AMCAS® FAQs

The Ad Hoc Working Group on Admissions Tools and Resources in partnership with the AAMC American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) created this tool to help applicants communicate their decisions about which schools they plan to attend and to support the schools’ enrollment management. Schools will only be able to access information about their accepted and alternate-list applicants.

Before taking action within the AMCAS Choose Your Medical School tool, applicants should review school-specific instructions, policies, deadlines, and expectations about the use of this tool during the application process. Review the Medical School Admissions Requirements™ (MSAR) or medical schools’ websites to learn more about their policies. Each applicant is expected to become familiar with the procedures and requirements of each school to which they apply.

Prompt communication between applicants and schools about admissions decisions is important. Using the AMCAS Choose Your Medical School tool as directed by each school gives admissions offices a better idea how many seats they need to fill in their entering classes and helps other applicants receive timely notification about the outcome of their applications.

Guiding principles for professional behavior during the application cycle are set forth in the Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants. These guidelines are not intended to supersede the policies, timelines, or discretion of individual schools or programs. The primary, official method of communication during this process takes place between an applicant and a school. This tool is intended to supplement, not replace, that communication.

Please note, only applicants with an AMCAS application will be able to use the Choose Your Medical School tool. Applicants who have applications in both the AMCAS system and TMDSAS will be able to select TMDSAS schools when using the Choose Your Medical School tool.

Find out more about the AMCAS Choose Your Medical School tool at this link. 

If you would like a downloadable resource, then access the "AMCAS Choose Your Medical School Tool" PDF. 

Permitted Changes

After the initial submission of your application, you may only make changes to the following information:

• Your ID numbers.
• Your name, including full legal name, preferred name, and alternate names.
• Your contact Information, including your permanent address, preferred mailing address, and e-mail address.
• Your alternate contact information.
• Your date of birth and sex.
• Letters of evaluation (please note, you can only make additions of up to 10 letters, and you must notify AMCAS if you have a letter you no longer wish to be sent to medical schools; you cannot delete letters of evaluation from your application).
• Your next MCAT testing date.
• The addition of medical schools and the altering of existing program types (deadlines, restrictions and an additional fee may apply).
• The release of your application information to your prehealth advisor.

You must re-certify and officially update your application after making a change. This will not cause any processing delays, and you will not be charged unless you have added more medical school designations.

To withdraw your AMCAS application from consideration, select Withdraw Application from the right side of the Main Menu of your application. This option is only available after submission when your application is in the following statuses: Submitted to AMCAS-Ready for Review, Submitted to AMCAS–Waiting for Transcripts, and Returned. You can not withdraw your application when it is in the following statuses: Submitted to AMCAS-Under Review or AMCAS Processing Complete.

The initial $175 application fee is non-refundable, but your payment(s) for each additional school whose deadline has not passed will be refunded. Withdrawing your application is FINAL. Once you do so, you can no longer apply for the current application year.   

If you need to withdraw your application from consideration after your AMCAS application has been processed, you will need to contact the medical schools directly. You are not eligible for an AMCAS refund in this case.

The Verification Process

Once you submit your application to the AMCAS program, you will receive an acknowledgment of its receipt via email (provided you have included a valid email address). Such acknowledgment does not indicate that your materials (i.e., official transcripts) are complete or that deadline requirements have been satisfied.

The AMCAS Verification process starts when your application has been submitted and your official transcripts have arrived at the AMCAS program. Once all your materials have been received, your application joins the verification queue. Processing can take up to 8 weeks from the time that your application and all required official transcripts are received.

During the Verification process, the AMCAS program verifies your coursework against your official transcripts, ensuring that the course information entered in your application matches that on your official transcripts.

The AMCAS program may return your application to you—which could result in missed deadlines—if major errors or omissions in course listings are found during verification. The AMCAS program will stop verifying your materials and send an email notification if any missing or incomplete transcripts are discovered during verification.

The AMCAS program will verify your application using the following symbols:
 

AMCAS GPAs

During the verification process, the AMCAS program converts most standard undergraduate transcript grades to AMCAS grades based on conversion information provided by colleges and universities. The AMCAS GPA provides medical schools with a standard way to compare each applicant’s academic record. AMCAS GPAs may differ from the GPA shown on your records at the institutions you attended.

Following the calculation of your AMCAS GPA, you will receive an email informing you that your application has completed processing. Your AMCAS application will then be made available to your designated medical schools.

The AMCAS program does not typically verify coursework from various institutions (e.g., Acupunctural Schools, Vocational/Career Schools, Bible Colleges, etc.) unless an Associates or other advanced degree is earned. This coursework would not be factored into your AMCAS GPA.

If you attended an institution that does not:

• Grant associate, bachelor, master and/or doctoral degrees. 
• Offer a transcript for military coursework. 
• Have credits transferred to a degree granting institution.

