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2017 AMCAS School Tools User Manual

© 2016 AAMC. May not be reproduced without permission.

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Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4

Overview of School Tools ...................................................................................................... 4

Changing Your Password ...................................................................................................... 5 Support .................................................................................................................................. 5

Customizing the Admissions Processing Software ................................................................... 6 Installing the Java Plug-In ...................................................................................................... 6 Installing Adobe Reader ......................................................................................................... 6

Pop-Ups and Active X Controls .............................................................................................. 6 Tools>Internet Options>Security>Custom level ................................................................. 6

Using the AP Setup Tab ......................................................................................................... 7 Options Tab ........................................................................................................................ 7

Email Tab ............................................................................................................................. 12 Printing Tab .......................................................................................................................... 12

Print Order Sub-Tab ......................................................................................................... 12 Default Sections Sub-Tab ................................................................................................. 12

Naming Convention Sub-Tab ........................................................................................... 13 Hidden Fields Tab ................................................................................................................ 13 Doc Options Tab .................................................................................................................. 14

Sch Defined Tab .................................................................................................................. 16 Using School-Defined Tabs .............................................................................................. 16

Using the Security Tab ......................................................................................................... 18 Users Tab ............................................................................................................................ 18 Data Transfer Tab ................................................................................................................ 22

Scheduling Tab ................................................................................................................ 22

New APP ML Tab ............................................................................................................. 23 Documents Tab ................................................................................................................ 23

Finding and Selecting Applicants ............................................................................................ 25

Searching for Applicants ...................................................................................................... 25 Working with the Applicant List ............................................................................................ 25

Using Filters ..................................................................................................................... 26 Using Advanced Filters ........................................................................................................ 26

Audit Tab .............................................................................................................................. 28 Reviewing Applicant Information ............................................................................................. 30

Overview of the Admissions Processing (AP) Tab ............................................................... 30 Data Tabs and Sub-Tabs ................................................................................................. 30

Summary Tab ...................................................................................................................... 30

Summary Sub-Tab ........................................................................................................... 30 Miscellaneous Sub-Tab .................................................................................................... 31

Change History Sub-Tab .................................................................................................. 32 Biographic Tab ..................................................................................................................... 32

Biographic Information Sub-Tab ....................................................................................... 32 Contact Information Sub-Tab ........................................................................................... 34 Childhood Information Sub-Tab ........................................................................................ 35

Experiences Tab .................................................................................................................. 36



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Essays Tab .......................................................................................................................... 37

Academics Tab .................................................................................................................... 38 Schools Sub-Tab .............................................................................................................. 38 Courses Sub-Tab ............................................................................................................. 39

GPA/MCAT Sub-Tab ........................................................................................................ 42 Printing Applications............................................................................................................. 43 Actions Tab and Sub-Tab .................................................................................................... 43 Comment & Email History Sub-tab ...................................................................................... 44

Working with Optional and School-Defined Data .................................................................... 45

AMCAS Letters Service ....................................................................................................... 45 Using the Letters Tab ........................................................................................................... 46

Non-AMCAS Received Letters ......................................................................................... 47 Loading Letter of Evaluation Images ................................................................................ 47

Printing AMCAS Letters of Evaluation .............................................................................. 47 Using the Interview Tab ....................................................................................................... 48

Adding Interview Notes ..................................................................................................... 48 Using the Custom Tab ......................................................................................................... 48

Updating Applicant Information ............................................................................................... 49

Editing and Saving Data ....................................................................................................... 49 Setting Application Statuses ................................................................................................ 49

Assigning Applicants to Interviewers or Committee Members ............................................. 50 Setting Admission Actions .................................................................................................... 50

AMCAS Admissions Actions and Codes .......................................................................... 50

AAMC-facilitated Criminal Background Check Service (CBC) ................................................ 52 Participating in the Criminal Background Check Service ..................................................... 52

Initiating Background Checks on Accepted Applicants ........................................................ 52

Setting Alternate List Background Checks ........................................................................... 53

Using the Admission Action Upload Utility (AAUU) .............................................................. 53 Sending Email Messages ..................................................................................................... 54

Granting Applicant Pre-Approvals ........................................................................................ 54 Setting Deadline Extensions ................................................................................................ 54 Extending Deadlines for Existing Applicants ........................................................................ 55

Running GPA and MCAT Comparison Reports ................................................................... 55 Exporting Mailing Label Data ............................................................................................... 55

Reports.................................................................................................................................... 57 AAMC Reports Available to the Public ................................................................................. 57 AMCAS Reports Available Through School Tools Software ................................................ 57 Generating AMCAS School and National Reports ............................................................... 57

Appendices ............................................................................................................................. 58

Appendix A: Course Classifications ..................................................................................... 59 Appendix B: Special Course Types ...................................................................................... 60

Appendix C: AMCAS Admission Actions .............................................................................. 64 Appendix D: BCPM and Other GPAs ................................................................................... 67 Appendix E: Rural/Urban Continuum ................................................................................... 68 Appendix F: Submitting Actions via the AAUU ..................................................................... 69 Appendix G: Submitting Alternate List CBC Requests via the AAUU .................................. 74 Appendix H: AMCAS Determination of Primary Undergraduate School............................... 76



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Appendix I: Submitting Alternate List Background Checks via Direct Insertion .................... 77

Appendix J: State-Specific Notifications for Criminal Background Checks........................... 79 Appendix K: AMCAS Data Retention Policy ......................................................................... 80



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Introduction

The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) is a centralized application service

operated by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). AMCAS enables first-year

medical school applicants to apply to multiple AMCAS-participating medical schools with one online

application.

The AMCAS School Tools web application was designed for medical school admissions offices to use

to streamline the selection of entering classes each year. The information in this manual is also

accessible from within the application by clicking Help.

Overview of School Tools

Access School Tools at http://services.aamc.org/AMCAS2_school/. Prior to logging in, you will need

your system administrator to create your user account with proper permissions. The AAMC creates an

initial account and a set of permissions for the designated system administrator(s). The system

administrator will then have the ability to create users and add or update permissions for users at the

school. Depending on your user permissions, you may not have access to all of the tabs on the School

Tools homepage.

The School Tools web application is comprised of seven main tools:

Admissions Processing (AP)

The AP allows you to track AMCAS application data from initial submission to final admissions

decisions. Using the AP, you can search, review, and manage applicants and applicant data. You can

also evaluate interviews, view letters of evaluation, and communicate with applicants via email.

Data Transfer

The Data Transfer tab allows you to schedule when you will receive any selected AMCAS

supplementary materials such as the TAMF, DADF, AMCAS letters of evaluation, Electronic Verified

Printed Applications (eVPAs), and Electronic Change Reports. In this tool you can also generate a copy

of the Preliminary Applicant Contact (Mailing Label) Data File and download electronic versions of

applicant documents including narrative evaluations, investigation reports, and AMCAS letters of

evaluation.

AP Setup

AP Setup is where you will customize the AP to meet your processing needs. For example, you can

define application statuses and admissions actions, create school-specific fields, and determine whether

you wish to receive preliminary/unverified application data.

Ad Adv

The Admissions Advantage tool launches the AAMC Admissions Hub in a new browser window. You

can also access AMCAS web content directly at https://www.aamc.org/admissions (sign-in required).

Security

http://services.aamc.org/AMCAS2_school/

https://www.aamc.org/admissions



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The Security tool allows you to specify which users have access to the system and application data.

AMCAS will set up a system administrator account which will allow you to add users and create or

update permissions for users. You can have multiple system administrators at your school.

Reports

The Reports tool provides access to pre-defined School and National Reports, including the Roster of

Applicants and Acceptance Reports.

AAUU

The Admission Action Upload Utility (AAUU) tool permits schools to submit admission actions to

AMCAS via a text file.

Changing Your Password

To change your password click the My Account button displayed on the School Tools Homepage. You

will be redirected to the page to change your password. Passwords may contain letters and numbers.

To change your password:

1. On the School Tools Homepage, click My Account

2. You will be redirected to the OneAAMC Account page.

3. Click on the Change Password option.

4. Enter your current password in the Old Password field.

5. Enter your new password in both the New Password and Confirm Password fields.

6. Click the Update button.

7. A confirmation screen will appear and provide you with an option to return to School Tools.

Support

The AMCAS Medical School Relations team is available weekdays, between 9:00am and 5:00pm ET, to

assist you with School Tools and other AMCAS products.

Phone: 202-828-0635

Fax: 202-962-6097

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.aamc.org/admissions (sign-in required to see AMCAS content)

mailto:[email protected]




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Customizing the Admissions Processing Software

You can customize settings such as adding interviewer and committee member accounts, creating

default settings in AP Setup, and developing custom fields.

Installing the Java Plug-In

School Tools utilizes a Java plug-in that allows you to connect to the AMCAS server and upload files,

such as letters of evaluation or narrative evaluations. To use the plug-in, you need to download the free

Java installation file from www.java.com and then install it by following the instructions from Java. It is

important that the plug-in is installed on every computer that will be used to access School Tools. Please

consult with your system administrator regarding the installation of this plug-in.

Installing Adobe Reader

The system exports all reports in PDF format. Users who are expected to view or print reports will need

Adobe Reader installed on his/her computer. Go to www.adobe.com and download Adobe Reader by

following the instructions on their website. Please consult with your system administrator to ensure the

latest version of this tool is installed on each computer that will be used to access School Tools.

Pop-Ups and Active X Controls

Many functions in the system appear as pop-up windows. If your school uses pop-up blocking software,

such as the Google toolbar, it must be modified so that pop-ups are allowed from School Tools.

AMCAS School Tools also uses Active X controls and Java scripting. Please consult with your system

administrator regarding these settings to ensure easy use of the AMCAS School Tools software.

Here are some Internet Explorer (IE) security settings that need to be set for each user. You can navigate

to these settings in IE following these steps:

Tools>Internet Options>Security>Custom level

1. Under Active X Controls and Plug-ins the following should be ENABLED:

a. Automatic prompting for Active X Controls

b. Run Active X controls and plug-ins

c. Script Active X controls marked safe for scripting

2. Under Active X Controls and Plug-ins the following should be PROMPT:

a. Download signed Active X Controls

3. Under Downloads the following should be ENABLED:

a. Automatic Prompting for file downloads

b. File download

4. Under Scripting the following should be ENABLED:

a. Active Scripting

b. Scripting of Java applets

http://www.java.com/

http://www.adobe.com/



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Using the AP Setup Tab

The AP Setup tab is accessible to system administrators or those whom the system administrator has

assigned access permission. The tabs and sub-tabs within AP Setup include:

Options Tab The Options tab displays by default after accessing AP Setup. The features in this tab allow you to

define the system defaults and establish a list of Application Statuses and Admissions Actions for use in

the AP tab.

General Options Sub-Tab

Specify an email address to use as the sender address for all correspondence with applicants, the location

for shared files, your default search criteria, and whether or not your school wants to receive

Preliminary/Unverified Applicant data.

Preliminary/Unverified Applicants

Specify whether or not you want to see preliminary/unverified applicant records in the AP search

results. Preliminary/unverified applicant data is from submitted applications that have not yet been

verified by AMCAS. Certain tabs and features in AP will not be available when viewing preliminary

applicants since some information is available only for processed applicants (e.g., experiences, essays,

course work).

If you opt to receive preliminary data and later determine that you do not want preliminary data,

changing your selection from Yes to No will not remove any preliminary applicant data that has already

been transmitted.

Admission Processing Email Address

Specify the “From” email address that appears in all communications sent from your office to applicants

using the AP.

Export Options

There are two storage location options available for files exported from an advanced filter: Shared

Storage and Local Storage. Each of these options is detailed below.

Export to Shared Storage:

Shared Storage could be housed on a network drive that is accessible to all School Tools users. Provide

a Shared File Location in the “Path:” field.

Export to Local Storage:

The Local Storage option exports the file to the specified location on the machine hosting your ADI

Client. Provide a Shared File Location in the “Path:” field.

Note that if you attempt an export to shared or local storage and the file does not show up, it is most

likely a system permissions issue. Your IT administrator should make sure that the ADI has access to

the shared drive/folder. In some cases, it may be difficult to determine if the ADI has such access. One

simple method is to locate the Username and Password assigned to the ADI Client service and verify

that it has access to the storage location.



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To determine what username and password the ADI has been assigned take the following steps (must be

done on machine housing ADI):

Open Control Panel (Start>Settings>Control Panel).

Open Administrative Tools and click on Services.

Right click on ADI Client Service and select properties from the drop-down menu.

Click on the Log On tab. If Local System Account is selected, you will need to verify that the

username and password associated with the local system account has access to the shared drive.

If this Account is selected, you need to verify that the account and password entered have access

to the shared folder.

Shared Storage

Use this path for shared files such as applicant photos, letters of evaluation, official transcripts, or

interview notes. Beginning with the 2017 cycle, you should create a folder for each file type as shown

below. Be sure to select a shared file location accessible to all AP users at your school. Files must be

located in the root folder for each document type.

Default Search Criteria

Specify the default search criteria. If a default is not specified, AP search functionality automatically

defaults to Last Name.

Default Search Result Display Type

Set your Default Search Result Display Type when viewing lists of applicants after performing a search.

The options available are Paginate or All. Paginate means that when viewing the search results list, ten

applicants will be displayed per page. If you select All, the entire search results will appear as a

scrollable list.

Default Experience Sort Type

Select how an applicant’s experiences are listed within the Experiences tab. You can sort the

experiences chronologically, by experience type, or by most meaningful. If sorted by most meaningful,

the experiences the applicant designates as most meaningful will be listed first in alphabetical order.

MCAT Date Range

Set a minimum and maximum date range if you do not wish to view MCAT scores outside the

determined range. If a range is set, you will be unable to filter for MCAT scores outside of the date

range. If you do not set a minimum and maximum date range, then all MCAT scores will display.

All MCAT scores for your applicant pool will be transmitted to your local AMCAS database regardless

of the MCAT date range that you enter here.

Automated Email Notification-Inbound Email Address

Add an email address at which you would like to receive automated notification of the following:



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Narrative Evaluations – A Narrative Evaluation has been received in support of an applicant’s

application.

Program Type Change – An applicant has changed the Program Type on their application.

Notifications of investigation reports are automatically sent to the Dean of Admissions and

investigations contact designated for your school. To change your designated investigations contact,

please contact the AMCAS Medical School Relations Team.

Application Status Sub-Tab

Application Status refers to the application review and processing sequence at your institution. In this

tab you can specify which application statuses your school will use. Select these options from a

predetermined list or create your own school-defined application statuses.

Adding School-Defined Application Statuses

School-defined application statuses are outlined in white.

To add a School-Defined Application Status:

1. Click the Application Status sub-tab and select a year from the Application Year list.

2. Click Add New Option and enter the name in the Application Status Description box.

3. Check the “Use” checkbox. You may add up to five application statuses at one time. Click

the Save Options button.

We strongly recommend that you do not name a school-defined application status with the same name

as an application status provided by AMCAS.

Activating Application Statuses

The application status items outlined in gray are provided by AMCAS. Schools may opt to use them or

use their own statuses to meet school-specific needs.

To activate an Application Status:


2. Check the “Use” checkbox for the application status you would like to use and save your

selections.

If you click another tab or sub-tab before saving the changes, you will see a pop-up window asking if

you wish to save your changes.

Deactivating Application Statuses

You cannot delete an application status if it has already been used for an applicant that year. However,

you can deactivate it so that it cannot be used for any other applicants. Application statuses provided by

AMCAS cannot be deleted, only deactivated.

To deactivate an Application Status:


2. Clear the “Use” checkbox for the application status you no longer want and click Save.



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Deleting Application Statuses

You cannot delete a school-defined application status if it has already been used for an applicant that

year; you can only deactivate it so that it cannot be used for any other applicants. Application statuses

provided by AMCAS cannot be deleted, only deactivated.

To delete an Application Status:


2. Select the application status to be deleted by clicking on its Application Status Description.

3. Click Delete Selected Option. The page will refresh and return you to the Application Status

page, where the deleted status will no longer appear.

Setting the Order of Application Statuses

Control the order in which application statuses appear in the drop-down lists within the AP Actions tab.

To set the order of Application Statuses:


2. Click Set Option Order.

3. Move a selected application status by clicking Up or Down. Click Save. The page will

refresh and return you to the Application Status page.

Admission Actions Sub-Tab

Admission actions are decisions regarding admissions. In addition to official AMCAS-defined

admission actions, you can add your own actions. These school-defined admission actions appear to

AMCAS and are listed on AMCAS reports as “Other.” School-defined actions are not considered

official or final AMCAS actions.

For a description of each available AMCAS admission action see Appendix C.

Valid Subsequent Admission Actions

When you select an admission action in the top pane, a list of valid subsequent admission actions

appears in the bottom pane. You cannot modify the subsequent admission actions, nor can you define

valid subsequent admission actions for school-defined admission actions.

