Applying to Medical School
Timeline
Well in advance of the application cycle, prospective applicants to medical school should determine when to take the MCAT.
The MCAT should be taken no later than April 2023 for those planning to matriculate to medical school in August 2024. Refer to the AAMC MCAT web pages for the MCAT testing calendar, registration information, and more.
Registration Information will be sent in an email
The workshop will review/discuss:
- the timeline and process for applying to medical school
- the documents required to obtain a Committee Letter
- letters of recommendation
A Committee Letter is a letter authored by a pre-health committee or pre-health advisor and intended to represent your institution’s evaluation of you. At Hamilton, the Committee Letter is a detailed narrative of your path to a career in medicine written by the Health Professions Advisor and edited by the Health Professions Advisory Committee. It is combined with your other letters of recommendation (LOR’s). Although not required for admission to medical school, medical schools prefer to receive a Committee Letter so it is a benefit to you. In fact, they will become suspicious if an applicant doesn’t submit such a letter when his/her school offers this service.
As part of the medical school application process, you will need to solicit letters of recommendation (LORs). Serving as an outside endorsement of your candidacy, a LOR is a letter in which the author will assess your qualities, characteristics, and capabilities as they pertain to medical school. Ideally, a LOR will demonstrate to the admissions committees that you possess the traits and core competencies that they look for in a future physician.
LOR's will be collected by and stored in veCollect. Those applying for admission to medical school in 2024 will need to create an account (paid for by the Health Professions office) by December 1, 2022 (more information below.) Applicants should confirm writers' willingness to support them before listing your evaluators. For tips on soliciting letters of recommendation, visit our Letters of Recommendation Page.
The Declaration of Intent is a Qualtrics form that notifies the Health Professions Advising office of your intent to apply to medical school and provides the office with basic identifying information. Complete this form no later than December 1st, 2022. Re-applicants from prior application cycles should submit a new Declaration of Intent by February 1st, 2023.
Submit Release of Information/Confidentiality Waiver
The Release of Information/confidentiality waiver (found within the Declaration of Intent Qualtrics form) allows Leslie Bell and the Health Professions Advisory Committee to contact the Dean’s Office in order to determine if there are any sanctions that have been brought against you during your time at Hamilton as well as waives your right to view any letters written on your behalf. While you legally have the right to view any letters written on your behalf, it is best to waive this right for several reasons. Medical schools are wary of applicants who feel they need to see their LORs. Failure to waive this right creates the impression that your LORs may not be candid assessments of your candidacy and that you may have "censored" your letters by including only those that paint a very positive picture of you. Admissions committees want to have assurance that they are receiving a complete, unedited picture of you from those who wrote your LORs, so it is best to remove any appearance of you having a hand in what they say. From the medical schools' perspective, therefore, it is preferable that you have a closed file and that your letters be confidential.
All applicants, including those with letters currently on file at the Health Professions Advising office, must create an account on veCollect.
- Watch the video about registering for an account
- Register for veCollect access
- Select your state from the dropdown
- Select Hamilton College from the dropdown.
- Enter the required authorization code sent in an email after the How to Apply workshop. If you did not receive this email, contact Cheney Cronin from the Health Professions Advising office at hpa@hamilton.edu for the code.
- Complete the registration form, choosing a login and password, to create your account. You will receive an email that includes a link to activate your account and takes you to the Applicant "dashboard".
- On the Applicant dashboard, read the detailed instructions under the "For Applicants" tab in order to understand the steps involved in requesting letters of recommendation (LOR's) .
Generate Letter Requests in veCollect
- Applicants will be responsible for generating letter requests and monitoring the receipt of letters in their file.
- Letters of recommendation are due by April 1. Candidates' materials will be presented to the Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC) in the order in which files are completed. We strongly recommend generating letter requests, especially those for faculty, in December so that they can use winter break to write. Check your account frequently to monitor receipt of letters as you may need to follow up with evaluators whose letters have not been submitted.
- Applicants who wish to request an LOR for a later date may do so (e.g. from a supervisor at a new job or from a professor who is just getting to know you.) However, note that candidates will not be presented to the Health Professions Advising Committee until their files are complete (all LORs and other documents received and MCAT taken.)
- Some recommenders may be difficult to reach or may need reminders to submit their letters; starting early is the key to success.
- Files must be complete by May 1, 2023 in order to receive a Committee Letter. A completed file consists of all LORs, your Self-Assessment, personal statement, resume, and the Interview for Committee Letter.
You do not need to provide a Hamilton transcript to the HPAC as these will be provided by the Registrar. However, if you have completed relevant course work at other post-secondary institutions (e.g. summer classes, post-bac programs, Master's degrees), you will need to request that transcripts from those institutions be sent to Cheney Cronin, Assistant Director, Health Professions Advising, at hpa@hamilton.edu. Transcripts should be received by March 1, 2023 to complete your file.
Applicants taking classes through May 2023 should notify the Health Professions Advising Office that a transcript will be forthcoming. Unofficial transcripts, if you have them, are also acceptable. Note: when you complete your application to medical school on AMCAS/AACOMAS, you will be responsible for requesting transcripts from all secondary institutions you have attended as well as some study abroad programs.
A draft of your personal statement is due to the HPAC on March 1, 2023. It will be reviewed with the rest of your materials.
