If you are asking a professor for a letter, it is best to ask him/her after you have finished taking his/her class. Ask him/her the following quarter or semester. You want to make sure that your professor remembers you when he or she writes your letter. If you took the class much earlier than the year you were planning to apply, you can store the letter using a letter service. Most schools provide letter services that store your letters so that you can use them whenever you need to. Another good letter service is Interfolio.

Related Articles:

Letters of Recommendation for Medical School || How to Ask for a Letter of Recommendation

Most schools provide a letter storage service via their career center or some other resource. There are also online letter holding services such as Interfolio. You can ask your letter writers to send the letter directly to the service or upload it whenever they are ready. The letters must be signed and should have an official letterhead. Acceptable letters are then the letters uploaded into the service. You will be able use these letters later on when you actually apply to medical school. These services are secure and they will not allow you to read the letter beforehand.These services are helpful because you can upload letters anytime and they are safely stored. Then you can use the letters when you need them. This prevents any last minute scrambling to turn in letters for your application.

Related Resource:

Interfolio

Generally medical schools do not accept letters written by teaching assistants (TAs). You want professors to write your letters just to be safe. However, your TA can write you a letter if your professor signs or co-signs it. This is a good option if you have a great relationship with your TA.

You must get two letters from science professors and 1 letter from a non-science professor. This is a requirement. If you shadowed or worked with a physician, getting a letter from him or her is helpful. If you have research experience, a letter from your Principal Investigator (PI) is highly recommended. You can also get letters from former employers, volunteer supervisor, or any other extracurricular supervisor.

Related Articles:

How to Ask for a Letter of Recommendation || Emily’s Path Part II: Letters of Recommendation

No you do not. This is one of the few parts of the application that you can alter later. Once your letters are ready to go, you can start assigning them to different schools. However, once you assign a letter to a school and submit your application again, you cannot undo it.

No. Not all schools use AMCAS for their application or the letter service. The following schools do not participate in AMCAS:

Texas A&M University System Health Science Center College of Medicine
Texas Tech University Health Science Center School of Medicine
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, El Paso, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Southwestern Medical School
University of Texas Medical School at Galveston
University of Texas School of Medicine at Houston
University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio.

You can begin submitting letters to AMCAS as soon as the application opens in May. Before you mail a letter to AMCAS, you must create an entry for that letter in your AMCAS application. To create an entry, you will have to tell AMCAS who the letter writer is and name that letter. AMCAS will then give the letter an ID number. When you send your letters, the letters must have both your AMCAS ID number and letter ID number. If you are using a letter service from your school or Interfolio, there are special instructions you must follow since you do not have access to go and modify those previously stored letters. Be sure you know how your letter service works before sending letters to AMCAS through the service. One important thing to know is that you can create and submit letters any time during your primary application. This includes before you submit, after you submit, and after your application is verified. This is one of the few parts of the application that you can actually edit after submission.

Please refer to this article: How to Ask for a Letter of Recommendation.

Technically no, but it is recommended. The letters may not hold as much weight if you have not waived your right. You should waive your right to give yourself the best chance to benefit from the letter. If you know the letter writer well enough, you can generally assume that he or she will not hurt you with the letter. You may want to consider asking your letter writer whether he/she would be willing to support your candidacy to medical school with a strong letter when you make the initial request.

Related Article:

How to Ask for a Letter of Recommendation

Make sure you are early to your exam. You do not want to cause yourself additional stress by being late.

Here is the MCAT exam overview for 2020 according to AAMC:

  • Test-Day Certification – 4 minutes
  • Tutorial (optional) – 10 minutes
  • Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems (59 questions) – 95 minutes
  • Break (optional) – 10 minutes
  • Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (53 questions) – 90 minutes
  • Mid-Exam Break (optional) – 30 minutes
  • Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems (59 questions) – 95 minutes
  • Break (optional) – 10 minutes
  • Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior (59 questions) – 95 minutes
  • Void Question – 3 minutes
  • Satisfaction Survey (optional) – 5 minutes

Total Content time 6 hours and 15 minutes
Total “Seated” time Approx. 7 hours and 30 minutes

Related article:

MCAT Facts

Back to top button