The AAMC offers members access to a wide range of resources for recruitment, review, and matriculation of applicants to medical schools. Some resources require a member login.
Learn about the Committee on Admissions (COA)
Admissions Protocols
Application and Acceptance Protocols — Admission Officers
The AAMC application policies are established protocols for applicants and admission officers.
Application and Acceptance Protocols for Applicants
AAMC recommendations to help ensure that all MD and MD-PhD applicants receive timely notification about the outcome of their AMCAS® application.
Revised Application and Acceptance Protocols FAQs (login required)
Answers to frequently asked questions regarding revisions to the AAMC application and acceptance protocols for admissions officers and applicants.
Publications, Guides, and Handbooks
Best Practices in Admissions Processes for LCME® Accredited Medical Schools (PDF, login required)
This document contains COA-recommended practices for medical schools and applicants during the acceptance and matriculation process to promote fairness and applicant confidentiality.
Choose Your Medical School Tool Overview for Admission Officers (login required)
A one-page overview of the Choose Your Medical School tool, a resource new to the application cycle since 2019.
Clinical Experiences Survey Executive Summary (PDF)
This survey gathered information on medical school admissions practices related to requirements for clinical experiences for medical school applicants.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Policy (PDF)
This table shows the partial list of medical schools that have reported willingness to consider DACA applicants.
Diversity in Medical School Admissions
View the AAMC’s collection of resources on fostering diversity in medical school admissions. This page is continuously updated as new resources are developed and released.
Guidelines for Clinical Shadowing Experiences for Premedical Students (PDF)
These guidelines are intended to be used as a model and by no means are intended to supersede any agreements already established. Advisors, students, and others are welcome to adopt all or portions of this document for the use of premedical students interested in pursuing a career in medicine. These guidelines also suggest a protocol for a physician/premedical student agreement as it relates to patient interaction.
Guidelines for the Consideration of Applications for Transfer or Advanced Standing
These guidelines were established by the GSA Steering Committee to assist medical schools in the handling of applications.
Guidelines for Premedical Students Providing Patient Care (PDF)
This document provides guidelines for premedical and medical students providing patient care during clinical experiences abroad.
Social Justice and Advocacy in Admissions Sample Secondary and Interview Questions (PDF)
This document includes sample questions for medical school applicants in the interview or secondary application phase to assess their experience with social justice, advocacy, and civic engagement.
Using AAMC PREview® Data in Medical Student Selection
This guide includes information about the design, interpretation, and use of the PREview exam.
Using MCAT® Data in 2025 Medical Student Selection
This comprehensive guide presents information about how to interpret and use MCAT scores during holistic review. The guide has been fully redesigned and contains updated information, tools, and data for use in the current application cycle.
Programs and Services
AAMC Resources and Services
The AAMC's Services hub brings all our admission resources together to support the efforts of medical schools to identify, select, and train physicians for the health care system of the future.
AMCAS®
The AMCAS program is the AAMC's centralized medical school application processing service. Most U.S. medical schools use the service as the primary application method for their first-year classes.
Holistic Review
Holistic Review is a flexible, mission-driven approach to recruit and assess an individual’s competencies by considering their experiences, attributes, and metrics in order to select applicants who will best contribute to the program’s unique goals, learning environment, and the practice of medicine. This page has resources for implementing holistic review in your admissions process.
MCAT® Resources for Admissions Officers
The tools and resources on this page are designed to help admissions officers and committee members interpret MCAT® scores in the context of holistic review.
Medical School Admission Requirements™ (MSAR®)
Updated annually, this resource provides data and detailed descriptions of all LCME® authority-accredited U.S. and Canadian medical schools, focusing on admissions requirements. It includes information provided directly by staff at each medical school as well as unique data provided by the AAMC. Users can compare MCAT scores and GPAs of accepted applicants and review premed coursework, class profiles, key application data, and other important information. A new edition is released every spring. Admissions staff at each medical school have access to update the information and policies in their profiles year-round.
MSAR Reports
A repository of reports representing MSAR data and policies frequently referenced by prehealth advisors for use in advising premeds, gap year students, and applicants. Topics include application timeline, letter of evaluation preference, MS-MD programs and more.
Preview® Professional Readiness Exam
The PREview exam is a standardized test designed to measure the full range of professional competencies identified by medical schools as important to medical student success. This page helps admissions officers learn about the PREview exam, how the exam is developed and scored, and how PREview scores can enhance the holistic admission process.
Supporting the Admissions Lifecycle
This page provides a centralized repository of AAMC tools and resources to support you in designing your admissions process, evaluating applicants, finalizing your matriculating classes with the AAMC, and reviewing and refining your process after each cycle.