1. Michigan State University
College of Natural Science
Medical School
Application
Process

2. Your Advisors
Professional Advisors Pre-professional Peer Advisors
Mo Gerhardt 108 Natural Science
Pre-professional Advisor Available by appointment and at
(517) 353-7153 preprof@msu.edu
gerhard4@msu.edu
Kayli Pioszak
Janae Currington Pre-med senior
Pre-professional Advisor
(517) 353-8951 Steve Covington
curringt@msu.edu Pre-med senior
Heidi Purdy Nikkie Johnson
Human Biology Advisor Pre-med senior
(517) 432-2381
purdyh@msu.edu Jenny DeBlouw
Pre-dental junior
Natalie Clark
Human Biology Advisor
(517) 884-0351
nclark@msu.edu

3. Primary Application
5 Key Components
1. Identifying Information
2. Coursework, Transcripts, and MCAT
3. Work/Volunteer Experience/Activities
4. Personal Statement
5. Letters of Evaluation

4. MD vs. DO Application Systems
• AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service)
– MD Schools
– 5300 Characters for Personal Statement
– 1325 Characters for Work Experience/ Extracurricular Experience
– Automatically has your MCAT score if you consent
• AACOMAS (American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
Application Service)
– DO Schools
– 4500 Characters for Personal Statement
– 750 Characters for Work Experience/ Extracurricular Activities
– Must upload your MCAT score from Thx on AMCAS website
• Letters of recommendation requirement varies by school
• You can apply to both MD and DO schools

5. Identifying Information
• This includes all of your basic information
– Permanent address, current address, all
contact information, date of birth, etc
• This section is not a challenge to fill out, it’s
just a little tedious!

6. Coursework
• You will have to enter every course you’ve ever
taken and the grade you received
– Including community college courses
• Easiest to open stuinfo.msu.edu
– Under the Academic Tab, click on “Transcript”
• This should be similar to the format that the
primary application asks for
• *If you make mistakes on this part of the
application, it takes extra time to process it.
Everything you enter will be compared to the
transcripts they receive.

7. How does your MCAT factor in?
• Your MCAT score is a part of your application; it is not the
whole application, but neither is it unimportant
• Different schools have different ranges of MCAT scores they
are likely to accept
A useful website: www.aamc.org/msar
-Contains very detailed information about every MD school in the country;
including application requirements, mission, curriculum, selection
factors, financial information, and class demographics.
-Can be a very useful tool when deciding where to apply. Additionally, you
can see what 10th percentile-90th percentile GPA and MCAT ranges are
usually accepted at a particular school.
-~$20, allows you access to the MSAR website for a year.
-AACOM also offers the Osteopathic Medical College Information Book
(CIB) for detailed information about every DO school in the country

8. Percentage of 2009-2011 Applicants Accepted into at Least One
Medical School- MCAT Total Score vs. Undergraduate GPA Range
Dark Green = acceptance rates >75% Light Green = 50-75%
acceptance rates Gray = 25-50% acceptance rates White = <25%
acceptance rates

9. Processing Transcripts
• June 1st is (usually) when you can first submit your
application, so have your transcript requests ready to go
by that date
– Your application will be on hold until they receive a
transcript from every college/university you’ve ever
attended
– Forms for transcript requests are usually available at
college websites. The AMCAS/AACOMAS website will tell
you where to address it to.
• Summer classes at community colleges are popular for
pre-professional students, so make sure to request a
transcript from EVERY school!
• It is advised to wait until Spring grades
are posted to request a transcript

10. Co-curricular Experiences
• Relevant experiences include, but are definitely not limited to:
research, community service, job shadowing, employment, student
organizations, study abroad, leadership positions, and other co-
curricular activities.
• AMCAS
– 15 experiences can be listed; include relevant
work/volunteer/community service/co-curricular/etc.
– You can list 3 “most meaningful” experiences and include more
information about these
• AACOMAS
– 6 work experiences
– 9 volunteer/community service/co-curricular experiences
• Think about those that have been most meaningful to you, because
interviewers may ask questions the experiences you share

11. Personal Statement
• There is not a specific prompt
– 5300 characters for AMCAS
– 4500 characters for AACOMAS
• AMCAS and AACOMAS DO NOT have spell check!
• By the time you’re ready to submit your personal
statement you’ve probably read it 1,000,000 times (you
could probably almost recite it)
– Your ability to proofread for grammar, syntax, and spelling is not
up to par at this point
• Have someone else read it when it’s actually pasted into
AMCAS or AACOMAS
– We recommend utilizing the Writing Center’s services

12. Letters of Evaluation
 Ask in person
 Give the letter writer at least
one month
 Choose your letter writers
wisely; you want someone who
can write a
positive, supportive letter, and
therefore they should know
more about you than your
GPA
Each school will ask for a different set of
letters from YOU as the applicant.
YOU MUST PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION
TO THE GUIDELINES OF EACH SCHOOL
THAT REQUESTS YOUR LETTERS!
Not all schools will require letters, some
require forms to be filled out by
evaluators instead (i.e. MSU COM)

13. Letters of Evaluation
We recommend the following letters:
• 2 from science faculty who know you well from class or
research experience
• 1 from non-science faculty
• 1 from an individual working in the profession you wish to
pursue
– i.e. someone you have job-shadowed/volunteered with
• 1-2 from individuals who know you well from
work, volunteering, or another co-curricular activity

14. Letters of Evaluation
Include the following information in a nice, NEAT packet for your evaluator:
◊ The full name (including title) and mailing address of recipient on a pre-
addressed, stamped envelope OR a completed “Confidential Rights to
Waiver Form” from Interfolio.com which includes your six digit document
identification code (only applies to students who are applying to multiple
graduate or professional programs).
◊ A summary of the ways in which you and your reference have interacted
(through a cover letter possibly)—this will cause you to reflect on your
interactions with your reference and thus bring more meaning to the
letter.
◊ A copy of your STUINFO “Courses by Term” (or a transcript).
http://stuinfo.msu.edu
◊ A copy of your personal statement if available.
◊ A current resume and list of co-curricular activities, involvement, and
accomplishments if not listed elsewhere.
◊ MCAT score if available.
DON’T FORGET TO SEND A NOTE OF APPRECIATION AFTERWARDS!
Make your letter packet a comprehensive of who you are, not just a reflection
of your transcript.

