date ranges for those periods during which you held this position. You can enter up to four separate date ranges for a single experience, and you can also enter future dates up to the start of your potential matriculation year (so for the 2016 cycle, this would be August 2016).

18. 6. Letters of Evaluation
You can submit your application before your letters are received by AMCAS.
The sixth section of the application for you to enter contact information about who will be submitting Letters of Evaluation on your behalf. You will indicate which type of letter will be sent for each letter entry—a committee letter, a letter packet, or an individual letter. Up to 10 letter entries may be added to the application, but that does not mean that medical schools wish to receive 10 letters per applicant. AMCAS allows this many entries to permit you to target specific letters to certain schools if you want to. Most applicants have 2 or 3 letters. Letter packets cannot be broken up once they are received by AMCAS.
If you are working with a pre health advisor or a career center to send your letters to AMCAS, you may want to check with them for specific instructions about filling out this section. You are required to provide contact information for your letter authors. This information will be used to generate the letter request form that you will give to your letter writers. This form is important as it contains your AAMC ID number and the letter ID number for this specific letter which will help AMCAS match it to your application.
Remember, you can submit your application before AMCAS gets your letters since they are not required to verify your application.

19. 6. Letters of Evaluation
Many medical schools require that letters of evaluation are on official letterhead and bear the signature of the author
While AMCAS has no requirements for letters, please bear in mind that many medical schools require that letters be on official letter head and bear the signature of the author—so remind your authors about this formality when you provide them with the letter request form.

20. 7. Medical Schools
Be sure to select the correct program type and be mindful of program and transcript deadlines
In the Medical Schools section, you will select the schools you are applying to. You can find schools by state, deadline date, or program type. Once you select a school, additional information about that institution’s participation in AMCAS Letters and the AAMC-facilitated background checks is displayed. The deadline dates are also shown on this screen after you select a school. You won’t be able to select a school if their deadline date has already passed.

21. 8. Essay(s)
You’ll also complete an Essay section, section eight of the application. You’re provided with 5300 characters—which is about one page—to reflect on why you wish to attend medical school. Feel free to click the Help Text on this page for suggestions of things to think about when writing this statement. We recommend that you type directly into this field and avoid copying and pasting, as formatting problems may occur, and no changes may be made to this section once the application has been submitted. We also recommend that you very carefully proofread your essay before submitting.
For those of you applying to an MD/PhD program, you are also required to complete two additional essays—one on your motivations for pursuing an MD/PhD program and one detailing your research experiences.

22. 9. Standardized Tests
Finally, the last section of the application is the Standardized Tests section. MCAT scores are automatically released to AMCAS. If you have already received your score, you should verify that it is captured correctly in your application. You can submit your AMCAS application without MCAT scores, but you should indicate your intended future MCAT testing date and keep that information updated throughout the application process. This is especially important if you already have an MCAT score in your application. Medical schools have no other way of knowing that you intend to take an additional MCAT. If you don’t indicate that you plan to take another test at a future date, they could review your application with the score that is already present in your application and make a decision before they have received a new score.
If you are re-taking the MCAT and don’t indicate your upcoming testing date, medical schools may review your application without waiting for your new score.

23. Certification Statement
Application Fees (2015 Cycle)
$160 processing fee (includes one school)
$36 for each additional school
In order to submit your application, you are required to indicate agreement to the Certification Statement. When you submit your application, you will also have to pay a flat processing fee, as well as a fee for each additional school to which you choose to apply.
Fees change with every application cycle, so be sure to check the AMCAS website for the latest information. If you are in need of financial assistance, you should apply for the Fee Assistance Program, which we’ll talk more about near the end of this presentation.

24. After Submission… Verification Post-Submission Changes
Criminal Background Checks
Multiple Accept Data
Once you’ve submitted your application, there are a few other things that will happen that you should know about—specifically how AMCAS verifies your application, changes you can make, criminal background checks, and acceptance reports.

25. AMCAS Verification Process
Transcripts
All required official transcripts are required before an application can join the verification queue
AMCAS accepts PDF eTranscripts from approved senders
Processing
From date of “Ready to Review” application status, about 6 weeks
Find processing updates on Twitter and on the AMCAS application sign in page
All Official Transcripts
Received
Application
Submitted
Verification Queue
Applications are placed in the verification queue as soon as AMCAS receives your submitted electronic application and all of your required official transcripts. When requesting transcripts from your registrar(s), use the Official Transcript Request form that is generated from within the AMCAS application. The form helps AMCAS match transcripts accurately. AMCAS does accept electronic PDF eTranscripts from approved senders, however, most schools that have the ability to send eTranscripts are not yet AMCAS-approved senders. (Talk with the registrar at your institution before recommending this option to your students.)
The verification process takes about 6 weeks from the time an application reaches the status of “Ready to Review”. In order to ensure this process goes as smoothly as possible, check the AMCAS Instruction Manual and watch the video tutorials to ensure that all coursework—particularly AP credit and study abroad coursework—is entered accurately before submitting your application. In order to verify an application, AMCAS does a line-by-line comparison of all of the coursework you entered into your application to what is on your official transcripts. They will also calculate your AMCAS GPAs which are normalized GPAs which allow medical school admissions officers to compare students’ GPAs from different schools and programs.
AMCAS posts processing updates on the application sign in page almost every morning. They also provide processing updates on Twitter so you can gauge where you are in the verification queue. or visit the AMCAS Twitter page for regular updates on processing.