Coursework will be processed with the not equal (≠) verification mark and not be counted in the totals/GPA. Some examples are:

• Massage Schools.
• Acupunctural Schools.
• Bartending Schools.
• Cosmetology Schools.
• Scuba Diving Schools.
• Vocational/Career and Training Schools.
• Seminary/Bible Colleges.
• Culinary Schools.
• Real Estate Schools.
   

AMCAS may return your application to you, and you may miss deadlines, if:

• 10 or more course listings are omitted.
• The original instance of a repeat grade is not included.
• Coursework is not listed in chronological order.
• Credits and grades are not listed as they appear on your official transcript.

An X to the right of a verified course indicates that the AMCAS application made a change to your course entry in order to accurately reflect the official transcript on which that course appears. The AMCAS application may also make changes if you neglect to include certain pertinent information in the Course Work section of your application. For example, if you do not enter the AMCAS grade for a particular course, the AMCAS application will add the appropriate AMCAS grade, and an X will appear to the right of that course entry.

The verification process may take six to eight (6–8) weeks once your application reaches Ready for Review. Your application is Ready for Review once your application is submitted and all required transcripts have been processed. We recommend checking transcript processing timelines and the transcript processing tool for the status of your transcript, as well as our website, for updates on application processing timing. 

You can see the date that your application reached the Ready for Review status by logging in to the application and selecting the View Application Status History button to the right of the Main Menu. You can view the date listed in the Status Change Date shown in your application’s Details and compare it to the application processing timing updates listed on our website to see how your application is progressing.

Here is a list of the various application statuses:

• Not Submitted to the AMCAS Program: You have initiated an application but have not certified and submitted it to the AMCAS program.
• Submitted to the AMCAS Program - Waiting for Transcripts: You have submitted an application, but not all transcripts have been received.
• Submitted to the AMCAS Program - Ready for Review: The AMCAS program has received a copy of all required transcripts and has placed your application in line to be reviewed by an AMCAS verifier.
• Submitted to the AMCAS Program - Under Review: An AMCAS verifier is reviewing transcripts and coursework.
• Returned to Applicant: An AMCAS verifier has found missing coursework and has unlocked the application so you can enter coursework.
• AMCAS Processing is Complete: Your application has been made available to your designated medical schools.
• Withdrawn from the AMCAS Program: You have withdrawn your AMCAS application prior to review.

Tracking application progress after submission

Once your application has been submitted and AMCAS has received all required official transcripts, your application status will change to Submitted to the AMCAS Program - Ready for Review. 

You can see the date your application reached this status by logging in to the application and clicking the Details link on the left side of the Main Menu. To stay informed about our processing schedule, the AMCAS program posts information on the application log-in page and on our Twitter feed. You can compare the date provided on one of those sites to the Status Change Date shown in your application’s Details to see how your application is progressing.

The SES Disadvantaged Indicator is one tool that medical schools can use to identify applicants who may come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and is intended to assist them in putting your application information in context as part of a holistic review process

This indicator is derived from information you provide about your parents’ and guardians’ occupation and education levels using the schema developed by the AAMC. Once your application has been processed by the AMCAS program, the indicator associated with your parent or guardian with the highest education and occupation level will appear on your printable application. To view this, click the Print Application button on the main menu

NA (Not Applicable) is used in scenarios in which the AAMC’s model for setting the SES Disadvantaged Indicator is not statistically reliable, including:

• Applicant is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
• Applicant was unable to provide parent data.
• Applicant’s parent(s) are deceased, or the applicant is not sure if the parent(s) are deceased.
• Parent(s) completed highest level of education outside of the United States and are not legal residents of the United States.

Unknown is used in scenarios in which the SES Disadvantaged Indicator cannot be determined because parent occupation is listed as Military, Homemaker, Other Occupation, Don’t Know, or Not Applicable.

The AMCAS program provides electronic application products to medical schools.

• Mailing Label Data: This data includes preferred name, mailing address, phone, email address, state of legal residence, and other selected key data elements. This information is intended to give schools the opportunity to contact applicants interested in their program(s).
• Electronic File of Select Applicant Data: This is abridged application data that is made available to medical schools via SFTP. Some of the data included in this file transfer are applicant biographic information, schools attended, coursework, GPAs, MCAT scores, and contact information.
• Electronic File of All Application Data: This application data represents the complete set of data an applicant has submitted to the AMCAS program or data submitted by another in support of the applicant's application. All data in such applications is considered final unless changes are later sent to the schools. Application Data is transmitted electronically via the AMCAS Applicant Data Interchange (ADI) to all designated medical schools in near real time.
• Verified Processed Applications: Processed applications represent the complete set of data an applicant has submitted to the AMCAS program. All sections of the application are available to medicals schools as a printable PDF. All data in such applications is considered final unless changes are later sent to the schools.
• Change Reports: These reports will be compiled and delivered electronically to schools each week. These reports reflect changes to selected key data for previously verified applications.