Adding School-Defined Admission Actions

School-defined admission actions display in white and appear above any gray AMCAS-defined

admission actions. School-defined actions cannot be final actions. Therefore, “No” will appear in the

Final Action column for all school-defined admission actions.

We strongly recommend that you do not name a school-defined admission action with the same name as

an admission action provided by AMCAS.

To add a School-Defined Admission Action:

1. Click the Admission Actions sub-tab and select a year from the Application Year list.

2. Click Add New Option and enter the name in the Admission Action Description box.

3. Check the “Use” checkbox. You may add up to five admission actions at one time. Click

Save Options.



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Activating Admission Actions

The admission actions outlined in gray are provided by AMCAS and must always remain active.

School-defined admission actions are outlined in white and can be specified as active or inactive.

To activate an Admission Action:


2. Check the “Use” checkbox for the corresponding admission action. Click Save.

Deactivating Admission Actions

You cannot delete an admission action if it has already been used for an applicant that year. However,

you can deactivate it so that it cannot be used for any other applicants. Only school-defined admission

actions can be deactivated.

To deactivate an Admission Action:


2. Select the admission action to be deactivated and clear the corresponding “Use” checkbox.

Click Save.

Deleting Admission Actions

A school-defined admission action can be deleted from the system if it has not been used for any

applicant that year. You cannot, however, remove any official AMCAS admission actions.

To delete an Admission Action:


2. Select the admission action to be deleted by clicking on its Admission Action Description

and click Delete Selected Option.

3. A pop-up window will ask you to confirm deletion.

The page will refresh and return you to the Admission Actions page, where the deleted action will no

longer appear.

Default Tabs Sub-Tab

The Default Tabs section allows users to specify the order of sub-tabs within the associated AP tab. For

example, schools can change the order of applicant data on the AP Summary tab. In the drop-down box

under Default Sub-tab Name, there are three choices, Summary, Miscellaneous, and Change History.

You may reorder those sub-tabs to suit your preference for viewing applicant information. You can

modify the order of the sub-tabs at any time during the application year.

To change the order of a Default Sub-Tab Name:

1. Select which AP tab you would like to change.

2. Select which Default sub-tab name you would like to change from the drop-down menu.

Click Save to apply your changes.



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Email Tab

Use the features in the Email Tab to create, edit, and delete email templates to use when communicating

with applicants. You can create templates for standard emails such as acknowledging receipt of

application or to provide information about your school, programs, secondary application, etc.

You cannot add attachments to email templates, however they can be added when sending an email via

the AP.

To create a new Email Template:

1. Click Add New Email Template.

2. Enter the Subject and the Message.

3. If you wish to make the template available only to your account, select the “Keep this email

template private” checkbox. Click Save.

The page will refresh and return you to the main Pre-Defined Email page, where your new template will

appear.

To edit or delete an Email Template:

1. Select the email template to be edited or deleted from the Email tab.

2. Click Edit Selected Email Template and modify the content as needed or click Delete

Selected Email Template to delete. Click Save.

Printing Tab

The sub-tabs under the Printing tab in AP Setup include Print Order, Default Section, and Naming

Convention.

Print Order Sub-Tab The Print Order sub-tab allows users to control the order in which application sections print from AP.

For example, users can have the essay section(s) print immediately after the summary section if desired.

The application summary will always appear at the top of the Print Order Setup list.

To specify the print order:

1. Click on the Print Order sub-tab.

2. Select a section from the list that you would like to move and use Up and Down to modify

the order of the sections, click Save when all sections are in your desired order.

Default Sections Sub-Tab From the Default Sections sub-tab, you may choose which sections on the AMCAS application print by

default. Note that users can also determine which sections of the application they wish to print at the

time of printing.

To choose which sections print by default:

1. Select the Default Sections sub-tab then check on/off which sections you would like to

have/not have printed.



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2. Click Save when finished.

Naming Convention Sub-Tab The naming convention sub-tab allows users to define the file naming convention for applications

printed via the AP. The following fields are available to choose from:

• AAMC ID – Unique, AAMC assigned identifier

• APPL PERSON ID – Year-specific AMCAS identifier

• APPL YEAR – The year of the application cycle (entering class year)

• FIRST NAME

• MIDDLE NAME

• LAST NAME

• MED INST ID – Unique school identifier assigned by the AAMC

Hidden Fields Tab

Throughout the application process, all AMCAS data will be stored in the database. However, the

Hidden Fields tab allows you to hide fields (e.g., date of birth, sex, and race) at specific times during

application review to ensure that certain data do not prejudice the admission application process. Many

schools, due to state regulations or their own policies, cannot use certain data collected on the AMCAS

application.

The choices made on this screen affect all applicants and all views and override any user permissions

established in the Security tab. In addition, these fields will be hidden on all reports that show applicant-

specific data and corresponding report selection criteria will not be available for selection. For example,

if applicant sex information is hidden until matriculation, this field will not appear on any reports or

selected tabs. Furthermore, users cannot filter the data using the hidden field. Hidden data are included

for aggregate statistics only. You can make changes to this tab at any time.

To hide a field:

1. Click the Hidden Fields tab and select a year from the Application Year list.

2. Check the Hide checkbox for the field to be hidden. You can sort the Hidden Fields list by

clicking on the Tab Name or Field Name column heading.

3. Select an option from the Hide Type drop-down list.

a. Hide Until Interview Completed: The field is hidden from view throughout the

application process until the application status is set to “Interview Completed” for a

specific applicant. Note that “Interview Completed” can only be selected if the

“Interview Completed” status is marked in use on the Application Status sub-tab.

b. Hide Until Accepted: The field is hidden from view throughout the application process

until the admission action is set to “Accept” for a specific applicant.

c. Hide Until Matriculated: The field is hidden from view throughout the application

process until the admission action is set to “Matriculated” for a specific applicant.

d. Always Hide: The field is hidden from view throughout the application process.

4. Repeat steps 2-3 for each field to be hidden.

a. If you select a field that appears more than once, the system will prompt you to hide other

locations with the same Hide Type.

b. Click the OK button to hide the field on all tabs where it appears.



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c. Click the Cancel button to hide the field only on the selected tab.


To unhide a field:

1. Click the Hidden Fields tab and select a year from the Application Year list.

2. Clear the “Hide” checkbox for the field(s) to be unhidden. You may wish to sort the Hidden

Fields list by clicking on the Tab Name or Field Name column heading.


Doc Options Tab

The Doc Options tab allows you to specify the naming convention for Application Reports, Narrative

Evaluations, and AMCAS Letters delivered to your school’s AAMC File Server space. These

documents can be requested and delivered by an automated process (AP Setup) or manually requested

within School Tools.

Naming Scheme for Application Reports

This tab allows you to set the file naming scheme for application or investigation reports. When

selecting an available field, you will see a sample filename. Once you have selected your preferred

naming scheme, you can save your changes by clicking Save on the far right.




• FIRST NAME

• MIDDLE NAME

• LAST NAME

• PROGRAM TYPE CODE – The program to which the applicant is applying:

1 – Regular M.D.

2 – Deferred/Delayed

3 – Early Assurance

4 – Combined Bachelors/Medical Degree

5 – Early Decision

6 – Combined Medical Degree/Graduate

7 – Other Special Program

8 – Combined Medical Degree/Ph.D.

• IR – Static identifier (Investigation Reports)

Naming Scheme for Narrative Evaluations

This tab allows you to set the file naming scheme for Narrative Evaluations. When selecting an available

field, you can see a sample filename. Once you have selected your preferred naming scheme, you can

save your changes by clicking Save on the far right.




• FIRST NAME



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• MIDDLE NAME

• LAST NAME

• SCHOOL NAME

• SCHOOL ATTENDED ID – Unique identification number of the applicant’s school

providing narrative evaluation


1 – Regular M.D.








• NE – Static identifier (Narrative Evaluations)

Naming Scheme for AMCAS Letters

This tab allows you to set the file naming scheme for AMCAS Letters. When selecting an available

field, you can see a sample filename. Once you have selected your preferred naming scheme, you can

save your changes by pressing the save button on the far right.

This naming scheme is only applicable for schools participating in the AMCAS Letters service.




• FIRST NAME

• LAST NAME

• PRIMARY AUTHOR LAST NAME – Last name of the primary author of the letter

• Individual(I)/Committee(C)/Packet(P) – Letter type identifier

• CURRENT RECEIPT DATE – Most recent letter receipt date

• Letter ID – Unique, AMCAS assigned letter identifier

• INSTITUTION NAME – Name of institution issuing letter

• INSTITUTION ID – Unique identifier of institution issuing letter


1 – Regular M.D.








• AL – Static identifier (AMCAS Letter)



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Sch Defined Tab

Applicant information is presented in the system based on tab controls representing major groups of

information. The School-Defined tab allows you to determine whether you want to use pre-defined tabs

to manage letters of evaluation and interview data. In addition, you can define up to three additional

custom tabs to track any data not already managed in the AP. For example, a custom tab can be set up to

track secondary applications or institution-specific information.

Letters of Evaluation

Use this tab to track and access letters that have been received electronically or imaged upon receipt by

your school, as well as to assign scores to letters.

Interviews

Use this tab to store interview notes or scanned documents associated with an interview.

School-Defined 1, 2, and 3

Use these tabs to track any data not already managed in the system. For example, some schools assign a

tab to special program reviews (e.g., M.D.-Ph.D. programs). Other schools assign a tab to information

about secondary application fees, updated transcripts, and other materials applicants may send directly

to you. Custom fields can be defined for each tab.

The Custom tab data that is created on the school-defined tabs is only stored in your AMCAS local

database. AMCAS cannot restore this data if lost or damaged. We recommend that you periodically

back-up your database.

Using School-Defined Tabs The system allows you to define up to three custom tabs. You can enable or disable the tabs at any point

in the application process. These tabs help you track applicant information that is pertinent to your

institution, but not included in the AMCAS application.

To use a School-Defined Tab:

1. Click the Sch Defined tab and then click the Tabs sub-tab.

2. Select a year from the Application Year drop-down list.

3. Select “Yes, keep this tab” for any of the School-Defined options.

4. Enter a Tab Name and click Save.

Once you have defined a custom tab, you can create custom fields to display and store information for

that tab.

To create a Custom Field:

1. Click the Sch Defined tab and select a year from the Application Year list.

2. Select the sub-tab on which you want to add a field.

3. Click New Custom Field and enter a Field Name.

4. Select a Field Name Location from the drop-down list.

a. This controls where the field name label appears with respect to the data contained in the

field.

5. Select a Display Type from the drop-down list. Options include:

a. The Text Box option will display a single-line text field.



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b. The Drop-down Box option will display a field that contains a drop-down list of values;

the user can select only one choice from the list. After selecting this display type, enter

the choices for the drop-down list in the List of Values box.

c. The Text Area (Text Box) option will display a multiple-line text box suitable for notes

or longer text entries.

d. The Checkbox option will display a set of values with checkboxes next to each; the user

can select more than one value. After selecting this display type, enter the list of values in

the List of Values box.

e. The Radio Button option will display a set of values with radio buttons next to each; the

user can select only one value. After selecting this display type, enter the list of values in

the List of Values box.

f. The Date option will display a date field where users can enter the date in mm/dd/yyyy

format or click the Open Calendar button to select a date.

g. The URL option will display a link that, when clicked, will take users from the AP to the

specified URL, which may be school-specific software.

6. In the Display on Columns drop-down list, select whether the field appears in Column 1 or

Column 2 of the school-defined tab.

7. Select whether to make the field Read Only via AP Interface. This option is used to display read-

only information on a tab that is imported from other school software (for example, your

secondary application).

8. Enter the Width of Field and Length of Field. Depending on the Display Type selected, the

Width of Field and Length of Field may not be applicable. These options only affect how much

information displays on the screen. These options do not determine how much information is

physically stored in the field.

9. Review the Example Model.

10. Complete the Value Validation and List of Values areas if required. The Value Validation area is

required if you select Text Box or Text Area as the display type.

a. Alphanumeric fields can contain letters and numbers.

b. Character fields can only contain letters.

c. Numeric fields can only contain numbers.

11. The List of Values area is required if you select Drop-down Box, Checkbox, or Radio Button as

the display type.

a. Value Text determines what will display on the screen.

b. Value determines what will be stored in the database.

12. Check the boxes for the tab(s) on which the custom field will be displayed from the Show this

Field On list.

13. Click Save. The page will refresh and return you to the Tab and Field Setup page, where the new

custom field will appear.

Editing and Deleting Custom Fields

To edit a Custom Field:

1. Click the Sch Defined tab and select a year from the Application Year list.

2. Select the sub-tab and the custom field to be edited or deleted.

3. Click Edit to modify the information as needed or select the field to be deleted. You cannot

delete a custom field if it has already been used for an applicant in a given application year.

4. Click Save. The page will then refresh and return you to the Tab and Field Setup page.



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Changing the Location of Custom Fields

You can change the location of custom fields on a tab by using the Move Up, Move Down, and Move to

Column buttons.

To change the location of Custom Fields:

1. Click the Sch Defined tab and select a year from the Application Year drop-down list.

2. Select the sub-tab and the custom field to be moved.

3. Click the appropriate Move to Column button to move the custom field from one column to

the other. Click Save.

Using the Security Tab

Before anyone can access the system, the system administrator must use the Security tool to specify

which users should have access. The AAMC creates the initial account and a set of permissions for the

system administrator(s). The system administrator will then have the ability to add users and create or

update permissions for users at the school. The Security settings apply to all application years.

To access the Security Tool, click the Security tab on the School Tools homepage.

Users Tab

The Users tab displays School Tools users and their level of access to the system. The Interviewer,

Committee, and Restrict Apps checkboxes allow the system administrator to identify a user as an

interviewer or a member of a committee and thereby grant or restricted access to applicant data. The

View link displays the applicants currently assigned to the user.

Each user can have a different set of permissions. Rather than determining permissions by job title,

security settings can be user-specific. However, schools can also create templates to apply the same

permissions to multiple users if desired.

You can also sort each user by User ID, User Name, Name, Interviewer, Committee, Restricted Apps,

and Restrict User by Program Type.

Search/Add User

When clicking Search/Add User button, you’ll be taken to the screen below where all fields are required

to either search or add a user to your school.



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Sync School User

When you click the Sync School User button, data is first stored at AMCAS and then sent back to your

school’s database. After adding or updating user permissions use this button to send the new information

to your local database.

Export List

Clicking the Export List Button exports of a list of the permissions for each user in a text file format.

Adding Users

You will need to fill in all required information on the screen to grant them to access School Tools:

• First Name

• Last Name

• Email Address

• AAMC ID

• Username

To add a New User:

1. Click Search/Add User on the Users tab, enter information for the user then click “Search”

2. The user name must be at least 6 characters long. It may include numbers and letters but

cannot use symbols.

If the information matched to an existing user, the system will display the

assigned username. If you feel this information is correct please proceed to add

School Tools permissions for the user. Please select the appropriate “Staff Type”.



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3. Select permissions for the user, then click “Update Permissions.”

Once saved, you cannot modify or delete a user, their information, or return to this screen. The user,

once logged in, can modify his/her password.

Assigning Permissions The Permissions screen is organized into four different sections: Permissions, Personal Info, Reset

Password, and Remove User.

To assign user permissions:

1. Select the user to whom you wish to assign permissions by clicking on their User ID, User

Name, or Name on the Users tab.

2. If a template has been created with permissions similar to those you wish to grant to the user,

select a template from the Apply Templates to this User drop-down list.

After a template has been applied, you can adjust a user’s permissions without

affecting the saved template.

When applying a template to a user, the template contains permissions for the

School Tools suite. You do not have to apply a template for each tool separately.

3. When you select a school tool, access permissions appear on screen. Make sure the overall

School Tools checkbox is selected if the user will have permissions to the tool.

Dark gray shading indicates a tab; light gray shading indicates a sub-tab; white

indicates a function that appears on the sub-tab. If a user needs access to a

function, the checkboxes for the parent tab and sub-tab must be selected as well.

4. To restrict a user by Program Type so that they will only be able to view applicants to a

specific program, check the Restrict User by Program checkbox for the corresponding user

on the Security tab. A pop-up box will allow you to select the program to which the user

should be restricted.

5. Select the appropriate options for the user and click Update Permissions.



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Resetting User Passwords The Reset Password feature sends a new password to the user’s default email address or to the

designated alternate email address. The user can use this new password to access the system and modify

his/her password if desired.

To reset a user’s password:

1. Click Reset Password on the Users tab. This displays the user’s current security question,

security answer, and default email address. An option for entering an alternate email address

is provided if the default email address is invalid.