26. AMCAS Verification 2015 Application Year 2014 Application Year
# of business days to complete verification
2014 Application Year
These graphs depict verification times during the 2014 and 2015 application cycles. The shaded portion shows you the time period when it took more than 15 business days (3 weeks) to complete the verification process once an application was marked “Ready for Review”. As you may notice, there is not much of a shaded portion on last year’s graph. Due to the backlog of applications during the 2014 application cycle (as seen in the extended shaded portion of that graph), AMCAS made substantial changes to their verification operations last year in order process applications more efficiently.
Of course AMCAS plans to continue these faster turn around times for the 2016 application year. However, because verification times do depend heavily on the number of applications they get and when the applications are submitted—these charts are only for reference and are not a prediction of processing times for the 2016 application cycle.

27. Post-Submission Changes
Once your application is submitted you can make changes to limited content of your application using the “Update Application” button.
If you need to make a change after your application has been submitted, click on the “Update Application” button that will become available after your application is submitted. There is no processing delay or fee for updating your application—unless you’re adding an additional medical school. For more help with post-submission changes, see the video tutorial available on the AMCAS website.

28. Post-Submission Changes
Only these items can be updated or changed in your application after it has been submitted:
ID Numbers
Name
Contact Information
Date of birth, birth address, and sex
Letters of Evaluation
Notification that a letter will no longer be sent
Next MCAT testing date
Addition of Medical Schools or changes to existing program types
Deadlines, fees, and restrictions apply
Release application information to school-designated pre-health advisor
Only the items on this list can be updated or changed in your application after it has been submitted:
ID Numbers
Name, including Full Legal Name, Preferred Name, and Alternate Names
Contact Information, including Permanent and Preferred Mailing Addresses
Alternate Contact Information
Date of Birth, Birth Address, and Sex
Letters of Evaluation (although the only elements of this section that can be edited are the addition or removal of up to 10 total letter entries)
Next MCAT testing date
Adding Medical Schools and changing existing Program Types (deadlines, fees, and restrictions apply)
Releasing application information to your school-designated pre-health advisor.

29. Criminal Background Checks
Participating schools have checks run on accepted or waitlisted applicants
Certiphi Screening, Inc. will notify applicants when the CBC has been initiated
Applicants have 10 calendar days to review their report
No additional charge to the applicant for this service
CBC Schedule
Application Status
CBC Procured
Accepted,
Early Decision Program
Upon Acceptance
Accepted, Regular
After January 1
Alternate List
After May 15, by school’s request only
The AAMC recommends criminal background checks on all accepted applicants to assist medical schools in evaluating the ability of an individual to attain appropriate licensing in the future and to ensure trust in the profession of medicine.
Criminal background checks are run on students accepted into an early decision program as soon as they are accepted, on students accepted under regular decision after January 1. Background checks are run on applicants placed on an Alternate List after May 15 and only at the request of the medical school. Applicants have the opportunity to review their criminal background check report before it is sent to medical schools. There is no additional charge to you for this service.
You will receive an notification from the AAMC’s background check vendor, Certiphi Screening, Inc., initiating the background check. You will also have 10 calendar days to review their report for irregularities, after that time it will automatically be sent to the medical school(s)

30. See the Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants
Multiple Accept Data
Medical schools cannot view the number or names of other schools that an applicant has applied to
Medical schools have access to:
Multiple Accept Data (February)
Allows medical schools to see other schools to which an applicant they have accepted is also currently holding an acceptance decision
The National Acceptance Report (April)
Lists all applicants with a current Acceptance or Matriculated action
As a reminder, medical schools are NEVER able to view the number or names of other schools that you apply to.
In February of the application cycle, medical schools will be able to see Multiple Accept Data, meaning that for applicants a school has accepted, that school will be able to see where else those applicants are also currently holding an acceptance. In the beginning of April, medical schools will have access to the National Acceptance Report, which lists all applicants with a current Acceptance or Matriculated action.
For more information about these reports, see the Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants on the AMCAS website. These protocols were previously named Traffic Rules.
See the Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants

31. 2015 Fee Assistance Program
The AAMC believes that the cost of applying to medical school should not be a barrier to those who are interested in becoming physicians.
Fee Assistance program benefits are not retroactive! Apply for fee assistance well before you register for MCAT or submit your AMCAS application.
The Fee Assistance Program helps those who, without financial assistance, would be unable to take the MCAT exam, apply to medical schools that use AMCAS, or gain access to the Pivio® System.
One important note: Fee Assistance Program benefits are not retroactive. Therefore, it’s important to apply for the Fee Assistance Program well before you register for an MCAT exam, submit your AMCAS application, or pay for any of the other benefits that could be provided to you if you are awarded fee assistance.

