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Read this first:

AMCAS has a great Help menu; it would be a good idea to read the introduction before you start, and when you have questions, the first thing you should try is the "Help" button in AMCAS itself. There is also an FAQ page and further supporting materials on the AMCAS web page.

Remember that medical schools initially will only know you through your AMCAS, so you should think carefully about how you present yourself. This means making sure that you write in complete sentences, and that you pay attention to details like punctuation and capitalization. You should also think carefully about what accomplishments and aspects of yourself you want to emphasize.

Be aware that once you submit an application, you cannot go back and make changes, with the exceptions of updating your contact information, changing the date of a future MCAT, or adding more schools you wish to apply to. So make sure you proofread everything very carefully. You can print the application out to do so, using the "Print Application" button on Main Menu.

Although you cannot actually submit AMCAS until early June, you need to submit to us a draft of your application by June 1. This draft is not for us to proofread or critique, but is for our information as we write your letters. Most important for us is that you complete the Work/Activities section. To send us a copy, if you go to the Main Menu of your application and click the "Print Application" button, it generates a PDF file of your application for you to print and hand in to us. Or you can save the PDF as "FirstnameLastname–AMCAS" and send it as an attachment to Lindsay Mapes at <lmapes@upenn.edu>.

In addition to sending a draft copy to us, you must actually submit your AMCAS! It is a very good idea to do that early–and by mid-July at the latest.

As you complete the application, please check the box in the Schools Attended section that releases information to your advisors at Penn. This will be very helpful for future applicants–you may have benefited from statistics collected this way yourself.

• Transcript
• Course Work
• Work/Activities
• Letters of Evaluation and Other Questions

Transcripts:

How many transcripts should I request?

You only need to request one copy of each of your transcripts, and have it sent directly to AMCAS; you don't send transcripts directly to the medical schools. You might want to check your transcript yourself before you have it sent, to make sure that it is correct. Do make sure you have a transcript sent in from every U.S. or Canadian institution you have attended, even if the courses you took elsewhere transferred to Penn.

How should I request my Penn transcript?

There is a "Transcript Request Form" that you can print from AMCAS. In fact, that is less a request form than a cover sheet that you should ask the registrar to include with your transcript. That form has on it your AMCAS ID, and allows AMCAS to match your transcript to your application.

To request a Penn transcript, you will need fill out the Penn Registrar’s own form (www.upenn.edu/registrar). Since you should have them include the AMCAS Transcript Request Form, you should request the transcript by mail or in person rather than online.

Do I need transcripts from international schools?

AMCAS will not expect you to provide transcripts from international schools.

If transfer courses appear on my Penn transcript, do I still need a transcript from the school I transferred from?

Yes. You will need to send in a copy of a transcript from every U.S. or Canadian institution you have attended.

When should I have my transcript submitted? Can I request a transcript before I submit my AMCAS application?

You should have your transcript(s) sent in to AMCAS early. You can request a transcript be sent to AMCAS even before you have submitted your application. Of course, you should wait until your Spring grades have been posted before you have your transcript sent. However, you can submit a request form to the Registrar in advance of grades being posted, if necessary, indicating that they should hold for your final grades--just make sure you follow up to let them know when they should send the transcript in.

Input of Course Work:

Do I need to convert my Penn credit units to “credit hours”?

No, and you should not. AMCAS will convert them for you. Enter the course units exactly as they appear on your Penn transcript.

What about study abroad?

When you list your “Schools Attended,” you should list any study abroad program separately–even if sponsored through Penn. You will be able to indicate if the program was sponsored by Penn when you complete the "transcript exception request" for the international school.

How should I list AP credit?

List any AP credits you received from Penn in your first semester, with your year as “freshman” (even though you took them in high school). You don't need to enter a grade. Check the “AP” box, and put “AP” before the course title. You cannot list AP courses for which you did not receive college credit.

What about courses where I received credit by departmental exam?

AMCAS instructs you to enter such courses as AP credit. So you should check the "AP" box when you enter them. You can note in the course title, though, that the course was credit by departmental exam..

What about courses that were waived?

List courses which were waived–and for which you did not receive credit on your trasncript–and check the “Exempt” box. This is applicable for Chem 53 and 54 for some people, for example.

Do seminars count as “lecture” courses?

Yes.

What should I do about writing seminars?

If it is not in the course title already, enter "(Writing Seminar)" after the course title, just to make that clear.

In what academic year do I list summer courses taken?

For AMCAS, the academic year begins in summer and ends in spring. So list summer courses as being in the academic year following that summer. Courses taken in the summer after your freshman year, for example, count as courses you take in your sophomore year.

I’m a junior. Do I need to list courses I will take as a senior?

Yes. Make your best guess of courses you will take in the future; do not exaggerate the number of courses you will take. If you drop courses or otherwise change your schedule later, you can always send an update directly to the schools. This also applies to seniors who plan to take courses after graduation.

Work/Activities

What should I include in the Work/Activities section?

