Students who want to start medical school in the Summer/Fall of 2026 will need to submit their applications in the Summer of 2025, a year in advance. It’s a good idea to begin preparing for this and drafting aspects of your application in the Winter of the year you apply. We recommend starting to work on your personal statement in January before you apply. A few months out from applying, you should have the majority of your extracurriculars under your belt, and continue in some of them during the process of applying. You should also have enough clinical experience to explain why you want to be a physician confidently.
There are many steps to putting together a successful medical school application, so here we’ll break it down a few months at a time so you can refer back to this and make sure you’re on track. Another great way to learn more about each step in this long process is to read the Premed Playbook Guide to the Medical School Application Process and join Premed Med Hangout Facebook Group. If you have specific questions that you want to discuss with an application expert, sign up for a single advising session with one of our expert premed advisors.
Getting the timing right is crucial because many admissions committees review applications as they come in and fill their interview slots accordingly. If you’re at the bottom of the stack, the school might be out of interview dates before they get to you.
January – April
Work on Your Personal Statement
Check out the Premed Playbook Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement if you don’t know where to start. It will teach what a personal statement is and isn’t and show you examples from students who were accepted to medical school and feedback on their essays. You can also check out The Premed Years Session 423: How to Tell Your Story in a Compelling Way to Med Schools.
Prep for the MCAT
Plan to take the MCAT in March or April if you can—that gives you enough time to receive your scores before submitting your application in late May or June. May or June test dates can still work, but only if the rest of your application is on track and ready to submit. Balancing MCAT prep and writing your application can be tough, so think through your timeline early. A great way to manage both is to start with a rough draft of your personal statement while you’re prepping for the MCAT, then refine it as you wait for your score to come back.
Register early to lock in your preferred test date. Early registration also gives you time to retake the test before applying if needed. But don’t worry—your application can be submitted and verified even if your MCAT score isn’t back yet. For MD schools (AMCAS), your score will be added automatically once it’s available. For DO schools (AACOMAS), you’ll need to release your score manually through the AAMC’s MCAT Testing History (THx) system.
Just keep in mind: every school handles MCAT timing differently. Some won’t review your application or send secondaries until they see your score, while others will. It’s a good idea to check each school’s policy ahead of time so you know what to expect.
MSHQ offers a specialized one-on-one MCAT tutoring program that emphasizes a problem-based learning approach. This method mirrors the critical thinking and application skills required on the MCAT, focusing on active problem-solving rather than passive memorization. To get a glimpse on this style of MCAT tutoring, watch this video.
Plan for Letters of Recommendation
If you plan to get a committee letter through your undergraduate institution, find out what the process is and whether you qualify, and don’t panic if you don’t qualify. If there are any schools, you’re sure you want to apply to, find out what their LOR requirements are and think of who might be able to meet those for you. Begin reaching out, and make sure you give your writers enough time. If you receive letters before they’re due, myLORs, a feature included in MappdPro, can be a great way to store them. Being able to work with your recommenders’ schedules can be very helpful in ensuring they have the availability to write you a great letter.
May – June
Write and Submit Your Primary Application
All three application services–AMCAS for MD schools, AACOMAS for DO schools, and TMDSAS for Texas schools–open in early May. When you can hit submit varies between the services. Spend time in May carefully entering all of your coursework, activity hours, and everything else that goes into your primary application. You can draft all of the essay portions in your Mappd account and have them ready to go.
Take care to enter everything exactly as it’s listed on your transcript because any errors will lengthen the verification process. Very few aspects of the primary application can be edited after submission, and this also varies, so read each services’ instruction manual for more information. These and the application services’ websites are the best places to find the most up-to-date policies.
When you can submit your application depends on the service. AACOMAS permits the earliest submission – as soon as you’ve finished filling it out. Even though submitting early in the cycle is essential, don’t rush and submit something unfinished. Fill everything out, and then look over it one last time on a separate day to ensure it’s ready before sending it. Do this for each application you submit. AMCAS can typically be submitted at the end of May or in the first few days of June. TMDSAS allows submissions in mid-May once Texas students have access to their spring grades.
Application Verification
After you submit, the staff at each organization comb through your application, making sure everything falls within policy and matches the other material they have about you, like your official transcript from your university. This can take anywhere from days to six weeks at the extremes. Historically, AMCAS has taken the longest time to verify applications. This tends to take longer later in the cycle as more applicants are waiting in line. This will also take much longer if you have any errors and the reviewer has to track you down to correct something.
Applications Get Pushed to Medical Schools
AMCAS holds the earliest applications back and transmits them to schools in a batch in late June. AACOMAS does the same and sends them over in mid-June. TMDSAS does not do this, and schools receive applications as students submit them before they’re necessarily verified. This process isn’t essential for you to understand in detail. Still, it’s helpful to have a rough idea so you know not to panic if you submitted your primary application as early as possible and haven’t yet received any secondaries in June.
Prewrite Secondaries
Even if you haven’t started receiving your secondary prompts yet, it’s helpful to begin writing them ahead of time. This will allow you to submit them quickly as they come in and not be overwhelmed with trying to write them all at once. This also gives you time to write more than one draft. You won’t and shouldn’t spend as much time on these as you did on your personal statement, but you still want to put effort and care into them. You can see schools’ previous prompts here and use those as a reference for prewriting.
July
Edit and Return Secondary Applications
Polish secondaries and submit them ideally within two weeks of receiving them. If you need a couple of extra days to polish them, do that, but don’t take weeks and weeks extra. If you are late, still submit them, but you may be asked if there’s a reason for the delay in an interview.
August – March
Interview Season
Even if you don’t receive an interview invite early in this process, don’t lose hope and continue to prepare as if you might receive one or multiple interview invitations. Know what types of interviews you might have to do, based on the schools you applied to. The most common types are the MMI, one-on-one interviews, and interview panels. You can read more about the types of interviews and how to prepare for them in The Premed Playbook Guide to the Medical School Interview. You can also use our free interview question generator or sign up for a mock interview session with one of our expert premed advisors.
Admissions Decisions
These timelines vary based on when you interviewed and what applications you submitted. AMCAS has a rule that admissions committees can’t offer acceptances until mid-October (except for Early Decision applicants). AACOMAS doesn’t restrict when acceptances can be sent out, but the interview-to-decision timing still varies between schools. TMDSAS has a separate Match process for Texas residents, and the best ways to keep up with how the TMDSAS Match works are to read about it in The Premed Playbook Guide to the Medical School Application Process and on the TMDSAS website.
Possible admissions decisions include rejection, waitlisting, and the coveted acceptance that we hope you all receive. This process can last until orientation and classes begin. You can learn more about the waitlist process in our Guide to the Medical School Waitlist.
Good luck with your applications, and keep an eye out on posts diving deeper into each step of the application process!
