AMCAS Application Cycle Dates And Updates 2023-2024

May 16 / Deborah Gutman
2024 AMCAS Application Cycle Dates
  • Tuesday, May 2, 2023: AMCAS application opens
  • Tuesday, May 30, 2023: AMCAS application submission begins
  • Friday, June 30, 2023: Initial transmission of application data to medical schools
  • August 1st, 2023: Deadline for Early Decision Program (if August 1st lands on a weekend or holiday the deadline is the next business day) Deadlines are at 11:59 pm EST of the deadline date.
  • October 1st, 2023: Notification deadline for Early Decision applications
  • October 15th, 2023: Medical schools can begin offering letters of acceptance
  • February 15, 2024: Choose Your Medical School Tool becomes available
  • April 15th, 2024: Applicants must narrow their decisions to 3 acceptances
  • April 30th, 2024: Applicants must narrow their decision to a single acceptance.
Don’t forget to apply way before the deadlines!

Deadlines: Each medical school sets its own deadline so be sure to check Participating Medical schools and Deadlines and remember that different programs at the same school may have different deadline dates. There is a downloadable version of school deadlines here. Deadlines are also subject to change during the application cycle. Most application deadlines occur between October -December of the application year. The deadline refers to the submission of your application (not necessarily verification time). Transcript deadlines are 14 calendar days after the school’s AMCAS application deadline date, except for early decision candidates where the deadline is August 1st.

Remember you can submit your AMCAS application without your MCAT score and letters of recommendation. Your MCAT score will upload automatically into your application. However, if you plan to retake your MCAT score the only way a school would know that is if you include the date of your upcoming MCAT. You must have one school on your application to submit, but you can add additional schools to AMCAS after verification. 
After the initial submission of your application, you may only make changes to the following information:
  • Your ID numbers.
  • Your name, including full legal name, preferred name, and alternate names.
  • Your contact information, including your permanent address, preferred mailing address, and e-mail address.
  • Your alternate contact information.
  • Your date of birth and sex.
  • Letters of evaluation (please note, you can only make additions of up to 10 letters, and you must notify AMCAS if you have a letter you no longer wish to be sent to medical schools; you cannot delete letters of evaluation from your application).
  • Your next MCAT testing date.
  • The addition of medical schools and the altering of existing program types (deadlines, restrictions, and an additional fee may apply).
  • The release of your application information to your prehealth advisor.

You must re-certify and officially update your application after making a change. This will not cause any processing delays, and you will not be charged unless you have added more medical school designations.

New to AMCAS 2024:
1) New activity category Social Justice/Advocacy: They define a social justice/advocacy experience as one in which “the applicant worked to advance the rights, privileges, or opportunities of a person, a group of people, or a cause. It is not tied to any particular ideology and is inclusive of all personal understandings of social justice and advocacy. Possible examples include (but are not limited to): Registering people to vote, climate activism, advocating for civil rights, decreasing health equities, addressing food deserts, building awareness for a particular cause or health condition, advocating for vulnerable populations (children, homeless, etc.), and assisting with policy change or development. This question is not intended to solicit experiences campaigning for a particular political candidate or party.
     - This category was added based on interest from the admissions community to allow applicants to describe these activities in their application.
2) Change in Disadvantaged Status entry: This has always been a self-reported entry on AMCAS. This year it has been renamed “Other Impactful Experiences.” On review, the AAMC found that many students were only using it to discuss financial disadvantages so they felt there was not a clear understanding of when they should use this entry. There was also some feedback that the word “disadvantage” was inappropriate. The prompt will read as follows:

To provide some additional context around each individual’s application, admissions committees are interested in learning more about the challenges applicants may have overcome in life. The following question is designed to give you the opportunity to provide additional information about yourself that is not easily captured in the rest of the application.
Please consider whether this question applies to you. Medical schools do not expect all applicants to answer “yes” to this question. This question is intended for applicants who have overcome major challenges or obstacles. Some applicants may not have experiences that are relevant to this question. Other applicants may not feel comfortable sharing personal information in their application.

Have you overcome challenges or obstacles in your life that you would like to describe in more detail? This could include lived experiences related to your family background, financial background, community setting, educational experiences, and/or other life circumstances. You are given a 1325-character text box to answer and additional guidance if you should answer yes.

AMCAS application guide can be found here.