It is strongly recommended that you receive and incorporate feedback from several sources, both personal and professional, to craft your final essay. For professional reviews, appointments can be made with Career Center advisors via Handshake and the Health Professions Advisor via Google Calendar. Current students are also encouraged to take advantage of the Writing Center.
You will be sent the Applicant Self Assessment and the Work and Activities sheets to complete after you submit the Declaration of Intent.
You will also need to submit a Resumé and a draft of your Personal Statement.
Send these documents to your veCollect account by March 1, 2023; instructions for sending documents to your account will be included with the Self Assessment. Reflecting and writing about your experiences should help you prepare answers for your application. Please save the uploaded materials with the type of document and your last name filename: (LastName_Self-Assessment), (LastName_Personal Statement).
Once you have submitted all of your documents you will be able to sign up for an interview with the Health Professions Advisor.
The purpose is to become better acquainted with you, including your academic accomplishments, core competencies, and the experiences that have confirmed and prepared you for a career in medicine (as outlined in your Self-Assessment) as well as your readiness to apply in this application cycle. Notes from the interview will be shared with all HPAC members, along with the documents and letters submitted to veCollect, and your transcript(s). This information will be used to write a comprehensive Committee Letter that will be sent along with your Letters of Recommendation to the medical schools to which you are applying.
Interviews with current students will be conducted in person; interviews with alumni will be conducted by Zoom; allow one hour. Alumni: interviews will be conducted during normal business hours (some lunch times have been reserved).
All LORs will be due in veCollect by this date.
It will be your responsibility to monitor your account in veCollect regarding the receipt of your letters, and to contact reference writers who have not yet submitted them. Often a phone call is the best way to touch base with your writer regarding the status of your letter.
The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS), run by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), is a web-based, centralized application service that was developed to simplify and standardize the process of applying to U.S. allopathic (M.D.) medical schools. Likewise, AACOMAS is the centralized application service for the U.S. colleges of osteopathic medicine. Once you submit the required information, AMCAS and/or AACOMAS will collect, verify, and process your applicant data and transmit it to the schools you designate. Individual medical schools may then review your application and send you any secondary or supplemental applications they may require.
Note: All public medical/dental schools in Texas use TMDSAS.
To prepare for the AMCAS application:
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Review the AMCAS website for information on the sections on the application, FAQ's, and AMCAS application policies.
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Check out the AMCAS Tools and Tutorials. Most importantly, read and follow the 2023 AMCAS Applicant Guide for detailed instructions on completing each section of the AMCAS application!
To prepare for the AACOMAS application:
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Review the AACOM website for general admission requirements, application instructions, and FAQ's.
- Candidates may begin to complete the application on AMCAS, AACOMAS, and/or TMDSAS when applications open in early May - but see below for submission and transmission dates.
- Medical school applicants: First complete "Identifying Information" (Section One) and "Schools Attended" (Section Two) in order to generate a Transcript Request Form. Submit this form as soon as possible to the Registrar offices of all post-secondary schools you have attended so that there is no delay in AMCAS/AACOMAS receiving your transcripts.
- Medical school applicants: Generate a Letter Request Form (in Section Six) and send it to Health Professions Advising (hpa@hamilton.edu). This is needed to upload your Committee Letter. It contains both your AMCAS ID and AMCAS Letter ID which are required to match your letter to your application. You will find the Letter Request Form in the Letters of Evaluation section of the AMCAS application.
- FAQ's about the AMCAS application
Application Submission & Transmission Dates
- AMCAS: applicants may submit the application at the end of May/early June for verification (which may take up to six weeks.) However, AMCAS may not transmit application data to the medical schools until late June.
- AACOMAS: applicants may submit the application as soon as the application opens in early May for verification. Initial transmission of application data by AACOMAS to the medical schools begins in mid-June.
- TMDSAS: applicants may submit the application as soon as the application opens on May 1 for verification. Applications are transmitted to schools even if TMDSAS has not received all supporting documents. Schools are updated on a daily basis with supporting documents.
Most medical/dental schools will send you their own secondary/ supplemental application after receiving your application. While some schools send applicants secondary/supplemental applications after reviewing the application, most send them to every applicant. These applications vary in length and what they ask you to do. Some simply require additional personal information; others require that you respond to one or more essay prompts.
For those secondary/supplemental applications that require you to respond to an essay prompt, make sure you are succinct and that your best writing/communication skills are on display. Follow the same rules that govern writing your personal statement, but avoid repeating the same information that you included in your personal statement or application. Most importantly, make sure that you show sincere interest in the school and its academic program. Do research on the school beforehand so that your answers are tailored directly to the school. Print a copy of your application for future reference.
It is important to submit these to the medical schools within 2-3 weeks of receiving them. Many schools view your level of interest in their institution by how rapidly you respond. Note: when you submit, you will have to pay a fee.
Many medical schools are still conducting virtual interviews but you will see a mix of in person and virtual in this application cycle.
Schedule an interview preparation appointment with the Health Professions Advisor through Google Calendar or your assigned career advisor by calling the Career Center at (315) 859-4346 or by emailing your advisor directly.
Mock interviews will be conducted via Zoom for alumni and either in person or via Zoom for current students.
Contact
Contact Name
Courtney Hance
Director of Health Professions Advising