15. Letters of Evaluation
• LOEs are entered into their respective centralized
application system
– Except for a couple schools
• The easiest way to do this is through Interfolio.com
– You should be able to have letter writers submit their
letters to Interfolio confidentially and have it sent from
Interfolio to those centralized applications
– The cost of using Interfolio is relatively minimal, and
it’s very convenient to manage all of your letters online

16. How to Submit MCAT/DAT
You
OR
Admission Committee
Official
Transcripts
Letter Writer
Office of Registar

17. Rolling Admission
• You can start entering your information into your
application early May
• Submission becomes available on June 1st
• Applications are processed by the central
application service and made available to schools
based on the order in which they are received
• Therefore, it is to your advantage to aim for June
1st to submit because you are applying for the full
capacity of seats
• Medical schools are more likely to hold later
applicants to higher standards because they have
already filled seats in the class

18. Secondaries/Supplemental
Applications
• Not always required; varies by school
– Some schools send out secondaries to every applicant; some
schools only send out secondaries to selected applicants
• Secondaries usually consist of one or more broad topic essay
prompts that you need to respond to
• Basically, these schools want to know more about you than
they can glean from your primary application. They are also
evaluating your fit with their specific program.
• Character limit varies (about 500-3000)

19. Secondaries/Supplemental
Applications for MSUCOM
• The requirements are a little different for the Osteopathic Medical
School here at MSU
• A strong recommendation is a letter from an Osteopathic Doctor
(DO) who you have shadowed throughout your experiences
• There is an actual form that needs to be filled out by your letter
writer, send this to them rather then having them freely write
without the format that MSUCOM requires
• Secondary Application requires college and high school information

20. Secondaries/Supplemental
Applications
Examples of secondary prompts:
If you had the opportunity to speak to the admissions committee, how
would you explain why they should select you?
Based on our unique mission, describe how your experiences make
you an ideal candidate to attend our school.
Osteopathic medicine focuses on a holistic approach to
medicine, which incorporates the whole person. Describe an
experience in which you’ve had to incorporate skills required of a DO.
• The prompts can vary widely by school.
• It is important to note that secondary applications take a lot of
time to complete. Give yourself enough time to come up with
valuable answers, have them reviewed by others, and try to
complete them within two weeks.
• Don’t underestimate their importance!

21. Application Data Important to
Admissions Committees’
Decisions about Which
Applicants to Interview
Top 5 Categories to get an
interview:
1. Science & Math GPA
2. Cumulative GPA
3. MCAT Score
4. Letters of Recommendation
5. Community Service (medical)
RED = Academic Data
BLUE = Experiential Data
GREEN = Demographic Data
BLACK = Combination of Data

22. Interviews
• After you submit your secondary applications, each school has
the opportunity to offer you an interview.
• You are usually contacted by email, but sometimes by
phone.
• Schools generally give you a few options for dates to
interview, but some schools give you a single date (i.e. MSU
CHM)
• They also provide you with directions, time of the
interview, and other pertinent information.
• There are many styles of interviews!
• Sometimes a school will conduct multiple styles of
interviews. For example, one 1-on-1 interview and a panel
interview.
• Usually they let you know ahead of time what you’re in for.
• Dress professionally and act professionally.
• Interview day also includes a tour of the facilities/campus and
often an opportunity for you to interact with current students

23. Interview styles
• One-on-one
– This is you and one other person (i.e. someone on the admissions
committee, a current student, a faculty member, etc.)
• Group
– This is you and multiple other applicants
• Panel
– This is you and a panel (of 2 to ~5) from the admissions
committee, often with a student, faculty member, etc.
• Multi-mini interview (MMI)
– More and more schools going toward this format (i.e. MSU
CHM, CMU!)
– This style may seem somewhat scary before you’ve done it, but
it’s really quite manageable and can benefit you greatly.

24. After the Interview
• Generally, the school will let you know when you can expect to hear a
decision from them.
• Send a note of appreciation to the admissions department, thanking
them for the opportunity to interview.
• If you are accepted:
– You will receive a lot of acceptance information from the school, including
when deposits are due!
• If you are waitlisted:
– This means the school is interested in you, but isn’t prepared to offer you
a spot (…yet!)
– At this point, talk to you advisor.
– Writing letters to the admissions department reiterating your interest in
the program can help.
• If you are on hold:
– This can be before or after an interview, the medical school wants to wait
and compare your credentials with other applicants

25. After the Application Process
• In the end, if you can present yourself well through your:
– Coursework and transcripts
– Work/volunteer experience & activities
– Personal statement
– Letters of evaluation
– Secondary applications
• And if you’re competitive for the school(s) you apply to, you
should receive an interview
– Use MSU’s resources to help you prepare for this!
• The end goal is TO BE ACCEPTED!!

26. Questions?