No. The AAMC does not provide information to the schools to which you apply about where else you have applied or the number of other schools to which you apply.

The AAMC will not inform the schools to which you apply whether you have been accepted to another school, or the identity of the schools to which you have been accepted. Once you matriculate at a medical school, the AAMC will inform other schools to which you are holding an acceptance that you have matriculated at a medical school but will not provide the identity of that school.

To address changes made by the AMCAS program to your Course Work section during the Verification process, you must submit an Academic Change Request (ACR).

The AMCAS program requires that you review verified coursework and GPA information. If you find discrepancies, or you disagree with changes made during the verification process, you must submit an Academic Change Request to be reviewed by the AMCAS program. Upon review, the request will be granted or denied. The Academic Change Request option is available on the right side of the Main Menu. This option becomes available only after your application has completed the Verification process.

Please allow at least five (5) business days for the AMCAS program to review and/or process the Academic Change Request. When an Academic Change Request is granted, the AMCAS program will immediately update the medical schools where you applied with the amended information immediately. This will not impact application deadlines.

To submit an Academic Change Request, select one of the following reasons:

• Re-compute the following GPA/hours.
• Re-verify the following courses.
• Add the following courses.
• Delete courses that were added by AMCAS Verifications team (based on errors or omissions compared to applicant official college transcripts).
• Update the following school information.

In the accompanying ACR text block, include specific details about your request and explain why you are requesting this change to your AMCAS application. Additional documentation may be required. Multiple requests may be entered in the text block.

The AMCAS program will only evaluate the following items in an Academic Change Request:

• Academic Status.
• Academic Term.
• Academic Year.
• AMCAS Grade.
• Course Type.
• Credit Hours Attempted.
• Degree Date and/or Degree Type.
• Incorrect School Name.
• Lab/Lecture.
• Official Transcript Grade.
• Omitted Course work, this does not include CC/Future coursework.
• Semester or Supplemental Hours.

Course Classification - If you disagree with a change the AMCAS application made during the verification process to a course classification, you must submit an Academic Change Request to initiate a reevaluation. Please copy and paste either the course description directly from your school's website or the URL where it can be found so that the AMCAS application can verify the primary content of the course.

Major and Minor-- The AMCAS program cannot specify a major and minor type as the applicant should indicate this information before submitting an application. The AMCAS program will change to the most compatible Major and Minor.

Update the grade in your application, if the school made an error when reporting a grade. However, you must have the school submit an updated transcript reflecting the changed grade, and the transcript must be accompanied by a letter from the registrar's office explaining the reason for the change. If the letter is not included with the updated transcript, the Academic Change Request will be denied. Add a school and the associated coursework, if you failed to report the school on the AMCAS application at the time of submission. However, you are required to submit the transcript from the institution that was not included when submitting the application. The official transcript must be received prior to submitting the Academic Change Request. If the transcript is not received by the AMCAS program prior to submitting the Academic Change Request, it will be denied. 

The AMCAS program will not change or correct:

• Course names, titles, or numbers.
• Updated grades and hours for certain types of courses that were left off the application and did not appear on any official transcript at the time of processing, including:
  • Current (CC).
  • Deferred Grade (DG).
  • Honors (H) The AMCAS program does not add the Honors type if omitted by the applicant.
  • Incomplete (I).

• Any other sections or items in your application.

*AMCAS Academic Change Request policies are subject to change each application year.

After submitting your AMCAS application, you may request to change your state of legal residence. A request to update the state of legal residence must be sent from your primary email address listed in your application.

The email must be sent to AMCASExceptions@aamc.org and include the following information:

• Applicant Name.
• Applicant AAMC ID.
• State and county of legal residence currently listed in the application.
• State and county of legal residence you would like it changed to.
• AMCAS application year for which you are requesting the change.

The AMCAS application will only update the county of residence when the state of legal residence is also changed. The county of legal residence will not be updated for any other reason.

Medical schools that request this type of change on behalf of an applicant will be asked to have the applicant follow the procedure outlined in the AMCAS Applicant Guide to have the requested change processed by the AMCAS program.

You may add medical school choices or designations to your submitted application. Medical school additions or program changes can be made at any time if the deadline for the school you wish to add has not passed. A fee will apply for each medical school addition.

Fees may vary each application cycle. For the 2024 AMCAS Application cycle, it is $175, which includes one medical school designation, and $45 for each additional medical school.

You must re-certify, officially update your application, and pay any additional fees for added designations by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the deadline day. Re-certifying and officially updating your application will not cause any processing delays.