AMCAS® FAQs

Your letter author can forward your letter to the AMCAS program in one of the following ways:

• AMCAS Letter Writer Application.
• Interfolio.

If your institution's premedical advising office provides a letter of evaluation service, you may be able to arrange to have all of your letters transmitted to the AMCAS program through that office. Talk with your advisor to determine which type of system is used at your institution (i.e., Committee Letter, Letter Packet, or Individual Letters).

For more detailed information for letter authors including how to send letters please visit the AMCAS How to Apply - Letters of Evaluation page.

Yes. You are required to send your letters through the AMCAS application if the medical school(s) you are applying to participate in the service.

Yes. In order to do this, you must enter the letters separately in the AMCAS application and provide an AMCAS Letter Request form to your letter writer for each letter.

Each of the following letter types is considered one letter entry in the AMCAS application.

• Committee Letter: A Committee Letter is a letter authored by a prehealth committee or prehealth 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.

• Letter Packet: A Letter Packet is a packet or set of letters assembled and distributed by your institution, often by the institution's career center. A Letter Packet may include a cover sheet from your prehealth committee or advisor; however, in contrast to a Committee Letter, a Letter Packet does not include an evaluative letter from your prehealth committee or advisor.

• Individual Letter: An Individual Letter refers to a letter authored by, and representing, a single letter writer. If you have already included an Individual Letter within either a Committee Letter or a Letter Packet, you should not add a separate entry for the Individual Letter.

If your letters are being forwarded by your university advising office or career center, and you are unaware as to how your university compiles letters of evaluation, please consult your prehealth advising office prior to entering letter information to avoid complications with your AMCAS application.

Please note: If your advisor is sending a Committee/Letter Packet to the AMCAS application, the entire Committee Letter/Letter Packet will be sent to the schools you've designated to receive this letter. The AMCAS program will not remove a letter from your packet once it has been received. Therefore, if you wish to send a letter specifically to one medical school, you should enter this as an Individual Letter and have it sent separately from the packet.

You can send up to 10 letters to the AMCAS program. This relatively high number is intended to enable you, and your letter writers, to target specific letters to specific schools if you wish to do so. It is not intended to suggest that any one medical school wishes to receive 10 letters. The AMCAS program will retain and deliver letters only within a single application year. You cannot make any changes to letter information after it has been submitted.

Note the following:

1 Individual Letter = 1 letter
1 Committee Letter = 1 letter
1 Letter Packet = 1 letter

The AMCAS Letters Service is included in the AMCAS Application fee.