2. Click Reset Password.

Removing User Accounts System administrators (super users) can remove a user’s account. This action is permanent and prevents

the user from gaining access to School Tools (including AP and all other tabs). The user will no longer

be shown in the list of users, but their name will continue to appear in locations where a name and

timestamp are displayed; for example, admission actions that the user may have set will still display

with that user’s name. Removing a user’s rights removes their affiliation with your institution, but their

AAMC account will remain active. As an administrator or super user, you cannot remove your own

School Tools rights.

The Remove User action is not reversible, so it is not an appropriate solution for limiting or preventing

access temporarily or for a specific period of time. If you need to temporarily prevent a user from

accessing School Tools, create a permissions template that provides no permissions (no checkboxes are

selected) and apply it to the user. (See Assigning Permissions and Creating Security Templates for

instructions.)

To remove a user:

1. Click Remove User on the Users tab.

2. If you are certain that you wish to permanently remove this user, click OK. The user will no

longer appear in the list of users.

Creating Security Templates Security templates can be created to record and store a set of permissions that can be efficiently applied

to multiple users.

To add a new Security Template:

1. Click Templates on the Security tab and select the Add button.

2. Enter a Name and Description for the new template and click Save.

3. From the Templates tab, click on the template for which the permissions need to be modified.

4. Click on the Permissions sub-tab and select the appropriate school tool. Make sure the

overall tool checkbox is selected if you want to activate permissions for the tool.

Dark gray shading indicates a tab; light gray shading indicates a sub-tab; white indicates

a function that appears on the sub-tab. If a user needs access to a function, the

checkboxes for the parent tab and sub-tab must be selected as well.

5. Select the permissions to save with the template and click the Update Permissions button.



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Editing or Deleting Security Templates Once a template has been created, the permissions for the template can be modified and saved. Changing

permissions in the template, however, does not automatically update any user profiles that were

originally based on the template. You will have to update each user’s permissions accordingly or re-

apply the template.

To edit a Security Template:

1. Click the Templates on the Security tab and select the Template to be edited or deleted.

2. To edit, change the Name and Description as desired. Click the Permissions tab and edit

content as desired. Click Save.

3. To delete, select the checkbox for the template to be deleted. Click Delete.

Specifying Interviewers, Committee Members, Restrict Apps, and Restrict User by Program Type These checkboxes allow you to identify a user as an interviewer or committee member, restrict the

user’s access to applicants, and to restrict a user by program types. Users can assign applicants to

interviewers/committee members by using the Perform Group Actions feature of the AP's Applicant List

screen. After assigning applicants, interviewers and committee members with restricted access will have

access to only those applicants. The View link displays the applicants currently assigned to the user.

To identify Interviewers and Committee Members:

1. Select the Interviewer or Committee Member checkbox for the appropriate user(s) on the

Users tab.

2. To restrict applications to a certain user click the Restrict Apps button on the Security tab for

the corresponding user.

3. By clicking View beside the checkbox, you will see a list of application assigned to this user.

i. To remove applicants viewable to this user, select the appropriate applicant and

click Mark Select Apps Unviewable.

Data Transfer Tab

The Data Transfer tool is broken down to Scheduling, NewApp ML (mailing label), and Documents.

Scheduling Tab The Scheduling tab allows users to schedule receipt of AMCAS supplemental products; DADF

(Detailed Applicant Data File), TAMF (Table Applicant Master File), AMCAS Letters, Electronic

Verified Printed Applications, and Electronic Change Reports. Schools can schedule which days of the

week they would like to receive this data. These files are generated overnight, and posted to your

dedicated space on the AAMC File Server by noon Eastern Time on the days you specify for receipt.

The TAMF and DADF text files can be used with third party products for data integration.

File layout specifications and sample files are available on the AAMC Admissions Hub:

https://www.aamc.org/admissions.

For more information regarding AMCAS Letter delivery to the AAMC File Server, please refer to

Section 5 of this manual.




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Scheduling of Verified Printed Applications and Change Reports In the Data Transfer tab you can select whether or not you would like to receive electronic (PDF) VPAs

and Change Reports and when you would like these products delivered to your dedicated space on the

AAMC File Server. These options are located on the Data Transfer tab.

New APP ML Tab From this tab you can generate a copy of the Preliminary Applicant Contact (Mailing Label) Data File.

This data file contains contact information for all new applicants who have designated your school in

their submitted, but not yet verified, AMCAS application.

To create a Mailing Label Data File:

1. On the NewApp ML Tab select the Application Year and the Semi-Monthly Period that you

want included in the report.

2. Click Generate and Post file. The file will be posted to the AAMC File Server.

Documents Tab The Documents tab allows users to download electronic file versions of Narrative Evaluations,

Investigations Reports, and AMCAS Letters included in applications.

There are three document status categories you can choose from when searching for documents:

• Not Downloaded: This category includes documents you have not yet downloaded

through the Download Documents tab.

• Downloaded: This category includes documents you have already downloaded through

the Download Documents tab.

• Changed: This category includes documents previously downloaded that have since been

updated or changed.

You can search for individual applicant documents by using the applicant’s AAMC ID or the applicant’s

last name. You can also select any number of applicants from this list. After selecting and sorting the

search list, you can print the data sorted by the following criteria:

• Legal name

• AAMC ID

• Evaluator Name

• Document Type

• Previous Download Indicator

• Change Indicator

• Last Download Date

To simply view a document without having it marked as “downloaded” click on the applicant’s name

and the document will open in a separate window displayed as a PDF.

To download records:

1. Select a Document Type on the Documents tab and click Not Downloaded under document type.

2. Select the number of records you want and click Download.



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3. A popup window will appear that allows you to open or save your file. You may save the .zip

file to your desktop or any drive of your choosing. The files will be named according to the naming

convention that you have set up under the Doc Options Tab within the AP Setup.

4. To view records that you have previously downloaded, select Document Type on the Documents

tab and click Downloaded. Previous downloads are indicated with a Y.



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Finding and Selecting Applicants

This section focuses on using the Search, Filter, Advanced Filter, and Audit functions to find individual

applicants or groups of applicants.

Searching for Applicants

The Search tab appears immediately after you select the AP tab. The Search tab allows you to search for

a specific applicant or group of applicants by multiple search criteria.

To search for an applicant or a group of applicants:

1. Select a year from the Application Year list.

2. Select a search option from the Search drop-down list.

• The default search criteria can be changed within AP Setup.

• The “All Applications” option displays every applicant in your database.

• The Preliminary/Unverified Applications option will be available only if your school has

indicated in AP Setup that you wish to view preliminary/unverified applicant information

in AP.

3. Type a search value in the box to the right of the search criteria. Entering nothing in the box will

display all applicants.

• Use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard in the Last Name and First Name fields to find all

names that begin or end with a certain letter or letters. For example, typing “b*” finds all

applicants whose name starts with the letter “b.” You can also type “*b” to get all records

that end with the letter “b.”

Working with the Applicant List

Search results form the “Applicant List.” The top line of the Applicant List screen displays the type of

search performed (e.g., All Applicants) and the number of applicants that matched the search criteria. Click on an applicant’s name to display the Summary tab of his or her application.

By default, the results are displayed alphabetically by last name. You can change the sort order by

clicking on any column heading.

Refining the Applicant List

You can select specific applicants from the list by clicking the checkbox to the left of each name and

then clicking the Constrain button to display only those individuals.

You can also use the Refine Result button to perform another search within an applicant list. For

example, if you initially searched for all verified applications, you could refine the search to only display

verified applications with an admission action of Hold for Information. Clicking the Refine Result

button will return you to the initial search window.

Sending an Email from the Search Results Clicking on an applicant’s email address opens an email dialog box with the selected applicant as the

recipient. To send an email, enter a subject, add attachments, write a message (or use a saved template),

and click Send. You can view and edit your email templates from the email tab under AP Setup.



26

Printing Search Results Clicking the Print button displays a printable view of the Applicant List. If your search results are

displayed on more than one screen, only the applicants on the current screen will be printed. To print a

list of all the applicants found, select Show entire result to display all applicants found and then click the

Print option in the upper-right corner of the dialog box. The printed Search Results will display the

search criteria at the top of the page.

Using Filters Filters allow you to find applicants by specifying your own criteria. For example, schools can find all

applicants who are state residents or all applicants who are not U.S. citizens. When you apply the filter,

only the records that contain the value(s) specified will show in the Filter page.

Creating a Filter

To create a Filter:

1. Click the AP tab on the School Tools Homepage. This automatically displays the Search tab

along with its sub-tabs.

2. Click the Filter sub-tab and select a year from the Application Year drop-down list.

3. Click the Add button and enter the filter name in the Filter Name field.

4. Select the desired criteria and click Save. The Filter function only permits the “and” qualifier

when more than one criterion is entered.

5. To view the results, select the filter from the Filter List and click the Apply Filter button. The

Filter screen appears, listing all applicants that meet the specified criteria.

Once a filter is created, you can easily change the criteria by clicking edit on the selected filter and

modifying it as desired. To save the changed criteria as a new filter, click Save As and rename the filter.

Deleting Filters Filters can be deleted by clicking Delete on the selected filter. Deleting unused filters keeps the filter list

relevant and makes it possible to view only needed filters.

Using Advanced Filters

The Advanced Filters section of the AP enables users to create more complex filters and to export data

based on these filters.

Use Advanced Filters to create more complex criteria that may use the “or” qualifier or a combination of

the “or” and “and” qualifiers. For example, you may want to find applicants who are in-state residents

“or” applicants who self-reported Disadvantaged status in the application.

Creating Advanced Filters

To create an Advanced Filter:

1. Click the AP tab on the School Tools homepage. This automatically displays the Search tab


2. Click the Advanced Filter sub-tab and select a year from the Application Year list.



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3. Click Add and enter the advanced filter name.

4. If the first filter criteria will be part of a group, select the open parenthesis from the Start Group

field. To select criteria, choose from the Tab Name list and Tab Field list.

5. Select an Operator from the drop-down list.

Operators

= Equal to

> Greater than

< Less than

<> Not equal to

>= Greater than or equal to

<= Less than or equal to

LIKE Looks for items like whatever is typed into

the value field.

Use the LIKE operator to return search results that include the searched value, i.e. if J* is

the search value, all last names staring with the letter K will be included in the results.

When searching MCAT scores, EXISTS ANY (<) and EXISTS ALL (=>) will appear

before the operator. If you would like your value to appear in each MCAT

Administration for which scores exist for a given applicant, you would select only those

operators preceded by EXISTS ALL. If your value only needs to exist in one

administration, select EXISTS ANY.

6. Enter a value for the field or select from the drop-down list where applicable. If this is the end of

a group, select the close parenthesis from the End Group field. To continue with more filter

levels, click Add Row. Rows can be deleted and inserted using the buttons at the bottom of the

screen.

7. Select a qualifier, either AND or OR, from the drop-down list. AND is inclusive, the record must

meet both criteria rows to be included in the results. OR allows the record to be included if it

meets either of the criteria rows.

AAMC recommends that you do not exceed more than 12 rows for optimum performance.

8. When finished specifying the criteria, click Save. To view the results, select the filter from the

Advanced Filter List and click Apply Filter.

Editing and Deleting Advanced Filters

Advanced filters can be modified to help redefine the group of applicants, copied to create new filters, or

deleted once they are no longer needed.

To modify or delete an Advanced Filter:



2. Click the Advanced Filter sub-tab and select a year from the Application Year drop-down

list.

3. Click Edit for the desired filter from the Advanced Filter List. Click delete to delete the filter.

4. Modify the filter as necessary and click Save to save your changes. Click Save As to create a

new filter.



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Advanced Filter Limitations The current functionality of the advanced filter uses database table “inner joins”—meaning that the

scope of the filter is limited to existing data. Applicants who do not have data related to your specified

filter criteria “Value” type will not be returned. This behavior is most evident when using data fields that

are optional on the AMCAS application.

For example: If you filter for applicants with the ethnicity = Cuban, the filter will return applicants who

self-identified Cuban ethnicity. However, filtering on the criterion of ethnicity <> (not equal to) Cuban

will return applicants that designated an ethnicity other than Cuban, but will not return those applicants

who did not provide any ethnicity information on their AMCAS application.

Creating Export Files and HTML Reports The Advanced Filters that you create can be used as the first step in exporting data.

To export data based on an Advanced Filter:



2. Click the Advanced Filter sub-tab and select a year from the Application Year list.

3. Select the filter you wish to use for your export. Once you have clicked Export, you will be

able to select all data fields you wish to export. Data fields available for export are organized

by the tab on which they appear in the AP software. For example, to export an applicant’s

Legal name, scroll to “ID & Contact Information” and select the appropriate fields. The

fields you specify for export will be associated with the Advanced Filter used to begin this

export, and that you will not need to re-enter these items each time.

4. Select pipe delimited or HTML for the format option. Pipe delimited file is a text file that

data is separated by commas and can be shown in Microsoft Excel. Click Export.

Exported files are sent to your school’s dedicated space on the AAMC File Server.

Audit Tab

The Audit tab aids processing by displaying quick statistics on the number of applications that fit the

category of new, viewed (or exported), status assigned, or final action submitted. View the Audit Tab

within AP tab on the School Tools homepage. When you view, apply application statuses, and apply

admission actions to applications in the AP, you will see those changes reflected in the Audit Tab

statistics.

Applications are categorized into New, Viewed (or exported), Status Assigned, or Final Action

Submitted. These categories are then broken down into Preliminary/Unverified Applicants,

Verified/Processed Applicants, and Grand Total. Clicking on a number in any category automatically

displays that subset of applicants.

Advice from AMCAS:

The Audit Tab is best used for general processing rather than tracking. If an admissions

procedure is driven by specific officers having specific applicants the Audit tab will probably not

integrate well into the process, though it may be interesting to view occasionally.



29

Remember, an application can only be in one status at a time.

The Audit tab can be very useful at the end of the year, when all actions should be final actions.

By clicking any categories not in the “Final Action Submitted” row a school can find

applications they have missed.

Please Note:

“Changed Data” and “Changed Applications” refer to applications or preliminary applications

that have been updated by either AMCAS staff or the applicant (i.e. address changes, name

changes). This categorization is not a result of user activity within School Tools.

“New applications” are those that have never been viewed or exported by School Tools user.

“New” does not mean “new that day” or that the applicants have never applied before, it also

does not always mean that the applicant was recently processed.

As soon as ANY School Tools user views an application OR exports a list containing that

application the Audit Tab will change that application’s category. This has made it impossible

for some schools to allow more than one user to simultaneously review and track applications.

For example, a “viewed” application might be “new” to one admissions officer and “old” to

another. Another scenario is that “Status Assigned” covers almost the entire applicant pool by

mid-season.

The only rows in the Audit Tab that represent cumulative statistics are those listed in rows or

columns that state “Total”. If the Audit Tab is used for statistics it should be noted that it is up to

the moment.



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Reviewing Applicant Information

After filtering applicant data you can use the Admissions Processing (AP) Tab to view, manage, and

update applicant data.

Overview of the Admissions Processing (AP) Tab

The Admissions Processing tool allows you to easily search, review, verify, and manage applicants and

applicant data. In this tab you can also evaluate interviews, view letters of evaluation, and communicate

with applicants via email.

Data Tabs and Sub-Tabs The various sections of the student application are organized into different tabs and sub-tabs. By default,

the Summary data tab is displayed when you select an applicant to review. Individual users may not see

all of the tabs or sub-tabs depending on their granted permissions. Some tabs are school-defined and

may not appear unless the school has chosen to activate them.

Primary Applicant Information Information about the current applicant such as name, application type, AAMC ID, status, and latest

action appears at the top of the screen.

School Comments and School-Specific Display The bottom left area of the screen displays comments regarding the selected tab. Comments are school-

specific and cannot be viewed by other schools or AMCAS.

There is a Comment History tab that allows you to view, edit, or delete any comment, regardless of

where it was entered. The bottom-right area of the screen displays any school-specific information

specified in AP Setup. Refer to Section 6 (inserting school comments) for more information regarding

inserting comments.

Summary Tab

The Summary tab provides a general overview of applicant information. The Summary tab has three

sub-tabs: Summary, Miscellaneous, and Change History.

Summary Sub-Tab This sub-tab summarizes information contained on other data tabs, including general biographic

information, primary undergraduate school, highest degree school, GPA, and MCAT scores. In addition,

this tab can display a picture of the applicant if your school has loaded an image.

Notes:

After June 1 of each year, use the GPA and MCAT Comparison buttons to compare your

current applicant pool, the current AMCAS applicant pool, your school’s accepted applicant

pool from prior years, or your school’s matriculants from prior years.



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MCAT Scores are broken out with and without the Writing Sample scores because the

writing sample was added in 2003 and subsequently removed in 2013. Some applicants may

not have a score for that section. You can create search criteria for both types of scores.

