AMCAS

Medical School applicants are required to apply through the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). The AMCAS application cycle runs from June through December. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) processes and verifies the completion and submission of the AMCAS application, application fee and supporting documents before we review an applicant's file.

Candidates who meet our selection criteria will receive a secondary application and from those secondary applications, candidates will be selected for interviews. 

Letters of Recommendation

All letters of recommendation must be submitted through the AMCAS Letters Service by using AMCAS Letter Writer Application, Interfolio, mail and/or VirtualEvals. Please ensure all your letters are submitted to AMCAS through one or more of the above mediums. Only letters submitted through this service will be included in your application for review by our admissions committee. Please note that there is a five letter maximum for this requirement.

We offer three options for fulfilling the letters requirement portion of our secondary application:

Committee Letter - Preferred Option

A committee letter is 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. If you have committee letters from two different programs/schools, list one as your committee letter and include the other as an individual letter.

Letter Packet

A packet or set of letters is assembled and distributed by your institution, often by the institution’s 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.

Three Individual Letters

Individual letters should include at least one letter from a faculty member (preferably a science faculty member) and two letters from other faculty or individuals who can provide in-depth evaluation and recommendation.

Secondary Application

Secondary Application invitations are sent out starting in early July of every application cycle. Once your initial application has been processed, you will be contacted and asked to submit the secondary application. Please refer to our Selection Criteria on who will receive a secondary application request.

Interview

Interviews allow you to meet with members of the Admissions Committee and give them a better understanding of your interests, experiences, motivation, and capacity to be a physician. Interviewers will have access to your AMCAS and secondary applications, but do not have access to your grades, MCAT scores, or letters of recommendation. Our goal with interviews is to conduct thoughtful and respectful evaluations. 

UAB Heersink interviews are conducted virtually using an interview software called Kira Talent.

The interview day consists of one traditional one-on-one interview with an admissions committee member and a nine-station multiple-mini interview.  In addition, interviewees have the opportunity to interact with current students through a student panel discussion.

Acceptance Status

Once the UAB Heersink School of Medicine Admissions Committee makes a final decision, each applicant will be informed of acceptance electronically. Admissions decisions are made on a rolling basis starting Oct. 15. Applicants who have not received notice of a final decision are still under consideration.

Deferral Policy

Admitted students who wish to request a deferral should submit the request as soon as possible and prior to April 30. The Admissions Committee grants one year Deferred Admission on a case-by-case basis.

• Only applicants with solid academic records are considered
• Common reasons to consider a deferred admission include opportunities for year-long research, educational, or service experiences
• To be considered, you must submit a written request to the Committee that includes a description of the plans for the year
• The Committee may request additional details about the opportunity

AAMC Choose Your Medical School Tool

Beginning in February, admitted students will be asked to participate in the AAMC's Choose Your Medical School Tool. Key dates include:

Prior to April 30
You will be asked to designate your top choice school as "Plan to Enroll" and you can update this selection at any time. Medical schools will not see individual responses - just aggregate data.

You will need to withdraw acceptances from all but one medical school by April 30.

Beginning April 30
If you know on April 30 (or any time between April 30 and three weeks prior to the start of class) that you will be attending the UAB Heersink School of Medicine, we ask that you designate us as “Commit to Enroll". In order to “Commit to Enroll,” you should withdraw your application from any waitlists. If you would like to continue to be considered for other waitlists after April 30, we ask that you designate UAB as “Plan to Enroll.”

By Three Weeks Prior to the Start of Class
In order to hold a spot in the UAB Heersink School of Medicine, you must "Commit to Enroll" three weeks prior to class start. This deadline is 21 days prior to orientation to allow anyone who might receive a new offer of admission time to prepare to start medical school.

Your Contact Information

All applicants must maintain updated contact information with AMCAS throughout the entire application process. Your AMCAS contact information is our only source of contact information for you. We do not maintain a separate database of contact information.