1) At the end of your junior year, begin a pre-med file by contacting Kathy Allen in the Career Center (Alumni Hall). She will provide you with forms needed to obtain letters of recommendation from Gustavus faculty/staff. You will distribute those evaluation forms to the individuals you want as representatives for your "pre-med committee". They will write letters of evaluation and submit them to Kathy Allen for compiling and adding to your file. The compiled letters will be your "pre-medical committee letter" that is sent to individual medical schools.
2) The majority of U.S. medical schools require students to apply through the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). This entails completing one standardized application which is then processed by AMCAS and sent to the individual medical schools you have designated. The application is available in the Career Center as"paper form" (to be completed with a typewriter). It is also available in an electronic form (AMCAS-E) through the pre-med advisor or by downloading from the AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges) website. Plan on completing the AMCAS application during the summer of the year preceding admission. (Although most medical schools have a deadline of November 15th, it is advisable to get your application in before that date. You can mail it as early as June 1st.) A few medical schools have individual applications that must be obtained directly from the schools. Those schools are indicated on the MCAT form and in the MSAR manual; you need only call the schools to obtain their application form.3) Request that transcripts be sent to AMCAS. You must submit a college transcript from ALL colleges attended (including post secondary option courses, summer school classes, and even courses from which you withdrew). There is a "Transcript Request Form" included with your AMCAS application.
4) Following completion of your initial application through AMCAS (or non-AMCAS schools), most medical schools will send secondary applications to the applicants they deem competitive. In general, the materials requested include: a "pre-medical committee letter"; essays that answer additional questions posed by the individual medical schools; and supportive letters from employers, friends, and/or people in the medical professions. You should plan to have all this information completed and returned by the November 15 deadline.
For example, the University of Minnesota-Duluth Supplemental Application will ask the following:
5) If all goes well, you'll have an opportunity to interview at some of your selected medical schools from October through March of your senior year. Plan on financing trips to these schools, as you are responsible for all costs of transporation and lodging. Because the interviews occur during the academic year, it will necessitate making arrangements with your professors regarding absence from class.
6) Notification of acceptance to Medical School ranges from December to May of your Senior year.
**For those who decide to apply following their senior year of college, their timeline will just be shifted accordingly. There is NO disadvantage to applying later than your junior or senior year... and many of our current students in medical school have done just that. Sometimes it is advantageous to acquire more experience, and giving yourself an extra year(s) can often allow this to happen.