Adding an Applicant Photo

Some schools may want to display a picture of the applicant on the Summary tab. The photo is school-

specific and is not a required part of the application. It will not be displayed unless your school adds the

photo. Note: You will not be able to view a linked photo using a Mac; you must use IE, Chrome, or

Firefox on a PC to use this functionality.

To load an applicant photo:

1. Save the applicant’s picture to the shared storage location specified in AP Setup.

2. Find and display the applicant on the screen. This automatically displays the Summary tab with

the Summary sub-tab activated.

3. Click Add Photograph, then click Browse to find the applicant’s image file in the appropriate

drive/folder.

4. Select the file and click the Open button. The image will appear in the Upload Applicant Photo

window. Click Save.

5. To view the photo, copy the file path displayed in the Applicant Photo box, then paste the file

path into a new browser tab or window and press Enter.

Difficulty viewing the picture may signify that you do not currently have access to the shared storage

location. Contact your network administrator.

To delete an applicant photo click the Change/Delete Photograph button.

Miscellaneous Sub-Tab This tab displays the applicant’s explanation if they responded “Yes” to the Institutional Action, Felony,

Misdemeanor, Military Discharge, or Previous Matriculation questions.

Institutional Action This field displays the applicant’s explanation of any institutional action that has been taken against him

or her because of unacceptable academic performance or conduct violation. The applicant is asked:

“Were you ever the recipient of any institutional action by any college or medical school for

unacceptable academic performance or conduct violation, even though such action may not have

interrupted your enrollment or required you to withdraw?” If “Yes” is checked, an explanation is

required for each instance, along with the date(s) of the occurrence (MM/YYYY), even if the action

does not appear on or has been deleted or expunged from the applicant’s official transcripts due to

institutional policy or personal petition.

Felony Explanation This field displays the applicant’s explanation of any felony convictions. The applicant is asked: “Have

you ever been convicted of, or pleaded guilty or no contest to, a Felony crime, excluding 1) any offense

for which you we adjudicated as a juvenile or 2) convictions which have been expunged or sealed by a

court (in states where applicable)?” An explanation is required if “Yes” is checked.



32

Misdemeanor Explanation This field displays the applicant’s explanation of any applicable Misdemeanor convictions. The

applicant is asked: “Have you ever been convicted of, or pleaded guilty or no contest to, a Misdemeanor

crime, excluding 1) any offense for which you were adjudicated as a juvenile, 2) any convictions which

have been expunged or sealed by a court, or 3) any misdemeanor convictions for which any probation

has been completed and the case dismissed by the court (in states where applicable)?” An explanation is

required if “Yes” is checked.

Military Discharge Explanation This field displays the applicant’s explanation of a Military Discharge. The applicant is asked: “Have

you ever been discharged by the Armed Forces of the United States?” An explanation is required if

“Yes” is checked.

Previous Matriculation This field displays the applicant’s explanation of any previous matriculation. The applicant is asked:

“Have you ever matriculated at or attended any medical school as a candidate for a medical degree?” An

explanation is required if “Yes” is checked.

Investigation This field displays any confirmed official Investigation Reports issued about the applicant by AMCAS.

Schools can view, save or print a PDF image of the report. The Report Types include:

• Inauthentic Transcript

• MCAT

• Inauthentic Letter of Evaluation

• Institutional Action

• False Biographic Information

• Previous Application

• Previous Matriculation

• Early Decision

• Fee Assistance Program

• Racial/Ethnic Self-Description

• Other

Change History Sub-Tab This screen lists all changes to the applicant's Biographic, GPA and MCAT data after receipt by the

school. For each change, the AP displays the field and value modified, the date/time modified, and the

user who made the modification.

Biographic Tab

This screen displays the applicant's biographic contact, and childhood information organized on three

different sub-tabs.

Biographic Information Sub-Tab This sub-tab displays the biographical information that the applicant self-reported on his/her application,

such as birthplace, legal residence, race and ethnicity, siblings, languages, and parents/guardians.



33

Additionally, the Socioeconomic Status Disadvantaged Indicator is provided here. Most of these fields

are self-explanatory, although please note the following details:

Rural Indicators for Birthplace and Place of Legal Residence

Birthplace and place of legal residence data also include information on whether the area is considered

rural or medically underserved (as defined by the federal government).

Rural and Underserved fields are based on the rural urban continuum in the Areawide Resource File

(ARF) as published by the United States Government. ARF data is based on census data and is updated

annually to reflect changes in population estimates. The rural urban continuum is based on a

classification scheme that distinguishes metropolitan counties by size and non-metropolitan counties by

degree of urbanization or proximity to metropolitan areas. Refer to Appendix E for more information.

Racial and Ethnic Self-Description All self-identification fields are optional. Applicants may select more than one self-description. If an

applicant has not answered the question in the web application, both the Racial Self-Description and

Ethnic Self-Description boxes will display Declined to Respond. If the applicant has selected any of the

following: Hispanic/Latino/or of Spanish origin, Argentinean, Colombian, Cuban, Dominican,

Mexican/Chicano, Peruvian, Puerto Rican, Hispanic/Latino/or of Spanish Origin Other, then the Ethnic

Self-Description box will display Hispanic/Latino/or of Spanish Origin.

However if the applicant has selected any descriptor other than: Hispanic/Latino/or of Spanish origin,

Argentinean, Colombian, Cuban, Dominican, Mexican/Chicano, Peruvian, Puerto Rican,

Hispanic/Latino/or of Spanish origin Other, then the Ethnic Self-Description box will display Not

Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish Origin.

Language Applicants are asked to indicate their lingual proficiency and the use of each language in their childhood

home. Use in the childhood home is described using the following terms: Never, Rarely, From time to

time, Often, or Always.

Proficiency levels are described as follows:

Basic – I speak the language imperfectly and only to a limited degree and in limited situations. I

have difficulty in or understanding extended conversations.

Fair – I speak and understand well enough to have extended conversations about current events,

work, family, or personal life. Native speakers notice many errors in my speech or my

understanding.

Good – I speak well enough to participate in most conversations. Native speakers notice some

errors in my speech or my understanding, but my errors rarely cause misunderstanding.

Advanced – I speak very accurately, and I understand other speakers very accurately. Native

speakers have no problem understanding me, but they probably perceive that I am not a native

speaker.



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Native/Functionally native – I converse easily and accurately in all types of situations. Native

speakers may think that I am a native speaker, too.

Socioeconomic Status (SES) Disadvantaged Indicator The SES Disadvantaged Indicator is a tool that medical schools can use to identify applicants who may

come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and is intended to assist you in putting this

application information in context as part of a holistic process.

This indicator is derived from information the applicant provides about his/her parents’ and guardians’

occupation and education levels using the schema represented in the graphic below. For more

information about this indicator, please visit the Admissions Hub: www.aamc.org/admissions.

Contact Information Sub-Tab This tab displays the applicant’s legal name, preferred name, identification numbers if included, and

contact information. Please note that applicants are asked not to include their Social Security Number

(SSN) or Social Insurance Number (SIN) in the AMCAS application.

For the Names and Contact areas, selecting Legal, Preferred, or Permanent from the View Name drop-

down list to indicate which option you would like displayed.

There is also an area on this tab to add school-defined contact information that may be different from

that submitted in the AMCAS application.

Contact Information

PARENT/GUARDIAN OCCUPATION

Executive, managerial,

professional position

Service, clerical, skilled,

and unskilled labor

P

AR

EN

T/G

UA

RD

IAN

ED

UC

AT

ION

Doctorate/

professional

degree

SES Disadvantaged

Indicator: No

SES Disadvantaged

Indicator: Yes, EO-2

Master’s

degree

SES Disadvantaged

Indicator: No

SES Disadvantaged


Bachelor’s

degree

SES Disadvantaged

Indicator: No

SES Disadvantaged


Less than

Bachelor’s

SES Disadvantaged


SES Disadvantaged

Indictor:

Yes, EO-1

http://www.aamc.org/admissions



35

The applicant, via the AMCAS application, authorizes schools to release information about the

applicant’s processing and admissions status to the alternate contact. The applicant is informed that

medical schools may or may not choose to release information to an applicant’s alternate contact.

Permanent: This displays the address that the applicant considers permanent. It is often the address of a

parent or guardian. If correspondence to the applicant is returned by the postal service when using the

applicant’s preferred address, then correspondence should be sent to the applicant’s permanent address.

Preferred: This displays the applicant’s preferred name, mailing address, email address, and phone

numbers. All correspondence from AMCAS and medical schools should be sent to this address. For

reports and exports designed by AMCAS, this contact information is the default selection.

Alternate: If an applicant believes s/he might be unreachable by the preferred and permanent contact

information, an alternate contact person’s information is provided. This information should be used only

when correspondence is returned by the postal service after attempting to mail to the preferred and

permanent contact addresses. School-Defined Contact This area is designated for schools to enter and maintain contact information that may be different from

that submitted on the AMCAS application. For example, an applicant may be staying at a hotel in town

to interview with a school. The applicant’s contact information at the hotel can be entered here.

Use the Add/Edit Contact button to add or change the school-defined contact information.

Childhood Information Sub-Tab This sub-tab captures information related to an applicant’s upbringing. All information in this section of

the application is self-reported.

Childhood Home This area displays the location details of the applicant’s childhood home. It also delineates whether it

was a rural neighborhood, and whether the applicant deemed it underserved. In this context, an area is

considered “underserved” if the there was an inadequate number of available health care providers; this

may include physicians, nurses, hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare services.

Applicant/Family Economic Circumstances This area displays information about the applicant’s family and the applicant’s economic circumstances,

including the number of people who lived in the childhood household, whether the family received state

or federal assistance, whether the applicant contributed to the family income and was employed before

the age of 18, and the overall family income level.

Educational Finance This area denotes whether the applicant has ever received financial assistance in the form of

scholarships, grants, loans, or other contributions.



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Experiences Tab

This tab displays any post-secondary experiences, awards, honors, or publications that the applicant

would like brought to the attention of the medical schools. Applicants may enter a maximum of 15

experiences; however the applicant can enter up to 4 occurrences for each experience. Applicants may

include a description of their experience for most entry types. A contact email or phone number is

required based on the experience type entered.

The record indicator in the upper-right area of the Experiences section will display which record the

mouse is hovering over (e.g., Showing 1 of 12). Schools can sort experiences Chronologically, by

Experience Type, or by Most Meaningful using the radio buttons next to “Sort.”

Applicants must indicate the start date of all of their experiences but an end date is not required for all

entry types. The end date can be any date up until August of the matriculation year. Up to four date

ranges may appear for each experience.

Most Meaningful Experience If the experience has been designated as a meaningful experience, the text “Meaningful Experience:

Yes” will appear directly above Experience Type.

Applicants can view this explanation of the most meaningful indicator: “When determining which of

your entries are your most meaningful, you might consider the transformative nature of the experience:

the impact you made while engaging in the experience and the personal growth you experienced as a

result of your participation.”

Experience Type This displays the applicant’s experience type. Applicants may pick only one type for each experience,

even if more than one type applies. The application instructs them to choose the best one. This is a

required field.

The experience types are as follows:

Artistic Endeavors

Community Service/Volunteer – Medical/Clinical

Community Service/Volunteer – Not Medical/Clinical

Conferences Attended

Extracurricular Activities

Hobbies

Honors/Awards/Recognition

Intercollegiate Athletics

Leadership -–Not Listed Elsewhere

Military Service

Other

Paid Employment – Medical/Clinical

Paid Employment – Not Medical/Clinical

Physician Shadowing/Clinical Observation

Presentations/Posters



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Publications

Research/Lab

Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant

Essays Tab

This tab displays the Personal Comments essay that all applicants are required to complete on the

AMCAS application. M.D.-Ph.D. applicants must complete two additional essays: the M.D.-Ph.D. Essay

and the Significant Research Essay which also appear on this tab.

Personal Comments Essay Applicants are provided 5,300 characters for the Personal Comments essay. Please note that the

application does not include formatting functionality. For the Personal Comments essay, applicants are

given the following instructions:

Use the Personal Comments essay as an opportunity to distinguish yourself from other

applicants. Some questions you may want to consider while writing this essay are:

• Why have you selected the field of medicine?

• What motivates you to learn more about medicine?

• What do you want medical schools to know about you that hasn't been disclosed in

other sections of the application?

In addition, you may wish to include information such as:

• Special hardships, challenges, or obstacles that may have influenced your educational

pursuits.

• Commentary on significant fluctuations in your academic record that are not

explained elsewhere in your application.

M.D.-Ph.D. Essay Applicants have 3,000 characters to use for their M.D.-Ph.D. essay and are given the following

instructions:

The M.D.-Ph.D. program(s) to which you are applying has requested that you provide two essays

in addition to your Personal Comments. Your responses will only be forwarded to your

designated M.D.-Ph.D. program(s).

Significant Research Essay Applicants to M.D.-Ph.D. programs have 10,000 characters for their Significant Research essay and are

given the following instructions:

Please describe your significant research experiences. In your statement, please specify your

research supervisor's name and affiliation, the duration of the experience, the nature of the

problem studied, and your contributions to the project. The available space is 10,000 characters.

If your research resulted in a publication on which you were an author, please provide the full

citation in the Work/Activities section of your application.



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Academics Tab

The Academics tab displays all schools attended by the applicant, all courses taken by the applicant, and

the applicant's GPA and MCAT data.

Schools Sub-Tab The Schools sub-tab displays the list of post-secondary institutions that the applicant has attended. The

bottom portion of the screen displays the high school from which the applicant graduated and the

graduation year. This information is self-reported by the applicant. This tab also has space for schools to

indicate whether the final official transcript (OT) was received and to load an image.

The applicant is instructed to list every post-secondary institution where he or she has enrolled for at

least one course, even if credits have been transferred or if no credits were earned. In addition, any U.S.

or Canadian institution-sponsored study abroad program in which the applicant participated will be

listed as a separate program.

Please note that the Attendance fields displays the inclusive dates that the applicant was enrolled at a

particular school. The applicant may not have been enrolled continuously during this time.

Use the following radio buttons to sort the list of post-secondary schools. The Ascending and

Descending options sort by the Attendance Date field. The Degree option sorts the list from highest

degree to lowest. The School option sorts the list alphabetically by school name.

School Name and Location This displays the name and location of the school attended. If the applicant’s school was not listed as a

choice on the web application, the applicant may have selected “Other (Not Listed).” If this is the case,

the applicant is requested to enter a “Modified School Name.” Text entered here by the applicant is

displayed as the modified school name in the School listing.

The School Name is also a link. Clicking on the school name will present the user with additional

information about the school.

Accreditation Indicator Beginning with the 2017 application cycle, this indicator is no longer provided by AMCAS. All schools

displayed in School Tools will have an Accreditation Indicator that appears blank (i.e.,

REF_COLLEGE_INSTITUTION. ACCREDITED_IND= null).

Degrees and Degree Date This field displays any degrees the applicant earned or anticipates earning while attending the school. If

no degree was granted or expected, “No Degree Expected” appears in the Degree field.

The month and date the degree was granted is displayed in the date field next to the degree name. A

future date indicates that a degree is expected. If no degree was granted, no date appears in the Date

field.



39

Majors and Minors This field displays the applicant’s self-reported major(s) and minor(s). If the applicant’s major or minor

was not listed as a choice on the web application, the applicant may have chosen “Other.” If this is the

case, the applicant is requested to enter a modified name. If the applicant did not declare a major or

minor then “No Major” or “No Minor” is displayed.

Final Official Transcripts The Final OT Received field is provided for the schools to indicate whether the applicant’s official

transcript has been received from the listed school. Schools enter this information, not AMCAS. This

field is optional.

Some schools may want to load a scanned image of an applicant’s official transcript after receipt. If you

would like to include an image of an official transcript, use the OT Load button to load an image of the

transcript. View the document with the OT View button.

To load a scanned image of an Official Transcript:

1. Scan and save the applicant’s official transcript to the shared storage location specified in AP

Setup.

2. Find and display the applicant in the AP and navigate to the Schools sub-tab (under Academics).

3. Click the OT Load button in the record for which you want to load an image. This displays the

Upload Scanned Images window. From this window, multiple images can be loaded for the

applicant.

4. Click the Browse button to view the shared storage location and select a scanned transcript file.

Click Open and then Add to insert the image into the applicant’s profile. Click Save Changes.

5. To view an uploaded transcript, click OT View. Copy the file path displayed and paste it into a

new browser tab or window, then press Enter.

If you would like to delete a transcript image, click OT View in the record for which you want to delete

a transcript image and click the button next to the file to remove the image.

Courses Sub-Tab This tab displays a detailed view of the applicant’s coursework history including college(s) attended,

academic status, course classification, academic year, term, course name, course number, course type,

official transcript grade, semester hours, and AMCAS grade.

The coursework can be sorted by up to three fields. The system will sort the information first by Primary

Sort, then by Secondary Sort, and then by Tertiary Sort.

