APPLICATION
SCREENING
INTERVIEW
COMMITTEE ACTION
ACCEPTANCE

APPLICATION

As a convenience to the applicant, Tulane University School of Medicine participates in the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). AMCAS applications are available online: http://www.aamc.org/audienceamcas.htm.

This year, Tulane School of Medicine is joining the AMCAS Letters of Evaluations/Recommendations Service. This service will allow Tulane to receive all letters electronically via AMCAS, and allows your letter writers to send all letters to be considered by Tulane electronically by AMCAS. Tulane will no longer accept US mailed, faxed or emailed letters of recommendation. There are several ways in which a letter writer can send letters to AMCAS, VirtualEvals, Interfolio, and via U.S. Mail. In addition, letter writers who currently mail letters can opt to upload letters directly to AMCAS through the AMCAS Letter Writer Application. Please use this link to read the information and instructions for you and your letter writer:

http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcasletters.htm

Tulane’s letter of recommendation requirement is as follows, a committee letter, letter of recommendation packet, or three letters of recommendation, two must be from professors of science, and the third letter can be from anyone of your choice.

All who have their primary application forwarded by AMCAS to Tulane Medical School will receive an e-mail notification to fill out the Electronic Secondary Application and pay-online form.  An application fee of $100, which covers the handling and processing of the application, must accompany the completed Electronic Secondary Application.  The deadline for completing the Electronic Secondary Application is January 15.

It is important that all potential applicants understand that last year, Tulane School of Medicine received more than 9,000 applications. You are encouraged to submit your application as early as possible with all supporting documentation.

SCREENING

Once an application is complete, i.e., primary and secondary applications, application fee, MCAT scores, and all letters of evaluation have been received electronically by this office, the file is "screened," or read, by one or more members of the Admission Committee. One of two actions can result from screening. The applicant may be:

- INVITED FOR INTERVIEW BY EMAIL, or
- NOTIFIED OF NON-ACCEPTANCE BY EMAIL

During the screening process the contents of the entire application are taken into account, but at this stage of review the greatest emphasis is placed upon the academic record and letters of evaluation. Nonetheless, experience shows that students with a broad range of coursework (both science and non-science courses), active participation in college or campus life, and a good record of community service are more likely to be invited for interviews.

INTERVIEW

Approximately 500 applicants are invited to the medical school campus each year, starting in September and continuing into February, for interviews. Invited applicants are emailed a suggested date for the interviews and are asked to confirm by e-mail to Tulane School of Medicine's Office of Admissions. Every effort will be made to accommodate applicants wishing to change their interview date; recognizing the cost of interviewing, Tulane will attempt to accommodate those applicants attempting to coordinate interviews with several schools.

Interview days are Mondays and Fridays and last from 8:30 am until approximately 2:30 PM. If available, overnight housing with a medical student can be arranged.

Each applicant will be interviewed by one faculty member or administrators and one student, with the student interview occurring in the form of a "working lunch." All interviews with an administrator are "blind"; all interviews are non-confrontational. Each interviewer will write a report about the interview and that report will become a part of the applicant's file. With the addition of the interview reports, an applicant's file is considered complete and ready for Committee review.

COMMITTEE ACTION

Usually within two weeks after the interview, the application goes before the full Admission Committee for evaluation. The Committee may decide to accept or reject the applicant or put the applicant on the "acceptance range" list, a non-ranked wait-list. No mathematical formulae are used in making this decision and no specific guidelines are given to committee members in regard to a particular weight to be placed upon MCAT's, GPA, or other parts of the completed application. The final decision is a subjective one, based upon the opinions of no fewer than five members of the Committee.

Acceptances are offered weekly, beginning October 1 and continuing until the class is filled. Each week, the Committee may elect to remove someone from the "acceptance range" list and send an offer of acceptance, or they may send such offers only to applicants whose files have come before them for the first time.

ACCEPTANCE

Those applicants who receive letters of acceptance are given two weeks to either accept or decline, in writing, their places in the Tulane medical student body. Those who accept their place must send a deposit check of $500, made out to the Tulane Educational Fund, no later than May 15 of the year of their expected matriculation. This deposit, which is credited against the student's tuition, is not refundable and, therefore, applicants are advised to send their deposit only after they have made a final decision about attending medical school.

A letter of withdrawal is required if a student wishes to relinquish a reserved place in the class.

Accepted students are asked to be considerate to others in the applicant pool awaiting an acceptance. Tulane strongly encourages students to not hold more than one seat at a time, but recognizes that a final decision often can not be made until all information, including financial aid information, has been provided. In cases where a multi-successful applicant is awaiting additional information before deciding upon which school to attend, we encourage the applicant to narrow the choice to two or three schools at most and to relinquish any additional places being held. The applicant should make decisions as information is received from the medical schools.