32. Fee Assistance Program - Benefits
Reduced MCAT registration fees
MCAT prep materials
Medical School Admissions Requirements website access
AMCAS fee waiver
Discounted access to Pivio®
If you are approved for Fee Assistance in 2015, you will receive:
Reduced MCAT 2015 registration fees
The Official Guide to the MCAT® (MCAT2015) Exam, Fourth Edition and other official MCAT practice products.
Complimentary access to the Medical School Admission Requirements website
A waiver for all AMCAS fees for one (1) application submission with up to 15 medical school designations. It’s also important to note, that many medical schools waive their secondary application fees for those who qualify for fee assistance).
A reduced subscription to Pivio for up to two years. (Again, Pivio is an electronic portfolio service that allows you to organize, archive, and transfer important information throughout your medical career.)
If you are awarded fee assistance and you are applying for testing accommodations for the MCAT, you will also have access to up to $500 towards an updated psycho-educational or medical evaluation if it is required to support your MCAT accommodations application.
If you were awarded, and used all the Fee Assistance Program benefits available to you, you would save more than $2000.
Again, benefits are not retroactive, so apply well before you purchase, subscribe, register, or submit anything else to the AAMC as you will not get a refund.

33. Fee Assistance Program - Benefits
How long can I use these benefits?
Up to two calendar years
If your application is approved:
Your benefits expire:
Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2015
December 31, 2016
Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2016
December 31, 2017
Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2017
December 31, 2018
So how long can you use these benefits?
Starting this year, you can now use your fee assistance program benefits for up to two calendar years. Benefits will expire on December 31 the year after they are awarded regardless of when in the year you apply for, and receive, the award.

34. Fee Assistance Program - Eligibility
You are eligible if you are a
U.S. citizen or U.S. national
Lawful permanent resident of the U.S.
Refugee/asylum or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status
Award approval is tied directly to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' poverty level guidelines.
300% or less than the 2014 national poverty level for each family size
You are eligible for the Fee Assistance Program if you are a U.S. citizen, U.S. National, a lawful permanent resident of the United States ("Green Card" holder), or have been granted refugee/asylum status or DACA status by the U.S. government.
Award approval is tied directly to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' poverty level guidelines. In 2015, you will be granted fee assistance if each household reported on your application had a total family income in 2014 that was 300 percent or less than the 2014 national poverty level for your family size.
If your application meets these criteria, you will receive fee assistance benefits.
The Fee Assistance Program, unlike some federally funded programs, does not draw distinctions based on your dependent or independent tax status. Therefore, parental financial information and supporting tax documentation are required. Parental information is viewed independently from applicant data, but must also fall within eligibility guidelines. This requirement cannot be waived on the basis of your marital status, age, or tax filing status.

35. Fee Assistance Program - Applying
New, more user-friendly application
Website resources to check out:
What You Need to Apply
Application Guide
Phone:
Monday – Friday, 9 am – 7 pm (EST)
@AAMCPreMed
Go to aamc.org/fap to learn more about the Fee Assistance Program eligibility requirements, program benefits, application process—and to start your application.
To apply to the Fee Assistance Program, you will complete and submit the online application. (This year we have a new, easy-to-use application interface.) Once AAMC has your preliminary information, we will determine whether or not you qualify for the program. If you do, you will then be asked to submit financial documentation (tax documents, etc.) to support your application. The AAMC will then evaluate and let you know the outcome of your application within 3 weeks.
Make sure to consult the Application Guide when filling out your online application. And review the What You Need to Apply section of the website for more information about the types of financial documentation you may be asked to provide.
If you have questions during this process, remember we’re here to help! Call, , message, or tweet us!

36. aamc.org/amcas AMCAS Tools Instruction Manual and Guides
Application and Acceptance Protocols
Video Tutorials
youtube.com/AMCASinfo
Twitter
@AMCASinfo
For tools to help you through the application process, visit for resources about the entire application journey and the actual AMCAS application. Look through the Quick Start Guide, the AMCAS Instruction Manual, or watch video tutorials by going to the AMCAS resources section of the website, so you will be prepared and informed when the application opens in May. We will have the 2016 AMCAS application resources available on April 1.
Again, for processing updates and other AMCAS-specific information, follow us on and watch our video tutorials on YouTube.
aamc.org/amcas

37. AAMC Pre-Med Join the social conversation— ask questions and get info
facebook.com/AAMCPreMed
@AAMCPreMed
Also follow AAMC Pre-Med on twitter and on Facebook for quick answers to your questions about any point in the pre-med journey directly from AAMC staff.