• Courses appearing in red with a strikeout line have been deleted by AMCAS. Hovering over

the strikeout line shows the tool tip “Course deleted by AMCAS.”

• Blue items indicate those classes that have been changed or added by AMCAS. Hovering

over the blue items will show a tool tip with an explanation of the change.

• Hovering over a changed item displays a tool tip that shows the original information

submitted by the applicant.



40

School Name If you click on the School Name, you will see comparison data for other applicants who attended that

school.

Academic Status The applicant’s level in school when the class was taken. The levels are High School (HS), Freshman

(FR), Sophomore (SO), Junior (JR), Senior (SR), Post-baccalaureate Undergraduate (PB), and Graduate

(GR). Each undergraduate status year includes approximately 30-35 semester hours. HS is used for

college-level courses taken while the applicant was in high school, regardless of the physical location of

the coursework.

Academic Year The school year in which the applicant took the course. For AMCAS purposes, the academic year begins

with the summer term and ends with the spring term.

Term The term in which the applicant took the course. This is represented by a code. The codes are as follows:

Calendar System Code Description

Semester System SS Summer Session(s)

S1 Fall/1st Semester

S2 Spring/2nd Semester

Trimester System TS Summer Session(s)

T1 Fall/1st Trimester

T2 Winter/2nd Trimester

T3 Spring/3rd Trimester

Quarter System QS Summer Session(s)/4th Quarter

Q1 Fall/1st Quarter

Q2 Winter/2nd Quarter

Q3 Spring/3rd Quarter

4-1-4/4-4-1 System SS Summer Session(s)

S1 Fall/1st Semester

SM January/May Mini Session

S2 Spring/2nd Semester

OT Other

Course Classification A four-letter abbreviation for the type of course taken by the applicant, based strictly on the primary

content of the course. Course classification is used to determine the applicant’s BCPM and AO GPAs, as

described in the GPA Data section of this user manual. AMCAS does not verify course classifications

but may change them if the classification assigned by the applicant clearly does not apply. Course

classification codes are as follows:

• Behavioral & Social Sciences (BESS)

• Biology (BIOL)

• Business (BUSI)



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• Chemistry (CHEM)

• Communications (COMM)

• Computer Science/Technology (COMP)

• Education (EDUC)

• Engineering (ENGI)

• English Language and Literature (ENGL)

• Fine Arts (ARTS)

• Foreign Languages/Linguistics/Foreign Literature (FLAN)

• Government/Political Science/Law (GOVT)

• Health Sciences (HEAL)

• History (HIST)

• Mathematics (MATH)

• Natural/Physical Sciences (NPSC)

• Other (OTHR)

• Philosophy/Religion (PHIL)

• Physics (PHYS)

• Special Studies (SSTU)

BIOL, CHEM, PHYS, and MATH designated classes are included in the calculation for BCPM GPA.

Courses marked with BCPM indicate an undergraduate-level academic status. For a detailed view of

what types of courses are included in each classification, refer to Appendix A.

Type Indicates a special designation given to some courses. Type would include such designations as

Advanced Placement, Audit, CLEP, Current and Future Coursework, Deferred Grade, Exempt, Honors,

Incomplete, No Record, Pass/Fail, Repeat, and Withdrawal. Courses may be classified as more than one

type. In the event a course has multiple types, commas separate the types. For more details on each of

these types, see Appendix B.

OT and AMCAS Grades The OT Grade appears on the applicant’s official transcript for the selected class. The AMCAS Grade is

a standardized conversion of the OT Grade; this grade allows you to compare applicant coursework

from different institutions.

Semester Hours The number of course credits that the school granted to the applicant for the selected class. This number

is usually based on the number of hours spent in class per week. Quarter and other credit systems are

converted to semester equivalencies.

AMCAS Use This field shows how the grade was verified by AMCAS. Below are the various symbols that may be

displayed with a description of each:

/ Any course verified without correction.

X Any course verified with any correction.



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O Any course listed on the Academic Record but

not reflected on an official transcript; format

corrections were not required.

Any course listed on the Academic Record but

not reflected on an official transcript; format

corrections have been made.

≠ Any course not intended to be verified by

AMCAS.

In addition to the symbols, information changed by AMCAS is formatted differently. Blue information

indicates that AMCAS added or changed the data. Red information indicates that AMCAS deleted the

data. If deleted, the information is also formatted with a strikeout line. A tool tip appears for all

AMCAS-modified data so schools can see the original information entered by the applicant.

Generating the Pre-Requisite GPA Report

This report calculates a GPA for courses on the Academic Record that you mark as meeting pre-

requisites for your program. It displays the applicant’s Pre-requisite, Elective (not a pre-requisite), and

Total GPA scores for each academic status.

To generate the Pre-requisite GPA Report:

1. Find and display the applicant on the screen.

2. In the Courses sub-tab, mark the Pre-requisite courses by selecting the appropriate

checkboxes.

3. Click the Prereq GPA button. The report opens in a new Acrobat Reader window.

GPA/MCAT Sub-Tab This tab displays the applicant’s GPAs, hours, MCAT scores, and other applicant-reported test scores.

The Other applicant-reported test scores are not verified by AMCAS.

GPA Information

BCPM information applies to Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math courses for each academic status.

All courses outside of these categories are classified as All Other (AO).

Supplemental hours are the number of semester hours that were not included in the Total GPA.

Examples of credits that fall into the supplemental hours category are Pass/Fail, AP or CLEP credits.

MCAT Scores Starting in 2003, all MCAT scores are automatically released to AMCAS. The MCAT scores are broken

down by Total with WS and Total without WS. Scores are also broken down by each section of the

MCAT. For MCAT scores prior to 2003, the applicant must have released the scores to AMCAS in

order for them to display. Starting in 2013, applicants no longer have a WS section or score.

The Total MCATs Taken field displays the total number of scored MCAT exams since 1991. The Next

MCAT Date field shows the next date on which the applicant is expected to take the MCAT, if

applicable.



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Other Applicant-Reported Test Scores The information displayed includes Test Name (such as the GRE or LSAT), Subject, Scores, and Test

Date. These scores are not verified by AMCAS.

Printing Applications

To print applications, first select an applicant or a group of applicants and then select Print applications

for from the Perform Group Action drop-down list. The application data will print in the order specified

in the AP Setup by your system administrator. If you select ten or more applications to print they will

post to your AAMC File Server space.

If your search or filter returns more than 10 applicants, select the Show entire result option to display the

complete Applicant List in one window. Select the checkboxes for the applicants you wish to include in

the group action. Click Constrain to condense your search results to only the selected applicants. This

may help you to confirm that you have selected the correct applicants. To select all of the applicants,

click Select All.

Printing within an Applicant’s Application You can also print from Summary Sub-Tab when viewing an applicant’s individual application.

To print an applicant’s individual application:

1. Search for desired applicant with criteria from the School Tools Search function.

2. Select applicant you wish to view and from the summary sub-tab, click Print:

3. A pop-up window will be available to edit and choose which sections of the application you

wish to print. Click Print to generate a printable PDF of the application.

Actions Tab and Sub-Tab

The Actions tab displays the applicant's current application status, current admission action, and a

transaction history for all previous application statuses and admission actions.

The Actions sub-tab allows you to assign application statuses and admission actions for individual

applicants. This tab also displays a transaction history of application statuses and admission actions for

an individual applicant.

Set Application Status You can assign preliminary application statuses such as “secondary application received” or

“evaluations missing” based on the information you have received. Applicant statuses can be assigned to

a single applicant or a group of applicants. The application status drop-down lists are customizable in

AP Setup. See Section 6 for instructions on how to set an Application Status.

Set Admission Action This area allows you to enter, view, and change admission actions. As with application statuses, you can

customize the admission action drop-down lists in AP Setup. See Section 6 for instructions on how to set

an Admission Action.

Set File Status



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This user-initiated field allows you to mark an applicant’s file as complete.

Set Alternate List Background Check Status This checkbox allows schools who are participating in the AAMC CBC service to initiate criminal

background checks on alternate list applicants and is only available after May 15th.

Transaction History The Transaction History displays two kinds of changes: the changes AMCAS makes to an application

record and the application status or admission action changes schools make to an applicant record. When

changes are made, the AP stores the date of change, the AP User ID for the person who made the

change, and a transaction description of the change.

Comment & Email History Sub-tab

This tab displays all school comments entered for an applicant, as well as an email history log.

All Comments Use this area to view, edit, and delete all comments associated with the applicant record. For each

comment, the system displays the date the comment was created, the user who created it, and the tab on

which the comment was entered. To enter a new comment, click Enter New Comment.

Email History This area displays the date, user name, and subject of each email sent to the applicant from within the

system. Clicking the subject line of an email will display the full text of the message.

Deadline History Sub-Tab This page displays an applicant's AMCAS application and transcript deadline extension history, if

applicable, in chronological order by the extension date. For each extension, the system displays the date

the extension was made, the user who extended it, and current AMCAS application and transcript

deadlines.



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Working with Optional and School-Defined Data

During AP Setup, you can choose to activate up to five optional tabs: a Letters tab, an Interview tab, and

three school-defined tabs. School-defined tabs can include custom fields for storing school-specific data.

You may choose to use all, some, or none of these optional tabs.

AMCAS Letters Service

AMCAS accepts Letters of Evaluation for participating medical schools. This service enables medical

schools to receive all letters electronically via AMCAS, and enables letter writers to send all letters to

AMCAS rather than to each school.

AMCAS:

Collects all letters of evaluation on behalf of participating medical schools.

Makes letters available to medical schools in PDF format.

Accepts letters submitted through:

o AMCAS Letter Writer Application (free)

o Interfolio

o U.S. Mail

o VirtualEvals (NAAHP members only)

Schools participating in the AMCAS Letters service agree to:

Accept all letters provided via AMCAS, regardless of the program to which the applicant has

applied. We ask that you ensure this solution works for all of your programs prior to signing up

as this service is provided to the school and is not available for only individual programs within

the school.

Create and/or maintain a web page that details your letter requirements, and provide the URL of

this page to AMCAS. AMCAS, in turn, will provide the URL to applicants in the AMCAS

application.

AMCAS makes letters available to medical schools in the following ways:

Admissions Processing (AP) software:

View or download letters within an individual applicant’s record or print letters as a component

of the print application function.

Delivery to your schools AAMC File Server space:

Schedule batch delivery of letters of evaluation to the AAMC File Server; similar to the transfer

of DADF and TAMF flat files.

School Tools Document Download:

Download and or view letters of evaluation under the Data Transfer, Documents tab.

Filter for applicants using AMCAS Letter criteria:

Use the AP Filter sub-tab to search for applicants using the following criteria:

o All Letters Received (Yes or No)

o AMCAS Letters Received (Yes or No)



46

o Total Evaluation Score

o Original Receipt Date

For detailed instructions on creating filters and advanced filters, see Section 3.

Use the AP Advanced Filter sub-tab to search using multiple search criteria, including (but not

limited to):

o AMCAS Letter Type (Individual, Committee, or Packet)

o Current Receipt Date

o Distributor (VirtualEvals, Interfolio, AMCAS Paper, or Letter Writer Application)

o Primary Author/Contact

Using the Letters Tab

If activated during AP Setup, the Letters tab allows schools to view, upload, and display multiple letters

of evaluation for each applicant. It consists of two sections, AMCAS Letters and Non-AMCAS

Received Letters.

Schools NOT participating in the AMCAS Letters Service do not have access to this section.

Letter Receipts The AMCAS Letters Received field displays whether or not ALL AMCAS Letters have been received

by AMCAS and made available to the school.

The Letters Received/Completed checkbox is user-initiated and is designed for use by schools who

accept letters outside of the AMCAS Letters service to indicate if “All” letters have been received.

Committee/Letter Packet/Individual Letter Applicants can define letter entries as either a committee letter, a letter packet, or an individual letter.

Committee Letter A committee letter is a letter authored by a pre-health committee or pre-health advisor and

intended to represent your institution's evaluation of you. A committee letter may or may not

include additional letters written in support of your application.

Letter Packet A packet or set of letters assembled and distributed by your institution, often by the institutions

career center. A Letter Packet may include a cover sheet from your pre-health committee or

advisor; however, in contrast to a Committee Letter, a Letter Packet does not include an

evaluative letter from your pre-health committee or advisor.

Individual Letter An individual letter refers to a letter authored by, and representing, a single letter writer. If you

have already included an individual letter within either a committee letter or a letter packet, you

should not add a separate entry for the individual letter.

Receipt Dates The Original Receipt Date field displays the date that the original letter of evaluation was received by

AMCAS. The Current Receipt Date field displays the date of the most recent letter receipt for a



47

particular letter entry. The current receipt date and original receipt date will be identical if only the

original letter version is received.

Letter Subject Type Use this option to classify the AMCAS letter. The options are: Science, Non-Science, Combine

Science/Non-Science, and Other.

Scores The Score field can be used to record a score for the letter of evaluation. This score can be a total or an

average. The Total Evaluation Score shows the total score for all evaluations.

Viewing Letters The View AMCAS Letters button allows schools to view the corresponding AMCAS Letter image in

PDF format. The button will remain grayed out for a letter entry until the actual letter is received by

AMCAS.

The View Letter History button allows schools to view the receipt date history for a letter entry. The

View All AMCAS Letters button allows schools to view All AMCAS Letters available for the applicant.

This option is only available when all identified AMCAS Letters have been received.

Non-AMCAS Received Letters In order to view Non-AMCAS Received Letters, you must have access to the shared storage location on

which they are house from the computer you are using.

Loading Letter of Evaluation Images To load a scanned image of a letter of evaluation not delivered by AMCAS, scan and save it in an

electronic file format. In order to load images, you must have access to the shared storage location

specified in AP setup.

To load a Letter of Evaluation image:

1. Save the applicant’s letter of evaluation to the shared storage location specified in AP Setup.

2. Find and display the applicant on the screen and click the Letters tab.

3. Click Add and complete the information in the pop-up window. Click Add, then Choose File.

4. Select the desired file (in the folder specified in AP Setup), click Add, then click Save.

5. Alternatively, you can add more images to an existing file by clicking Upload Images and

following steps 3 and 4.

6. To view a letter, click View Evaluation and copy the path displayed. Paste the path into a

new browser tab or window and press Enter.

To delete a Letter of evaluation image, click View Evaluation in the Letters tab which will display the

Scanned Documents List window. Click delete next to the file to be deleted.

Printing AMCAS Letters of Evaluation To include AMCAS letters when printing applications:

1. In the AP Setup tab click on the Printing tab and select the Default Sections sub-tab



48

2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and check the “View AMCAS Letters” box and click Save.

Using the Interview Tab

After an interview has taken place, notes, scores, and non-cognitive variable scores can be entered on

the Interview tab if it is enabled in AP Setup. For each entry you or the interviewer may select their

name from the interviewer drop-down list. This list is defined in the School Tools Security tab. Refer to

Section 2 for details on adding interviewers.

Adding Interview Notes After an interview has been conducted, interviewer notes and scores can be entered for the applicant.

To add Interview Notes:

1. Find and display the applicant on the screen and click the Interview tab.

2. Click the Add button and select an Interviewer Name and Interview Date/Time from the

appropriate drop-down lists.

3. Enter the Interview Score, Non-Cognitive Variables, load a scanned image if desired, and

any comments about the applicant. Click Save.

To load an Interview Note image:

1. Scan and save the applicant’s interview notes to the shared storage location specified in AP

Setup by your system administrator.

2. Find and display the applicant on the screen and click the Interview tab.

3. Click Add. In the Scanned Documents box, click Add, then click Load Scanned Images on an

Existing Entry.

4. Click Browse to view the shared storage location and select a scanned file.

5. Click Open and add the file to the Images to be uploaded list. Click OK.

6. Add information for Name, Interview Date/Time, and Interview Score, then click Save.

7. To view interview notes, click View Image and copy the path displayed. Paste the path into a

new browser tab or window and press Enter.

Using the Custom Tab

During AP Setup, you can choose to activate up to three school-defined tabs, see Section 2 for reference.

School-defined tabs appear as sub-tabs under the AP Custom tab. Each school-defined tab can include

custom fields for storing school-specific data.

The Custom tab data that is created on the school-defined tabs is only stored locally in the schools Local

Database. AMCAS cannot restore this data if lost. Therefore, we recommend that you periodically back-

up your database.



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Updating Applicant Information

This section explores features that can be applied to individual applicants or groups of applicants, such

as setting group actions, setting application statuses, and setting deadline extensions.

Editing and Saving Data

Most of the information displayed in the AP is taken directly from the official AMCAS application and

cannot be altered. There are, however, some functions that allow users to update information. These

functions include modifying school-defined contact information, inserting comments into an applicant

record, and setting application statuses. When one of these functions is performed, the applicant record

is modified, and can be permanently saved using the save changes button.

