Pre-Med Glossary
AAMC: Association of American Medical Colleges. They make the MCAT (see below) and accredit MD schools.
MCAT: Medical College Admission Test. Too long (7.5 hours) and has 4 sections covering Chemistry/Physics, Psychology/Sociology, Biology/Biochemistry, and CARS (Critical Analysis & Reasoning)
AMCAS: American Medical College Application Service. Opens early May every year, used to submit applications for all MD-granting schools (minus Texas schools, see below).
TMDSAS: Texas Medical and Dental School Application Service. Texas is special. It likes its own stuff. Use to apply to Texas medical schools.
AACOM: American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. AAMC but for DO-granting schools.
AACOMAS: American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service. Use this system to apply to DO-granting schools. They still use the MCAT, though.
Cycle: Each application cycle begins just over a year prior to when you want to start medical school; it is named for the academic year before matriculation. My goal medical school matriculation date was fall 2021. Thus, I was in the 2020-21 application cycle (the dates of my senior year), even though AMCAS and AACOMAS opened May 2020, while I was still in my junior year.
Committee/committee letter: Some undergraduate universities have a “pre-med committee,” made up of professors from a variety of departments. Before you submit your AMCAS/AACOMAS applications, if your school offers a committee, you can request the committee to write you a letter of recommendation. Some medical schools prefer this so. The committee letter process varies by school, but generally the professors will make a collective cover letter, discussing having you in their classes, vouching for you based on all their experiences, and give you a ranking compared to your classmates. They also send the letter directly to the application service, so you don’t get to see any of it.
SDN: Student Doctor Network. Anonymous & helpful forums. EXTREMELY helpful before interviews!
Primary application: Generally just your AMCAS/AACOMAS application, which includes a personal statement, transcripts, extended resume, and letters of recommendation. This will be submitted all at once (if you want) to multiple schools (each having its own application fee).
Secondary application: Supplemental essays pertinent to each school that show them more of your interest. These are sent by and submitted to schools individually. It also varies by school whether they automatically send secondaries to all applicants, applicants with GPAs higher than a cutoff, or manually review primaries before sending secondaries, etc.
 and accredit MD schools. MCAT: Medical College Admission Test. Too long (7.5 hours) and has 4 sections covering Chemistry/Physics, Psychology/Sociology, Biology/Biochemistry, and CARS (Critical Analysis & Reasoning) AMCAS: American Medical College Application Service. Opens early May every year,...){kind=link}
Keep in touch! Subscribe to the SSF Newsletter today for news and updates!
Have any questions you'd like to ask, requests for articles, or feedback? Email us at help@sebsscholarship.org.
Written by Holly Lakin on Feb 20, 2023