This section can include a broad range of activities, medically-related and otherwise, from paid work, to volunteering, to honors and awards. You can include anything you have done since graduating high school, including summer activities. In addition to including extra-curricular activities you have done of various kinds, you could include honors and awards, and publications. If you have done research or community service for which you received credit, you can still list those as activities even if they are not technically "extra-curricular"; just make sure you indicate that you received course credit in the description.

Does it matter in what order I list my activities? Should I list the most important first?

It does not really matter. Schools will sort your entries in whatever order thery prefer when they read your AMCAS. You can emphasize some activities over others, however, by how much (and in what way) you choose to write about them. In fact you must select up to 3 activities as "most meaningful" and you get much more space to write about those.

Which activities should I select as "most meaningful"?

You should think about which experiences really did mean most to you--those are the ones you're most likely to be able to write extensively and convincingly about. If you really are torn between different experiences you might choose, then you might think about which three would best illustrate the range of your interests and abilities.

Can I choose fewer than 3 as "most meaningful"?

Technically, you can choose just one or two--but it would be a shame to miss such an opportunity to add more depth to your application. So it's worth thinking carefully about what 3 experiences you can write about productively in more detail.

If I have more than 15 work/activities things to list, can I condense several related activities into one?

Yes. You could list various honors under “honors and awards” for example, and then give details of each one in the text.

If I have done the same activity over several summers, can I list it as one activity?

Yes. Just make sure you specify you did it over the summer only in the description.

Does it matter if I list fewer than 15 activities?

No. Some people will have devoted a lot of attention to a few activities, and that is just fine.

What if I was in a student-run organization, and what about awards and other unsupervised things--do I need to list contact information?

Yes, you must list contact information (an email or phone number) for every entry. Do your best--perhaps there is some official email address for the organization? If you're really at a total loss, you could list your pre-health advisor.

Can I include activities from the summer after high school?

Yes. You can include any activities you did after high school. The only usual exception to the prohibition we advise against listing high school activities would be if you won a scholarship that you continued to receive while you were in college.

Can I include being on the Dean’s List and other awards?

Yes. Remember medical schools will not see your transcript, so they will not know about Dean’s List otherwise. You should also explain the award. For example, your reader may not know what it means to be on the Dean’s List at Penn; it is not the same at every school. The date for the Dean’s List would be May of the year you received that honor. You do not need to list contact information for most honors.

Letters of Evaluation and Other Questions:

How should I complete the Letters of Evaluation (LOE) Section?

The vast majority of AMCAS schools are participating in the AMCAS Letters of Evaluation (LOE) system, so in all likelihood you will need to complete this section. You will usually only need to enter one letter in the LOE section, however. Your HPAB packet contains our cover letter and also the 3-6 individual letters of recommendation you have designated, but it counts as a single letter for AMCAS purposes. Do not list the letters of recommendation in the packet individually on your AMCAS.

When you add the letter (the HPAB packet), make sure you designate it as a "Committee Letter" (not "Letter Packet"). You should then list your pre-health advisor as the Contact/Author.

Note that AMCAS assigns a 7-digit Letter ID number to your letter, which is different from your 8-digit AMCAS ID number. We need both of those to transmit your HPAB packet, so we'll ask for them on the form when you request. You don't need to send in the actual AMCAS letter request form, since the letters are sent electronically.

You will know if a school is participating in the AMCAS LOE system because when you complete the Medical Schools section and add the schools to which you are applying, it reminds you that you need to designate your letter to that school. For each school you add, make sure you do indeed designate your "Committee Letter" to that medical school.

If you're applying to a school not participating in the AMCAS LOE system, don't worry, that's easy for us to deal with. Just make a note of it so that you can let us know when you request.

It's asking me about Letters of Evaluation now, and I need to submit my application by mid-July. But the earliest I can request that you send out my HPAB packet is August 1. Won't that make me late?

No. Your transcript can be verified and your AMCAS can be completed and forwarded to medical schools before they receive your HPAB packet. That transcript verification can take several weeks, which is part of why submitting early is essential. It is normal for your HPAB Packet to arrive later in the summer, when you are probably still completing secondary application. August 1 is still well in advance of when most medical schools begin interviewing.

Are MCAT scores forwarded to AMCAS automatically?

Yes.

What if I want to (re)take the MCAT later?

If you know you will take the MCAT later in the summer, after you submit, indicate that you will take a future test by completing the "Next MCAT" section, and give the date. You can change the date later if necessary.

Should I wait for grades and MCAT scores before I submit?

Yes, if possible, you should wait for grades in your spring courses and your MCAT scores before you apply, just in case you decide it is necessary to retake it. But in any event, it is not a good idea at all to submit AMCAS later than mid-July. Any time in June or early July is still early enough to submit your application and maximize your chances of admission.

What is my legal residence?

If you’re still a student, even if you’re registered to vote here, usually your residence is the state where your parents live. If your situation is complicated, it would make sense to check your status with the relevant state school.

Will schools know where else I have applied?

No. Not until late next spring, towards the end of the process.

What will the application cost?

It costs $160 for the first school you apply to, and then $33 for each school you apply to after that. There will then be further fees as you complete each school's secondary application.