Setting Application Statuses

As applications are received, you can assign application statuses, such as “Secondary Application

Received” or “Interview(s) Scheduled”. Applicant statuses can be assigned individually or collectively

to a selected group of applicants using the Group Actions feature of the system.

Below are the standard application statuses provided by AMCAS. Through AP Setup, you can

customize the list of application statuses. See Section 2 for instructions on customizing application

statuses in AP Setup.

AMCAS Provided Application Statuses:

No Status (Initial default status)

Secondary Application Requested

Secondary Application Received

Secondary Application Reviewed - Complete

Secondary Application reviewed - Missing

Evaluations(s)/Recommendation(s) - Requested

Evaluations(s)/Recommendation(s) - Received

Evaluations(s)/Recommendation(s) – Missing Info

Evaluations(s)/Recommendation(s) - Complete

Preliminary Screening Completed

Interview(s) Scheduled

Interview(s) Confirmed

Interview(s) Completed

Interview(s) - Interviewer Noted Requested

Interview(s) - Interviewer Notes Completed

Admissions Committee Review Scheduled

Admissions Committee Review - Committee Notes Req.

Admissions Committee Review - Committee Notes Comp

Admissions Committee Review Completed



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To set an Application Status(s):

1. Find and display the applicant or use the Search of Filter functions to display a group of

applicants. To select a group, check the corresponding box for each applicant who you wish

to include.

2. Click the Actions tab. Ensure the Actions sub-tab is selected.

3. Select the appropriate status from the Set Application Status drop-down list.

4. Click the Calendar icon and select the status date and time and click Save Changes.

The application status and the current date are automatically entered into the Transaction

History log.

The current application status is displayed in the Primary Applicant Information area of

each tab.

Assigning Applicants to Interviewers or Committee Members

The Group Actions feature of the system allows you to assign an interviewer or committee member to

multiple applicants based on the current search or filter.

To assign an Interviewer to an individual applicant or a group of applicants:

1. Find and display a group of applicants by using the Search or Filter function.

2. Check the corresponding box for each applicant to be included in the group action.

3. Select Assign Interviewer(s) or Assign Committee Member(s) from the Perform Group

Action drop-down list.

4. Select an interviewer from the Interviewer drop-down list or a committee member from the

Committee Member drop-down list. Only users that have been identified as an interviewer or

a committee member on the School Tools Security tab will appear in the drop down list, see

Section 2 for adding interviewers and setting permissions.

5. Click Save and OK. If the interviewer or committee member has restricted access, he/she will

only be able to view those students assigned to him/her.

Setting Admission Actions

Assign an admission action for an applicant or a group of applicants such as “accepted” or “rejected/not

accepted” through the AP. Admission actions can be assigned individually or collectively to a selected

group of applicants who have completed AMCAS processing and have met your specified AMCAS

deadlines.

Actions given must meet the AMCAS dependency rules. For a brief description of each action and the

AMCAS dependency rules, see Appendix C. Only the specified AMCAS-defined admission actions are

considered final actions. Medical Schools should also be aware that admissions actions are provided to

Pre-Health Advisors via the AMCAS Advisor Information Service provided the applicant has authorized

the release of the data.

AMCAS Admissions Actions and Codes Accepted (AC)*

Alternate List (AL)*

Defer to Regular Pool (DR)



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Defer to Future Class*

Hold for Information (HO)*

Matriculated (MA)*

No Action (NA) – Initial default action only

Passive Withdrawal (PW)*

Other (OT) - Custom school-defined action*

Preliminary Rejection (PR)*

Rejected (RJ)*

Withdrawn After Acceptance (WA)

Withdrawn Before Acceptance (WB)

Rescinded Acceptance (RA)*

Early Matriculation (EM)*

Interview (IN)*

Request Secondary (RS)*

*Provided to Pre-health Advisors with access to the Advisor Information System (AIS)

following a two week delay, all others provided in near real time.

Setting Admission Actions:

1. Find and select the applicant or select a group of applicants by using a Search or Filter and

checking the corresponding box for each applicant to be included in the group.

2. Click the Actions tab and select the appropriate action from the Set Admission Action drop-

down list.

3. Click the Calendar button and select the action date and click Save Changes. Program is

required for Accepted and Matriculated actions.



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AAMC-facilitated Criminal Background Check Service (CBC)

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recommends that all US medical schools

procure a national background check on applicants upon their initial, conditional acceptance to medical

school. The rationale for performing criminal background checks on accepted medical school applicants

is based on a number of issues, including the need to enhance the safety and well-being of patients and,

in so doing, to bolster the public's continuing trust in the medical profession, and to ascertain the ability

of accepted applicants to eventually become licensed physicians.

In June 2006, the AAMC approved the recommendations and best practices developed by the AAMC

Criminal Background Check Advisory Committee.

In 2007, after careful consideration, the AAMC contracted with Certiphi Screening, Inc. to conduct the

Criminal Background Checks on accepted applicants. A pilot was conducted during the 2008 and 2009

AMCAS application cycles. Beginning with the 2010 application cycle, the CBC Implementation

Advisory Committee approved the AAMC facilitated CBC service for all member medical schools that

choose to participate.

Participating in the Criminal Background Check Service

In December of each year AMCAS will invite medical schools to participate in the centralized CBC

Service for the upcoming application cycle. To enroll in this service, the medical school must first sign a

service agreement with Certiphi Screening, Inc. To ensure adequate communication with prospective

applicants and to prepare the AMCAS application, AMCAS will require service agreements to be signed

by April 15 for each application cycle. A template of the CBC agreement can be found on the AAMC

Admissions Hub (www.aamc.org/admissions). Your legal team can work with Certiphi Screening, Inc.

to modify this template prior to signing.

Currently, fees associated with the AAMC Facilitated Criminal Background Checks are included in

AMCAS application fees.

The medical school contact at Certiphi Screening, Inc is:

Suzi Arant

Business Developer

Phone 888-260-1370, ext 2012

Fax 856-446-2685

Email [email protected]

See Appendix J for a list of State-Specific Notifications of Criminal Background Checks. See the

AMCAS for Admissions Officers site for full details on the AAMC-facilitated Criminal Background

Check Service.

Initiating Background Checks on Accepted Applicants

Criminal background checks will be conducted for applicants reported as accepted (AC action) by CBC

participating schools. Participating schools initiate this process by submitting the Accepted (AC) action


mailto:[email protected]



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to AMCAS via School Tools/AP, direct insertion into local database, or via the Admission Action

Upload Utility (AAUU).

Applicants for which you have submitted an Accepted (AC) action will automatically be sent to

Certiphi through AMCAS:

o Early Decision Program acceptances – at the time of action submission

o All Other Applicants – after January 1st

You do not need to take any additional action on your accepted applicants as they will

automatically be sent to Certiphi at the appropriate time, however you should be cognizant of the

fact that Certiphi will contact the applicant with an AC as soon as the action is received (after

January 1st for all but EDP applicants). You should be sure to provide timely notification of

acceptance to your applicants.

Setting Alternate List Background Checks

Beginning on May 15th of the matriculation year, participating medical schools can request CBCs on a

subset of their alternate list applicants (AL action). The size of this subset should be no more than 50%

of the size of the school’s entering class. You will then be able to view this report once the AC action is

submitted.

Setting CBC Requests for Alternate List Applicants via the AP Tab:

1. Find and select the applicant.

2. Click the Actions tab and check the Perform Alternate List Background Checkbox. Click

Save Changes.

Alternate list CBC requests can also be set using the School Tools AAUU Tool or via direct insertion

into a school’s local AMCAS database. See Appendix I for the direct insertion specifications.

Using the Admission Action Upload Utility (AAUU)

Schools may submit admission actions and CBC requests for alternate list applicants via a text file

uploaded to AMCAS using this utility. See Appendix F for the AAUU Text Action File Specifications.

See Appendix G for the AAUU Text CBC Request Specifications.

To submit Admissions Actions via the AAUU:

1. On the School Tools homepage, click the AAUU tab.

2. Select the application year (entering class) that this file represents.

3. Click Browse to locate an action or CBC request file to upload, select a file and click Next.

Any errors in the file will be indicated in the Validation Results screen.

4. Actions or CBC requests will be uploaded and a receipt will appear on screen.

5. You have the option to Download Receipt or to click Finish to return to the AAUU screen.



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Sending Email Messages

The system allows you to send email messages to individual applicants or groups of applicants. When

emailing a group, the recipients will not be able to see the names and addresses of the other individuals

included in the email. The From address is the one you listed in the AP Setup tab.

To send Email to an individual or a group of applicants:

1. Search for a group of applicants using the Search, Filter, or Advanced Filter function.

2. Check the corresponding box for each applicant to be included in the group action.

3. Select Email from the Perform Group Action drop-down list.

4. Enter any CC recipients.

It may be a good idea to send a carbon copy to your school in order to maintain a record

of what was sent, when it was sent, and to whom it was sent. You may also want to

establish standardized subject lines to easily identify the nature of the communication.

Each email you send will also be available on the Comment & Email History sub-tab in

each applicant’s record.

To use a pre-defined Email template, select the template from the Saved Email drop-

down list. The system will replace the Subject and Message fields with the template text.

5. Enter a subject and a message of up to 4,000 characters. Click Send.

Granting Applicant Pre-Approvals

The Applicant Pre-approval Tab within the AP allows you to make specific programs available to

selected applicants, such as BA/MD, Deferred/Delayed, and Early Assurance. The AMCAS web

application will automatically apply special program pre-approval restrictions according to the response

provided by each school in the annual AMCAS Medical School Reference Information.

To grant a Pre-Approval:

1. Under the AP Search tab, click on Applicant Pre-approval sub-tab.

2. Select the applicable Pre-approval Year, click Submit, and then click the Add button.

3. Enter up to 5 AAMC IDs, separated by commas.

4. Select applicable Program Type from the drop-down menu and click Continue.

5. In validation window, check the box next to each entry you want to submit.

6. Once the pre-approval(s) is submitted you will be taken back to the Applicant Pre-approval

list where you may add more applicants.

Setting Deadline Extensions

The AMCAS application and official transcripts must be received by your specified deadline dates.

During the year, application and transcript deadline dates may be modified for specific programs, for

individual applicants, or groups of applicants.

You must contact AMCAS Medical School Relations to request a change to one or more of your

program deadlines.



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Extending Deadlines for Existing Applicants

You can extend deadlines to an individual or group of applicants who have already applied to your

school by performing a group action.

To extend deadlines for an applicant or a group of existing applicants:

1. Search for a group of applicants using a Search, Filter, or Advanced Filter and check the

corresponding box for each applicant to be included in the group action. Find an individual

applicant by searching for their AAMC ID number.

2. Select Extend deadline for from the Perform Group Action drop-down list.

3. Select the School Program for which the deadline date will be extended and modify the

Application and/or Transcript deadline dates by clicking the calendar. Click Save Changes.

4. To revert back to the previous deadlines, click Revert and then select the correct deadline

from the Revert Deadline Extension window. Click Set to save the reversion.

Running GPA and MCAT Comparison Reports

The GPA and MCAT Compare buttons display GPA Comparisons and MCAT Comparisons between

the selected applicant(s) and other groups of applicants. After June 1 of each year, you can view GPA

and MCAT information on your current applicant pool, the current national applicant pool, your

school’s accepted applicant pool from the previous year, and your school’s matriculants from the

previous year.

To run a GPA/MCAT Comparison Report:

1. Select an applicant or a group of applicants using the Search or Filter function. Check the

corresponding box for each applicant to be included in the group action.

2. Select either Run GPA comparison report for or Run MCAT comparison report for from the

Perform Group Action drop-down list.

3. Click Go to display the Multiple GPA Comparison window or the Multiple MCAT

Comparison window.

Exporting Mailing Label Data

The Mail Merge Tool exports name and address information into a delimited text file that can then be

opened in a word processing application and used as the data source for a mail merge. The file can also

be opened in other applications that accept text files, such as Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access.

To generate a Name and Address File:

1. Select an applicant or a group of applicants using the Search or Filter function. Check the

corresponding box for each applicant to be included in the group action.

2. If your search or filter returns more than 10 applicants, select the Show entire result option to

display the complete Applicant List in one window. Select the checkboxes for the applicants

you wish to include in the group action. Click the Constrain button to condense your search

results to only the selected applicants. This may help you to confirm that you have selected

the correct applicants. To select all of the applicants, click Select All.

3. Select Mail Merge Tool from the Perform Group Action drop-down list. Click Go and select

the Save this file to disk option.



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The applicants’ preferred names and addresses will be exported into a text file. This file can be opened

in any word processing program or any other program (e.g., Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access) that

can accept text files. Most word processing programs can perform mail merges directly using a text file.

If you would prefer to use something other than the applicants’ preferred names and addresses, you must

create an advanced filter and use the export feature found there.



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Reports

A number of School and National reports are made available to AMCAS and Non-AMCAS medical

schools via the School Tools Software and publicly through the AAMC's FACTS page

(www.aamc.org/facts).

AAMC Reports Available to the Public

Comprehensive year-end data is available on the AAMC's FACTS: Information on Applicants,

Matriculates, Graduates, and Residency Applicants Data page. The AAMC FACTS tables comprise the

most comprehensive and objective data on U.S. medical school applicants, matriculates, enrollment,

graduates, Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) applicants, and M.D.-Ph.D. students

available to the public free of charge.

Unlike AMCAS Reports, which are designed to provide data during the admissions process and often

contain only AMCAS-specific data, FACTS represents year-end data for both AMCAS-participating

schools and those schools that do not participate in AMCAS.

AMCAS Reports Available Through School Tools Software

School and National level reports are accessible via the homepage ('Reports' tab) of the School Tools

software. Access to these reports is dependent on your security permissions.

A description of all available reports can be found on the Admissions Hub: www.aamc.org/admissions.

Generating AMCAS School and National Reports

All reports are in PDF format, therefore, each user that is expected to view or print reports will need

Adobe Reader installed on his/her computer. To generate any report, click on the report you wish to

view and select the Application Year. Select Export to generate a pipe-delimited text file which you can

save or open on your computer, or select Generate Report to create a printable PDF of the data.

http://www.aamc.org/facts




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Appendices

Appendix A: Course Classifications

Appendix B: Course Types

Appendix C: AMCAS Admission Actions

Appendix D: BCPM and Other GPAs

Appendix E: Rural/Urban Continuum

Appendix F: Submitting Actions via the AAUU

Appendix G: Submitting Alternate List CBC Requests via the AAUU

Appendix H: Determination of Primary Undergraduate School

Appendix I: Submitting Alternate List CBC Requests via direct insertion

Appendix J: State-Specific Notifications Regarding Criminal Background Checks

Appendix K: AMCAS Data Retention Policy



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Appendix A: Course Classifications

Applicants are provided the following instructions in regard to classifying their coursework in their

AMCAS application:

Please select course classifications based on the primary content of the course. In the case of

interdisciplinary courses, where two or more subject matters are combined into one course, refer to the

description of the course on your school's web site or consult with your Pre-health Advisor to choose the

most appropriate course classification.

BCPM Courses:

Biology (BIOL)

Anatomy

Biology

Biophysics

Biotechnology

Botany

Cell Biology

Ecology

Entomology

Genetics

Histology

Immunology

Microbiology

Molecular Biology

Neuroscience

Physiology

Zoology

Chemistry (CHEM) Biochemistry

Chemistry

Physical Chemistry

Thermodynamics

Physics (PHYS) Astronomy

Physics

Mathematics (MATH)

Applied Mathematics

Biostatistics

Mathematics

Statistics

All Other Courses:

Behavioral & Social

Sciences (BESS)

Anthropology

Economics

Family Studies

Psychology

Sociology

Business (BUSI) Accounting

Finance

Human Resources Studies

Management

Marketing

Organizational Studies

Communications

(COMM) Journalism

Media Production & Studies

TV, Video & Audio

Computer Science &

Technology (COMP)

Computer Science

Computer Engineering

Information Systems

Telecommunications

Education (EDUC)

Counseling & Personnel

Services

Curriculum & Instruction

Educational Administration

Educational Policy

Health Education

Human Development

Physical Education (Except for

sports courses.)

