Office of Student Admissions

Current Applicants

Primary AMCAS Application

All applicants to the University of New Mexico School of Medicine must submit their applications through the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) during the application time period of June 2nd through August 1st for the Early Decision Program (EDP) and June 2nd through November 15th for the Regular Program. Deadline extensions will be granted only for problems beyond your control. Remember that the AMCAS verification process can take anywhere from four to six weeks from the time that your application and all required official transcripts are received. Please review the AMCAS 2010 Instructions for more information on the AMCAS application.

AMCAS Application Fee: $160.00 for the first designated school and $31.00 for each additional school.

Secondary Application

The University of New Mexico Secondary Application is completed upon invitation only. Once your primary AMCAS application is received by the Office of Admissions, the staff will prescreen your application for New Mexico Residency Status, minimum MCAT and GPA scores and all the required prerequisites. Applicants who meet all the minimum requirements will be contacted by the Office of Admissions to complete the Secondary Application. Applicants will be allowed two weeks to complete the Secondary Application from the time they are initially invited.

Secondary Application Fee: $75.00 to be paid after applicants have been invited to complete the Secondary Application. Fee can be paid by check or money order only. Credit cards are not accepted.

Applicants who qualify for the AAMC Fee Assistance Program (FAP) must submit a copy of the approval letter from the AAMC along with a complete Fee Waiver Form to the University of New Mexico School of Medicine Office of Admissions in order to qualify for the Secondary Application fee waiver.

Letters of Recommendation

Each applicant should solicit letters of recommendation or evaluation from four individuals who know them well. These individuals should be chosen carefully by the applicant to honestly evaluate their abilities and their motivation for medical school.

It is suggested that applicants obtain letters from the following:

  • Two letters from professors/faculty instructors
  • One letter from a clinician; either a nurse or physician that you performed your clinical experience with
  • One letter from a person that you worked on a project with (research mentor, program director, commanding officer, or work supervisor)

The University of New Mexico School of Medicine will participate in the AMCAS Letters of Evaluation/Recommendation program for the 2010 application cycle. This service enables medical schools to receive all letters electronically via AMCAS, and enables your authors to send all letters to AMCAS. There are several mediums in which a letter writer can send your letter to AMCAS. AMCAS will receive letters from users of Virtual Evals, Interfolio, and via the mail. In addition, letter writers who currently mail letters can opt to upload letters directly to AMCAS through the AMCAS Letter Writer Application.

Interviews

The interview provides the medical school with an opportunity to learn more about an applicant’s an maturity, motivation for the study of medicine, problem-solving skills, ability to relate to people, and ability to express their ideas in an organized manner. The interviewers will not have access to the applicants' MCAT scores, academic history and GPA prior to the interview. These scores will be calculated automatically by a computer program. The interview will be based strictly on non-cognitive skills (i.e. clinical/research experiences, volunteerism, letters of recommendation and personal statement).

  • Applicants will have two interviews with two different admissions committee members
  • Interviews can last from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the interviewer
  • The day of the interview, applicants should expect to block out the whole day for their interviews

Criminal Background Check

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recommends that all US medical schools obtain 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 the need to enhance the safety and well-being of patients and to ascertain the ability of accepted applicants to eventually become licensed physicians. All accepted applicants to the University of New Mexico will be subject to a criminal background investigation, and all offers of admissions will be contingent upon satisfactory criminal background results. All accepted applicants will have the opportunity to verify the report's accuracy and dispute any false information prior to the report being made available to the medical school. More information regarding the Criminal Background Check can be found at the AAMC Background Check Service website.

Additional Information

Applicants who have been rejected due to the residency requirement and feel that they have strong ties to New Mexico may submit a Residency Appeal Form to the UNM SOM Office of Admissions. All submissions should be sent within two weeks of the dated rejection letter. Appeals may take up to four weeks to process. Notifications are sent by mail once the decision has been made by the Admissions Committee.

Students who are not successful at gaining admissions to the University of New Mexico School of Medicine will have the opportunity to attend a Post-Admissions Workshop, presented by the Assistant Dean, for applicants who wish to improve their application. The workshop is usually held in May, but the exact date will be posted on the Admissions Homepage under Admissions News & Events. Applicants should complete a self-evaluation of their own application using the Post-Admissions Assessment Form prior to attending the workshop.