How AAMC's New Choose Your Medical School Tool Affects Traffic Rules for Med School Admissions

Just a few months down the line in April, new guidelines will soon affect how applicants handle acceptances. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is enacting new procedures that guide how an applicant chooses their preferred medical school.

The Choose Your Medical School Tool is an online resource to help applicants make indications about where you may attend.  It's important to note, however, that while the AAMC has set the following deadlines, each medical school still may set their own policies and deadlines.

As for the schools, the tool will assist in managing enrollment. Per the AMCAS, "Using the AMCAS Choose Your Medical School tool as directed by each school gives admissions offices a better idea how many seats they need to fill in their entering classes and helps other applicants receive timely notification about the outcome of their applications."

"PLAN TO ENROLL"

While the big decisions come down to April, the Choose Your Medical School Tool actually begins coming into play next week. Applicants with multiple acceptance offers can make a “Plan to Enroll” selection in the application starting on February 19.

In fact, applicants can make a preliminarily selection from that point through the end of April. But don't worry—your selection isn't final. Applicants can still hold other acceptances, stay on alternate lists, and continue to interview at other schools.

That preliminary selection can be updated at any time leading up to April 30, but only one school can be selected at a time. This allows those who receive additional acceptances to change their mind.

In anticipation of that April 30th mark, applicants with more than three acceptances will be asked to narrow their list of potential landing spots to three by April 15th, per new protocols. However, this does not limit your place on alternate lists; applicants can continue to keep an unlimited amount of alternate-list offers.  So, undecided applicants should really begin thinking about key decision factors and which schools fit the best by early April.

On the schools' end, admissions offices will only be able to see aggregate information before that April 30th date and will not know which applicants selected "Plan to Enroll" at their school or at any other. When an applicant selects “Plan to Enroll” at another school, that school is not identified.

"COMMIT TO ENROLL"

On April 30, applicants will be able to "Commit To Enroll" to the school of choice! A final decision has been made and you've committed to matriculate to that school. It also indicates that you've withdrawn all other applications and alternate list offers.

Congratulations!

Selecting “Commit to Enroll” does not automatically notify the other schools. Applicants must personally contact those schools to withdraw an acceptance or waitlist offer prior to selecting “Commit to Enroll” in the Choose Your Medical School Tool.

Beginning on April 30, schools can then see which applicants have selected “Commit to Enroll” at their institution.

It's also important to note that, for the College of Human Medicine, our acceptance deposit refund deadline is April 30th as well. So before using the Choose Your Medical School tool, applicants should do their due diligence and inform themselves about school-specific instructions, policies, and deadlines. How are each of your medical school options going to be interpreting the use of this tool?

For those still undecided, you can stay on "Plan To Enroll," allowing you to wait on further decisions and stay on alternate lists. “Commit to Enroll” can still be selected at a later date.

However, some schools from which you hold an acceptance may request that you indicate a "Commit to Enroll" by a certain date after April 30.  For instance, the College of Human Medicine does have a school-specific deadline: if an accepted applicant does not "Commit To Enroll" by July 24, they risk relinquishing the seat to another applicant.

Applicants can find the precise AMCAS verbiage they will be using as part of the Choose Your Medical School tool on their website.


Credit: The American Association of Medical Colleges

Follow the CHM Office of Admissions at each of our various platforms for up-to-date information on the AMCAS Application, the admissions process, and the College of Human Medicine.

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