Special Education

Engineering (ENGI)

Aerospace Engineering

Biomedical Engineering

Chemical Engineering

Civil Engineering

Electrical Engineering

Environmental Engineering

Nuclear Engineering

English Language &

Literature (ENGL)

Composition & Rhetoric

Creative Writing

Literature

Fine Arts (ARTS) Art

Art History

Dance

Fine Arts

Music

Photography

Theatre

Foreign Languages,

Linguistics, & Literature

(FLAN) American Sign Language

Comparative Literature

Foreign Language(s) &

Literature

Linguistics

Government, Political

Science, & Law (GOVT)

Criminology & Criminal

Justice

Government

International Relations &

Studies

Law/Legal Studies

Political Science

Public Affairs & Policy

Urban Policy & Planning

Health Sciences (HEAL)

Allied Health

Chiropractic

Dentistry

Hearing & Speech Studies

Hospital Administration

Kinesiology

Nursing

Nutrition

Occupational Therapy

Optometry

Osteopathy

Physical Therapy

Physician Assistant

Public Health

Pharmacology & Pharmacy

Sports Medicine

Veterinary Medicine

History (HIST)

History

Natural & Physical

Sciences (NPSC) Agriculture

Animal & Avian Sciences

Environmental Science &

Policy Forestry

Geography

Geology

Horticulture

Landscape Architecture

Meteorology

Natural Resources

Oceanography

Other (OTHR) (All courses that do not fit

appropriately in another

classification)

Architecture

Library Science

Military Science

Sports (tennis, golf, aerobics,

etc.)

Philosophy & Religion

(PHIL) Ethics

Logic

Philosophy

Religion

Theology

Special Studies (SSTU) Afro-American Studies

American Studies

Gender Studies



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Appendix B: Special Course Types

Advanced Placement (AP)

Applicants can earn AP credit by completing an AP course. If the following course types appear on their

official transcript, they should be indicated as AP on the AMCAS application even if they technically

are not Advanced Placement:

ACE/ACT

Bypass Credit

CEEB

Credit by Exam

Departmental Exam

Equivalency Exam

Experimental Learning

French Baccalaureate

Life Experience

Placement Exam

Prior Learning

Proficiency Exam

Retroactive Credit

Special Credit

Test Out

Validation Credit

Audit (AU)

Audit refers to any course the applicant attended without attempting to earn credit, either formally or

informally. If the applicant officially registered for the course, it is usually listed on the transcript with a

special symbol or notation. No credit hours or AMCAS grade will be assigned.

CLEP (CL)

An applicant can earn CLEP credit by passing an examination offered by the College Level Examination

Program (CLEP), or through USAFI/DANTES. To claim credit in the CLEP category, the credit hours

must be listed on the applicant’s transcript.

The applicant can list a CLEP credit only once, even though credit may have been awarded by more

than one institution. This transferred credit can be credited to the institution granting the most CLEP

credit, but it cannot be credited to all the schools that may have accepted the credit.

Current/Future (CC)

The applicant can use this Special Course Type designation for any courses they are currently taking or

expect to take before entering medical school. Listing these courses is especially important if the

applicant has not yet completed medical school prerequisites. No AMCAS grade will be assigned.

These entries are not binding or required but are intended to give the medical schools an indication of

what courses an applicant expects to complete before matriculation. Current/Future courses do not have



61

to appear on a transcript to be entered in Course Work. AMCAS will not add, remove, or modify

Current/Future courses after the application is submitted.

If Current/Future grades are entered on the application but not listed on the official transcript at the time

of verification, they will not be included in the AMCAS GPAs. Conversely, if applicants do not enter

grades, but at the time of verification appear on the official transcript on file at AMCAS, they will be

included in the AMCAS GPAs.

Deferred Grade (DG)

Deferred Grade should be selected for any single course that officially takes more than one term to

complete before the final grade and credit hours are awarded (e.g., research, thesis, and dissertation

credits). Deferred Grade coursework is not the same as Repeat, Incomplete, or sequential levels of a

subject (e.g., Spanish I, Spanish II, etc.) with final grades awarded at each level.

If a final grade has not been awarded, the applicant should make a separate entry for each academic

term:

The applicant should use Deferred Grade for each entry for which there is no final grade.

No AMCAS grade will be assigned.

The applicant should not use the Deferred Grade type for the entry that includes the final

grade.

Exempt (EX)

The applicant should indicate Exempt for courses that were completed but were not awarded credit

hours. No credit hours or AMCAS grade will be assigned. Exempt courses may include any course that

the applicant was not required to complete because he/she had:

Previously completed courses,

Employment experience, or

Passed a departmental exam.

Honors (H)

This course type refers to any course attempted through an honors program or section.

Incomplete (I)

A course is considered incomplete if the work required for it was not completed within the appropriate

time limit. If the Incomplete is unresolved, no AMCAS grade will be assigned; however, if the

Incomplete is resolved, an AMCAS grade must be assigned. The applicant should select Incomplete

even if:

A grade has been ultimately assigned, or

There is no notation indicating incomplete on the official transcript.

Many schools will assign an "IF" or "F" grade if the coursework is not completed within a given time

limit. If attempted credit hours are listed on the official transcript or can be determined by AMCAS, this

"F" will be included in the applicant’s AMCAS GPAs.

International Baccalaureate (IB)



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To claim IB credit, the credit hours must be listed on the applicant’s transcript. The applicant should

include IB credit courses only once (indicating IB under Special Course Types), even though IB credit

for the same subject may have been awarded by more than one institution. IB courses can be assigned

under the institution awarding the most credit, but they cannot be listed under all the institutions that

may have awarded credit. IB credit should be entered under the first term in which the college credit was

initially granted. If no term is designated, the applicant should include it with freshman (FR)

coursework.

If the transcript from the college awarding IB credit does not list actual course names, the applicant

should enter the subject area for which credit has been earned (e.g., IB Credit: English) as the Course

Name.

Military Credit

This refers to any course attempted for which an applicant received credit from the United States

Military. This course type should only appear for courses in which a non-alpha grade was received (i.e.,

Pass/Fail grades or credit awarded).

No Record (NR)

The applicant should assign No Record to any course for which no final grade is available because of an

administrative problem or delay at the school. No AMCAS grade will be assigned.

Pass/Fail (PF)

Pass/Fail courses are those that are attempted under a Pass/Fail system that allows no more than two (2)

passing grades and one (1) failing grade (e.g., Credit/No Credit, Pass/Fail, Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory,

High Pass/Pass/Fail, etc.).

Pass/Fail courses attempted under a Pass/Fail system that allows three (3) or more passing grades (e.g.

High Pass/Pass/Low Pass/Fail) will be treated as a regular Pass/Fail course unless the applicant’s school

provides alpha letter grade conversion (e.g., A, B, C, etc.).

Repeat (R)

This selection applies to any course attempted more than once, unless the final grade initially received

was Withdrawal or Incomplete.

A course entry must be made for each completed attempt of a repeated course, even if any mention of

enrollment in the course has been removed from the transcript. In order to comply with the needs of the

medical schools, AMCAS includes all attempts of repeated courses in GPA calculations, even if they are

not included in the school's GPA calculations.

The applicant should not select Repeat for courses designed to be repeated (e.g., Independent Study,

Thesis, Chorus, etc).

If the applicant’s school has an academic forgiveness policy and subsequently replaces the original

grade received with a special transcript symbol, the original grade must be entered on the applicant’s

AMCAS application, regardless of whether it appears on the official transcript. If the original grade is

not entered, AMCAS will return the application to the applicant to enter the original grade, which may

cause the applicant to miss application deadlines and forfeit fees.



63

If you do not list all of your attempts in a given course, AMCAS will return your application which

could lead to forfeited fees, processing delays, and missed application deadlines.

Withdrawal (W)

A Withdrawal includes any course from which the applicant officially withdrew, regardless of whether

the applicant was passing or failing at the time. Such courses usually appear on the transcript as a "W"

or equivalent symbol. A course entry must be made even if the withdrawn course does not appear on the

transcript. No credit hours or AMCAS grade will be assigned.

A course entry should not be made if the course was dropped within the normal drop/add period.

If an applicant withdrew entirely from a school before completing courses for a specific term, the

applicant must still list each course for which he/she was registered that term with Withdrawal as the

Special Course Type. If the school does not issue transcripts for students who withdraw entirely, the

applicant must request that the registrar's office forward an official letter (with an AMCAS Transcript

Request Form attached) indicating that no transcript is available because of institutional policies.

If the applicant made an unofficial or administrative withdrawal, those courses will be included in

AMCAS GPAs if the applicant’s school included it in its GPA.



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Appendix C: AMCAS Admission Actions

*AMCAS Final Action

Admissions Action Codes and Dependency Rules Admissions Action Descriptions

No Action (NA)

Can be preceded by: None

This action appears on every record when schools first receive the

application. If this action is set, all other actions are available for

use in the drop-down list.

*Preliminary Rejection (PR)

Can be preceded by: NA, DR, HO, AL, OT

This action is used when an applicant is rejected based on an

initial application review. For example, a state medical school

that does not consider out-of-state applicants should use

Preliminary Rejection for an applicant rejected immediately

because s/he does not meet residency requirements based on the

information provided to AMCAS.

This category allows schools to separate reports based on those

applications immediately rejected as opposed to those rejected

after committee review. This action is considered final and, as

such, no other actions will be available for use in the drop-down

list if this action has been assigned to an applicant.

*Rejected / Not Accepted (RJ)


This action should be used when an applicant is rejected

following Admissions Committee review. This action is

considered final and, as such, no other actions will be available

for use in the drop-down list if this action has been assigned to an

applicant.

Hold for Information (HO)

Can be preceded by: NA, DR, AL, OT

This action may be used for applicants still under consideration

but for whom additional information or review may be necessary.

If this action has been assigned to an applicant, Preliminary

Rejection will not be available in the drop-down list.

Alternate List (AL)

Can be preceded by: NA, DR, HO, OT

This action may be used for applicants who have been placed on a

school’s alternate list. If this action has been assigned to an

applicant, Preliminary Rejection will not be available in the drop-

down list.

*Withdrawn Before Acceptance (WB)


This action is used when an applicant notifies the medical school

of his/her intention to withdraw before the school has made any

admission decision. This action is considered final and, as such,

no other actions will be available for use in the drop-down list.

*Withdrawn after Acceptance (WA)

Can be preceded by: AC, EM, OT

This action should be used when an applicant withdraws from

consideration after having been offered an acceptance. This

action is considered final and, as such, no other actions will be

available for use in the drop-down list.



65

*Passive Withdrawal (PW)


This action should be used when an applicant withdraws from

consideration by your school by failing to meet your

requirements, such as submitting a secondary application,

secondary fees or additional documentation. AMCAS, in

consultation with individual schools, also uses this action as a

final action for those applicants that have not been assigned a final

action at the end of the application cycle.

Other (OT)

Can be preceded by: NA, DR, HO, AL, AC, OT

Custom school-defined action.

Defer to Regular Pool (DR)

Can be preceded by: AC, OT, EM

This action is used when an applicant applies for a special

program, such as early decision or combined degree, but has been

moved to the regular pool of applicants by the medical school.

When this action is specified, the following actions will be

available in the drop-down list: Matriculated, Accepted, Defer

Matriculation to Future Class, Alternate List, Rejected/Not

Accepted, Hold, Other (some or all of the school-defined actions),

and No Action.

Accepted (AC)


This action is used for any applicant to whom an official offer of

acceptance has been tendered regardless of whether they have

responded to the offer. If this action has been assigned to an

applicant, the following actions will be available in the drop-down

list: Matriculated, Withdrawn after Acceptance, Defer

Matriculation to Future Class, Hold, Other (some or all of the

school-defined actions), and No Action.

Rescinded Acceptance (RA)

Can be preceded by: AC, EM

This action should be used when an offer of Acceptance to an

applicant is taken away by a medical school for any reason. This

action was introduced in the 2010 application cycle.

Early Matriculation (EM)

Can be preceded by: AC

Early Matriculation (EM) action should be used for an applicant

who begins any published school-sponsored summer pre-

matriculation program (such as Health Careers Opportunity

Program or similar programs) that entails attendance prior to your

school’s published regular M.D. orientation date.

The EM action should be used only if there is a bilateral binding

agreement that the applicant will matriculate to your medical

school. The use of the EM action states to other medical schools

that this student will withdraw from all alternate lists and

matriculate at your medical school this year. EM admissions

actions should be changed to MA on the published orientation

start date for your school’s entire entering first year class.

The EM action should not be used if either: 1) you allow summer

students to remain on other schools’ alternate lists (and opt out of

attendance prior to your published regular M.D. orientation date)



66

or 2) your summer program is probationary in nature (i.e. a

student not performing well will not be allowed to matriculate to

your school in that same year).

If you wish to use the EM action, please be sure to report your

starting date for your early matriculation program to AMCAS via

the Medical School Reference Survey or by contacting your

school representative.

*Defer Matriculation to Future Class (DF)


This action should be used if an applicant has accepted an offer of

admission but has been granted a deferral until a future year. This

action is considered final and, as such, no other actions will be

available for use in the drop-down list.

The following year, applicants with a DF action from the previous

application year will receive an automatic pre-approval to

designate the deferred/delayed program type for the institution

where the deferral was granted. The applicant, however,

maintains the responsibility of logging into their AMCAS

application and selecting the program type deferred/delayed, at

which point they will not be required to pay an AMCAS service

fee for this school. When the school receives the record for the

applicant it will be delivered as “no status” with the program type

“deferred/delayed”.

The school may then defer the applicant again for another year,

consider the applicant “Withdrawn After Acceptance” if

something has changed about his/her deferral obligations, or

matriculate the applicant.

*Matriculated (MA)


This action must be submitted for all accepted applicants who

officially enroll and are in attendance when classes start. These

are the applicants whose information will be exported from the

AMCAS systems into the AAMC Student Records systems used

to track enrolled medical students. This action is considered final

and, as such, no other actions will be available for use in the drop-

down list.

Request Secondary (RS)

Can be preceded by: NA, OT, HO, DR, IN

Optional action which schools can use to identify the applicants

who were invited to complete a secondary application

Interview (IN)

Can be preceded by: NA, OT, HO, DR, RS

Optional action which schools can use to identify applicants who

were invited to interview



67

Appendix D: BCPM and Other GPAs

BCPM CUG

Grade point average for courses with a course classification of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or Math

and an undergraduate level academic status (high school, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, post-

baccalaureate).

BCPM PB


and a post-baccalaureate undergraduate level academic status.

BCPM GRAD


and a graduate level academic status.

AO CUG

Grade point average for All Other courses with a course classification that is not Biology, Chemistry,

Physics, or Math and an undergraduate level academic status (high school, freshman, sophomore, junior,

senior, post-baccalaureate).

AO PB


Physics, or Math and a post-baccalaureate undergraduate level academic status.

AO GRAD


Physics, or Math and a graduate level academic status.

TOTAL CUG

Grade point average for all courses, regardless of course classification, with an undergraduate level

academic status (high school, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior).

TOTAL PB

Grade point average for all courses, regardless of course classification, with a post-baccalaureate

undergraduate level academic status.

TOTAL GRAD

Grade point average for all courses, regardless of course classification, with a graduate level academic

status.



68

Appendix E: Rural/Urban Continuum

Rural field data is based on the rural urban continuum (see below) in the 2013 Areawide Resource File

(ARF). ARF data is based on census data and is updated annually to reflect changes in population

estimates. The rural urban continuum is based on a classification scheme that distinguishes metropolitan

counties by size and non-metropolitan counties by degree of urbanization or proximity to metropolitan

areas.

2013 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes

Code Description

Urban counties:

1 Counties in metro areas of 1 million population or more

2 Counties in metro areas of 250,000 to 1 million population

3 Counties in metro areas of fewer than 250,000 population

Rural counties:

4 Urban population of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area

5 Urban population of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area

6 Urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, adjacent to a metro area

7 Urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, not adjacent to a metro area

8 Completely rural or less than 2,500 urban population, adjacent to a metro area

9 Completely rural or less than 2,500 urban population, not adjacent to a metro

area



69

Appendix F: Submitting Actions via the AAUU

Schools may submit admission actions via text action file via the AAUU tab of the School Tools web

interface. This utility enables the school user to process a local text action file.

Row eligibility for AMCAS schools:

Actions may be submitted only for applications that have completed AMCAS processing AND have met

your specified AMCAS deadlines:

AP Search – ‘Verified/Processed Applications’

Local db – (APPLICANT_PERSON.appl_status_cd = 'P' AND

DESIGNATED_SCHOOL.designated_status_cd = 'A')

TAMF/DADF – existing applicant rows

Format Rules:

No BLANK lines should be included.

All entries should be for the same entering class year.

Each field within a segment must be separated by a pipe ( | ) delimiter, regardless of

whether the field is populated.

The file should contain only new submission or updates to ones previously submitted –

thus the file should only include admission action decisions that have occurred since the

last reporting date. Each update action assigned to an applicant must have a later

TIMESTAMP than the previously submitted action.

Only one (1) ADM segment (Detail Row) per medical school/application

(MED_INST_ID/AAMC_ID) combo is permitted in a file.

