Letters of recommendation are a significant part of your application, and you should spend some effort on this. Things to consider include: 1) how well the faculty member knows you; 2) the rank of the faculty member; 3) the course taken. We require three letters and prefer one from a science faculty member, one from a non-science faculty member, and one from another recommender of your choice. A pre-medical committee letter may be substituted for these 3 letters. Letters from friends of the family, no matter how important or well known they might be, carry less weight than you might think! You may send additional letters if you want. Your recommenders should be individuals who can assess your personal qualities (such as work ethic, reliability, communication skills, leadership, compassion, and so on).

ALL letters of recommendation must be submitted via the AMCAS Letter Service. During the application process, there will be a section asking for your Letter of Recommendation information. Please consult the AMCAS instructions for additional details.

At the University of Michigan, we will not accept any Letters of Recommendation sent directly to the medical school. Any letters we receive will not be accepted, will not be placed in your application file nor will they be retained in any other form.

To summarize:

• ALL letters need to be submitted using the AMCAS letter service.
• Do NOT send any letters directly to the University of Michigan Medical School.
• Any letters sent directly to Michigan will not be accepted nor retained.

Yes, but this is not preferred. We strongly recommend that you work at getting to know an experienced faculty member (Associate Professor or Professor) so that they can write an informed letter. Doing an independent research project, or taking seminar type classes are some of the best ways to let a faculty member get to know you. If you have no choice but to get a letter from the GSI be sure to have the faculty member countersign or endorse the recommendation. We suggest that no more than one letter be from a GSI.

We prefer that you provide the non-science faculty letter as requested, however we recognize that in some cases such as the applicant who has been out of school for a number of years, getting such a letter may not be feasible. A substitution may be requested from the Admissions Office for any particular type of recommendation letter.

The best time to take the MCAT is when you are well prepared, both in terms of college courses taken and time to study/prepare for the MCAT itself. Clearly, scores on MCATs reflect knowledge, not just intelligence, so if you have not taken your required courses, you will need to do a lot of independent work to be adequately prepared. We require you to take the MCAT exam by August.

Our requirements for science courses are in place because we want to be sure you have the foundation of chemistry, biology, and physics that you will need as you begin medical school. Even though an advisor or counselor tells you that you "have" to have a particular course, our viewpoint on the issue is perhaps more flexible. It is the content that is important to us. Because most students apply to more than one medical school, it is usually best to take the full two semesters of Inorganic Chemistry, two of Organic Chemistry, and two of Physics. Actual credit hours may vary somewhat depending on the school offerings. However, you may have a particular situation that warrants interpretation by the Admissions Office--feel free to call us to consult.

No, we require the equivalent of a basic Biochemistry course, once again, because we do not cover this information in our medical school course. Students without a strong background in biochemistry will find the first year of medical school very challenging. (If you believe that all the biochemistry topics we require have been covered in your biology or chemistry coursework, you may provide evidence of that for our evaluation at the time of the interview.)

Yes, AP credits may be used to meet our requirements, however we strongly recommend that you take some of your biology and chemistry credits while in college.

We require two semesters of English Composition (Writing), which is writing intensive. If you have taken a course such as "Writing for Scientists", this is an acceptable substitute for one of them. You may call the Admissions Office to consult about your particular situation if you need guidance.

The University of Michigan does not have a math prerequisite requirement. Some medical schools do, however.

Yes, as long as you have a plan to complete them by the time you matriculate.

No, but almost all admitted students have obtained one. You must have at least 90 hours of college coursework, of which 60 must be from an accredited U.S. based institution.

We usually have about 6,000 applicants. We will interview approximately 750 of them.

Our aim is that about half the class or more will be made up of non-Michigan residents. The entering class is very diverse.