Actions must meet the dependency rules:

Admissions Action Code Dependency Rules

Action

Code

Old Non-AMCAS Code (for

reference only – do not use)

Action

Description

Preceded by Action Code Final

(Y/N)

HO H Hold For

Information

NA, DR, AL, OT N

PR P Preliminary

rejection

NA, DR, HO, AL, OT Y

RJ N Rejected NA, DR, HO, AL, OT Y

DR D Defer to Regular

Pool

NA, HO, AL, OT N

AC A Accepted NA, DR, HO, AL, OT N

DF None Deferred to

Future Class

AC, OT, EM Y

MA M Matriculated AC, EM, OT Y

AL None Alternate List NA, DR, HO, OT N

NA X No Action None - Initial default action

only.

N

WB B Withdrawn

Before Accepted




70

WA W Withdrawn After

Acceptance

AC, EM, OT Y

PW None Passive

Withdrawal


OT* O Other NA, DR, HO, AL, AC, OT N

RA None Rescinded

Acceptance

AC, EM Y

EM None Early

Matriculation

AC N

IN None Interview NA, OT, HO, DR, RS N

RS None Request

Secondary

NA, OT, HO, DR, IN N

*Custom School Action. Currently, flat file admission action submission method supports only 1 custom

school action (‘OT’) code. Action submission for multiple custom school actions is fully supported via

the primary system – AP web client.

Correction of previously loaded admission actions:

Sometimes it is necessary to correct an error. Should there be a need to delete/correct a previously

loaded action row, we recommend the use of the optional ‘DelRow’ column # 16. For action deletions,

please submit an action row identical to the one previously loaded in error, but with a “D” character in

the ‘DelRow’ column #16.

Please use the above procedure to correct previous actions sent in error. Please DO NOT use the ‘NA’

action for these cases.

ADM Segment (Detail Rows) columns:

DETAIL ROW

COLUMN SIZE SPECIFICS

AMCAS

Schools

Required

Field

NON-

AMCAS

Schools

Required

Field

ADM/NAA Char(03) Constant *

ADM

*

NAA

AAMC_ID Numeric(10) AAMC ID number of applicant; no leading zeros. *

Application Year Date Entering Class Year - format(YYYY) * *

School Code Char(03) Three-digit numeric medical school code * *

Last Name Varchar(55) Legal Last Name * *

First Name Varchar(55) Legal First Name * *

Middle Name Varchar(55) Middle Name

Action Code Char(02)

Required for Both: AMCAS established AA

Codes (case sensitive)

HO - HOLD FOR INFORMATION

PR - PRELIMINARY REJECTION

RJ - REJECTED

DR - DEFER TO REGULAR POOL

AC - ACCEPTED

* *



71

DF - DEFERRED TO FUTURE CLASS

MA - MATRICULATED

AL - ALTERNATE LIST

NA - NO ACTION

WB - WITHDRAWN BEFORE ACCEPTED

WA - WITHDRAWN AFTER

ACCEPTANCE

PW - PASSIVE WITHDRAWAL

OT (O1 – OZ) – OTHER

RA - RESCINDED ACCEPTANCE

EM - EARLY MATRICULATION

IN - INTERVIEW

RS - REQUEST SECONDARY

Action

Application

Type Code

Char(01)

Required for AMCAS schools – ONLY if

Action Code = ‘MA’ (Matriculated).

OPTIONAL for ‘AC’ (Accepted).

NOTE: Should not be entered for all other

admission action codes. Program code to which

applicant has been accepted or will matriculate –

provided by the medical school (based on

REF_APPLICATION_TYPE and

REF_MED_PROG_INFO).

*

Conditional

<- Please

note

specifics

Campus Code Numeric(02)

Required for AMCAS schools. ONLY if Action Code

= ‘MA’ (Matriculated). OPTIONAL for ‘AC’

(Accepted). NOTE: Should not be entered for all other

admission action codes)..

Campus to which applicant has been accepted or will

matriculate – provided by the medical school (based on

REF_MED_INST_CAMPUS).

*

Conditional

<- Please

note

specifics

Matriculation

Date Date

Required ONLY if Action Code = ‘MA’

(Matriculated). OPTIONAL for ‘AC’


admission action codes. Provided by medical school -

Format (MM/YYYY).

*

Conditional

<- Please

note

specifics

*

Conditional

<- Please

note

specifics

Projected

Graduation

Date

Date

Required ONLY if Action Code = ‘MA’

(Matriculated). OPTIONAL for ‘AC’


admission action codes. Provided by the medical

school Format (MM/YYYY). Must be greater than

Matriculation Date.

*

Conditional

<- Please

note

specifics

*

Conditional

<- Please

note

specifics

Timestamp

(aka:

Action Date)

Date

Format (MMDDYYYY HHMMSS – 24hr clock –

Note: There is a space between Date and Time); The

action effective date

*

*

User ID Char(14) The user name/Id associated with the action; can be a

default value established by the medical school.

*

*

DelRow Char(01)

‘D’ if the desire is to remove a previously

submitted admission action row; otherwise, can be left

NULL

DOB Date Format (MMDDYY)

AMCAS Schools: Leave NULL NULL *

Gender Char(01)

Optional: M=Male, F=Female, and Z=No

Response

AMCAS Schools: Leave NULL

NULL

MCAT Test

Date Date

Format (mm/dd/yyyy)

Test date of the highest scoring MCAT taken - NULL



72

leave null if applicant has not taken MCAT


State of Legal

Residence (SLR) Char(02)

Required if MCAT Test Date is null; Two-

Character Alpha State abbreviation


NULL

*

Conditional

<- Please

note

specifics

Suffix Char(4) Legal Name suffix. Valid values:

I,II,III,IV,V,VI,VII,VIII,JR,SR

These fields

apply to

only NON

AMCAS

schools. For

AMCAS

schools, the

last field

should be

SLR

Citizenship Char(1) US Citizenship. Y or N or null

VisaCd Char (2) Required if US citizenship is N. Valid codes: PR, F1,

J1, RA, OT, NO

*

Conditional

<- Please

note

specifics

GPA Numeric(3) Cumulative undergraduate total (where 'total'

means all undergraduate coursework). Range 0-400

Primary

Undergraduate

Inst (PUG)

Numeric(6) FICE code of Primary Undergraduate Institution

EthnicityHispInd Char(1) Y if applicant actively selects Hispanic, N if applicant

actively selects NOT Hispanic, else null

RaceAsianInd Char(1) Y if applicant actively selects Asian, else null

RaceBlackInd Char(1) Y if applicant actively selects Black / African

American, else null

RaceNativeAmer

Ind Char(1)

Y if applicant actively selects Native American, else

null

RacePacIslInd Char(1) Y if applicant actively selects Pacific islander, else null

RaceWhiteInd Char(1) Y if applicant actively selects White, else null

Email Char(100) Applicant Email Address *

Fields: Campus Code, Action Application Type Code, Matriculation Date & Projected

Graduation Date

These fields are REQUIRED for MA action rows, OPTIONAL for AC action rows, and must be NULL

for all other action rows. These fields must be collectively NULL or not NULL per row.

Projected Graduation Date must be greater than Matriculation date.

Campus Code is numeric data from v2 table: REF_MED_INST_CAMPUS.

Sample file contents from fictitious Montana AMCAS Medical School:

FILENAME 'AA-MT999-09052004.txt'

HDR|3

ADM|92345670|2005|999||SMITH|JOHN|JOSEPH|WA|||||09012004

000001|AMCAS_MED_SCHL_USER|||||

ADM|92345671|2005|999||SMITHSON|JANE|JANET|MA|4|1|09/2004|06/2009|09012004

000005|AMCAS_MED_SCHL_USER|||||

ADM|92345674|2005|999|900000004|SCHMIDT|TERRY|CHRIS|RJ|||||03252004

000001|AMCAS_MED_SCHL_USER|D||||

END|3



73

Sample file contents from fictitious Montana Non-AMCAS Medical School:

FILENAME 'AA-MT998-09052004.txt'

HDR|3

NAA|92345670|2005|998|900000001|SMITH|JOHN|JOSEPH|WA|||||09012004 000001|NONAMCAS_

MED_SCHL_USER||091080|M|03/03/2008|||Y||300|5678|N|Y|||||[email protected]

NAA||2005|998|900000002|SMITHSON|JANE|JANET|MA|||09/2004|06/2009|09012004

000005|NONAMCAS_

MED_SCHL_USER||081181|F|05/01/2009|||Y||250||N|Y|||||[email protected]

NAA||2005|998|900000004|SCHMIDT|TERRY|CHRIS|RJ|||||03252004 000001|NON-

AMCAS_MED_SCHL_USER|D|102579|Z||AK||Y||250||N|Y|||||[email protected]

END|3



74

Appendix G: Submitting Alternate List CBC Requests via the AAUU

AMCAS schools that participate in the Criminal Background Check (CBC) program may submit

alternate list CBC requests via the AAUU tab of the AP.

Remember: Background checks are automatically procured on accepted students (at point of acceptance

for EDP or after January 1 for regular candidates) with an AC action.

Requests may only be made after May 15 for students on your alternate list with an AL or OT action.

Row eligibility:

Requests may be submitted only for applications that have a valid action on file. These actions include

AL (alternate list), OT (other), and school-defined actions.

Format Rules:

• No BLANK lines should be included.

• All entries should be for the same entering class year.

• Each field within a segment must be separated by a pipe ‘|’ delimiter, regardless of

whether the field is populated.

• The file should contain only new submission or updates to ones previously submitted –

you do not need to submit a cumulative list with each upload.

• Only one (1) CBC segment (Detail Row) per medical school/application

(MED_INST_ID/AAMC_ID) combo is permitted in a file.

The following depicts the detail-row:

DETAIL ROW

Column Size Specifics AMCAS Schools Required

Field

CBC Char(03) Constant *

AAMC_ID Numeric(10) AAMC ID of applicant; no

leading zeros. *

Application Year Date

Entering Class Year.

Format (YYYY)

*

School Code Char(03) Three-digit numeric

medical school code *

CBC Request Indicator Char(01)

‘Y’ to request that a CBC

be generated for the

applicant. ‘N’ to request

that a pending CBC request

be cancelled.

*

o There are no specifications for the file name. You may wish to give the file a meaningful

name for later reference, such as “CBC_requests_20080501”.

o The first row in the file must be formatted as “HDRCBC|rowcount”, where rowcount is

the number of applicants in the file.



75

o The last row in the file must be formatted as “END|rowcount”, where rowcount is the

number of applicants in the file.

Sample file contents from fictitious Montana AMCAS Medical School

FILENAME 'CBC-MT999-20080501.txt':

HDRCBC|3

CBC|92345670|2008|999|Y

CBC|92345671|2008|999|Y

CBC|92345674|2008|999|N

END|3



76

Appendix H: AMCAS Determination of Primary Undergraduate School

*** Only U.S. & Canadian schools are eligible.

1. The Bachelor degree should be considered first (B.S., B.A., and B.H.). All Bachelor degrees

should be leveled the same (i.e., B.S. = B.A. = B.H.).

a. In the event that multiple Bachelor degrees exist, the PUG should be determined based on

the Bachelor degree with the earliest date.

i. In the event that multiple Bachelor degrees are listed with the same “earliest”

date, the following ranking should be incorporated: B.S., B.A., and then B.H.

2. In the event that NO Bachelors degree is listed, the consideration should be for the Associate

degree (A.S., A.A., and A.H.). All Associate degrees should be leveled the same (i.e., A.S. =

A.A. = A.H.).

a. In the event that there is no Bachelor degree listed and multiple Associate degrees exist,

the PUG should be determined based on the degree with the earliest date.

i. In the event that multiple Associate degrees are listed with the same “earliest”

dates, the following ranking should be incorporated: A.S., A.A., and then A.H.

3. In the event that NO Bachelor and NO Associate degree is listed, the consideration should be

for the No Degree (ND).

a. In the event that there is NO Bachelors and NO Associate degree listed and multiple

schools are listed with no degree indicated, the PUG should be determined based on the

hours attended at each institution, selecting the one with the most hours as the PUG.

i. In the event that multiple schools are listed with No Degree and the same number

of credit hours, the PUG should be determined based on the school with the

earliest attend_start_dt.



77

Appendix I: Submitting Alternate List Background Checks via Direct Insertion

AMCAS schools that participate in the Criminal Background Check (CBC) program may submit

Alternate List CBC requests via direct insertion into the LOCAL_CBC_REQUEST table in the local

database. These requests will be processed by ADI and the AMCAS database will be updated. The

requests will be processed in the same interval as the applicant synch process.

Row eligibility:

Requests may be submitted only for applications that have a valid action on file. These actions include

AL – alternate list, OT – other, and school-defined actions.

Format to insert into LOCAL_CBC_REQUEST table:

Column Column Type and Size Specifics AMCAS School Required

Field

LOCAL_CBC_REQUEST_ID Number Primary Key Primary Key for the table.

Must be unique

*

AAMC_ID Number (10) AAMC ID number of

applicant; no leading

zeros.

*

APPL_YEAR Number (4) Entering Class Year –

Format

(YYYY)

*

MED_INST_ID Number (10) Numeric code of school *

CBC_REQUEST_IND Character (1) Y/N value alone *

USER_ID Number (10) AAMC ID of the person

requesting the CBC request

(usually school user)

*

TIMESTAMP Date Date time of the request *

Sample request:

To request a CBC: insert into local_cbc_request

(LOCAL_CBC_REQUEST_ID,AAMC_ID,APPL_YEAR,MED_INST_ID,CBC_REQUEST_IND,USE

R_ID,TIMESTAMP) values (1,12899307,2010,123,'Y',12681257,getDate()); getDate() is a SQL server

function to get the current system date. For Oracle use sysdate.

To cancel a CBC request:

insert into local_cbc_request

(LOCAL_CBC_REQUEST_ID,AAMC_ID,APPL_YEAR,MED_INST_ID,CBC_REQUEST_IND,USE

R_ID,TIMESTAMP) values (1,12899307,2010,123,'N',12681257,getDate());getDate() is a SQL server

function to get the current system date.. For Oracle use sysdate.



78

Other columns populated by ADI in LOCAL_CBC_REQUEST:

Column Column Type and Size Specifics AMCAS School Required

Field

PROCESSED_IND Number (1) 1 indicates that the record is

processed by ADI

SUCCESS_IND Number (1) 0 indicated that the record is

processed but not successful

ERROR_DESC Character (1000)

Provides a detailed

explanation of the error

during the process of this

CBC request.



79

Appendix J: State-Specific Notifications for Criminal Background Checks

Below you will find state-specific notifications that these states mandate for inclusion in advance of a

background search. Many state-specific mandates indicate that an applicant is required to request in

writing a copy of the report procured on him/her. Note that the applicant will receive a copy of the report

without providing a written request.

For Maine Applicants Only

Upon request, you will be informed whether or not an investigative consumer report was requested, and if such a report was

requested, the name and address of the consumer reporting agency furnishing the report. You may request and receive from

us, within 5 business days of our receipt of your request, the name, address and telephone number of the nearest unit

designated to handle inquiries for the consumer reporting agency issuing an investigative consumer report concerning you.

You also have the right, under Maine law, to request and promptly receive from all such agencies copies of any reports.

For New York Applicants Only

You have the right, upon written request, to be informed of whether or not a consumer report was requested. If a consumer

report is requested, you will be provided with the name and address of the consumer reporting agency furnishing the report.

For Washington Applicants Only

If we request an investigative consumer report, you have the right, upon written request made within a reasonable period of

time, to receive from us a complete and accurate disclosure of the nature and scope of the investigation. You have the right

to request from the consumer reporting agency a summary of your rights and remedies under state law.

For California*, Minnesota, and Oklahoma Applicants Only: A consumer credit report will be obtained through

Certiphi Screening, Inc., P.O. Box 540, Southampton, PA, 18966. Telephone: (800) 260-1680. www.certiphi.com.

*California Applicants

If you chose to receive a copy of the consumer report, it will be sent within three (3) days of the employer receiving a copy of

the consumer report and you will receive a copy of the investigative consumer report within seven (7) days of the employer’s

receipt of the report (unless you elected not to get a copy of the report). Certiphi Screening’s privacy practices with respect

to the preparation and processing of investigative consumer reports may be found at www.certiphi.com (link at bottom of

page entitled, “Legal/Privacy”).

Para informacion en español, visite www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore o escribe a la Consumer Financial Protection

Bureau, 1700 G Street N.W., Washington, DC 20552.

http://www.certiphi.com/



80

Appendix K: AMCAS Data Retention Policy

To comply with AAMC Records Management and Retention Policy, AMCAS limits access to

application data to 5 application cycles through AMCAS School Tools.

Impact

School Tools users cannot access applicant data that is more than five years old. Although you cannot

view or modify this data using the School Tools software, it will still reside in your local database and

may still be extracted by directly querying the database utilizing software of your choice (e.g., Microsoft

SQL Server Management Studio). You may need to communicate with your Information Technology

department for assistance in querying your local database.

Implementation

This change took effect with the 2013 AMCAS application cycle. When the first data transmission of

each new application year takes place, data from more than five years prior will no longer be displayed

via AMCAS School Tools.