Is MSAR worth it? Learn how to apply medical schools strategically using your MSAR subscription

A smiling student wearing glasses and a white blazer studying MSAR — MSar can help you develop an optimized medical school list

Introduction

You’re on the verge of applying to medical school and contemplating the answers to the following two questions:

How many medical schools should I apply to?
Which medical schools should I apply to?

You know that, due to the competitive nature of medical school admissions, creating a viable school list may be the difference between being denied acceptance or becoming a first-year at your dream school. But how do ensure that you’re applying to medical schools where you actually have favorable odds of admission? This is where the MSAR database can come in handy.

What is MSAR?

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) created the Medical School Admissions Requirements database (MSAR) to help you learn about the admissions process for all MD-granting schools in the United States and Canada.

Like many databases, MSAR has different components, so in this blog post we’ll discuss how you can:

Register for MSAR
Interpret medical school profiles
Research the admissions process using your coursework and scores
Compare different medical schools

We want to help you use MSAR to develop a medical school list that results in the highest number of acceptances.

How to register for the MSAR

To access MSAR, you’ll first need to create an AAMC account. This process will require you to:

enter your contact information
answer questions about your academic status
create a username and password.

AAMC will send you a confirmation email to complete this process.

Although all MSAR users can access general information about medical schools in the database (degree offerings, application deadline, total number of first year students, tuition), only subscribers can access detailed information (admissions criteria, data and comprehensive profiles) about schools.

How much does MSAR cost?

A virtual one-year subscription to MSAR costs $28. You can also get a two-year online MSAR subscription for $36. If you are part of the AAMC Fee Assistance Program you’ll have access to MSAR until the end of your qualified year. This post will focus on how to utilize MSAR as a subscriber.

When does MSAR data get updated?

MSAR updates its data in the spring prior to the start of a new medical school admissions cycle. This allows AAMC to complete its own research and compile information reported by schools following the previous cycle. Throughout the year, MSAR will also make small updates to its content to keep subscribers well-informed about the admissions process.

Key MSAR features

MSAR homepage

The MSAR Homepage is the primary interface of the database. On the top of the homepage, you can search for individual schools alphabetically or sort them using GPA and MCAT data.

How to use the search engine

On the left-hand side of the homepage, the MSAR search engine can be used to filter schools based on the following criteria:

Location (Country, State)
Residency status for applications (Out-of-state, U.S, Canadian, International)
Median MCAT score (sliding scale)
Median GPA score (sliding scale)
Application deadline
Combined degrees (BS/MD, MD/JD, MD/MBA, MD/MPH, MD/PhD)
Class size (sliding scale)
School type (public, private)
Campus type (urban, suburban, rural)

Given the sheer number of MD programs, MSAR’s search engine can be an effective tool to identify schools that might not be on your initial radar. For instance, if you’re only interested in applying to rural schools, or schools with specific dual degree opportunities, the search engine can make the process of finding appropriate programs easy for you. In this way, the MSAR search engine can help ensure you’re aware of all the medical schools that could easily be on your list.

It’s important to take this early round of searching seriously. The sooner you narrow down your list of schools, the quicker you can move on to researching individual programs, which in turn can help mitigate the stressful nature of the admissions process overall.

MSAR Medical school profiles

MSAR has a profile page for every medical school with in-depth information about their MD programs, admissions process and school culture. These profiles are one-stop-shops to learn about schools in a way that’s comprehensive and organized with a prospective applicant in mind. In each profile you’ll find information on:

Overview
Admissions
Acceptance Data
Education and Research
Tuition, Aid and Debt
Campus Life

Let’s discuss how each section of a profile can give you information about whether a particular medical school is right for you.

Overview

In addition to providing general facts, the overview section of a profile has the school’s contact info (including social media channels) and mission statement. You can use this information for your qualitative analysis of different medical schools.

For instance, if you want to see how a particular school presents itself to the world in real time, click on the link to the school’s Facebook or Instagram page. Alternatively, if you want to learn about the school’s ethos to inform the written components of your future application, read the school’s mission statement.

Admissions

This section provides up-to-date information about a school’s admissions process. Here’s our streamlined summary of the information in this section:

Admissions policies and timelines: Each profile page has information about the medical school’s admissions policies, including eligibility requirements, application deadlines, and rules for submitting different parts of an application, such as your MCAT scores.

Admissions requirements: MSAR lists the specific admissions requirements for each school, particularly the undergraduate pre-med coursework. Some schools list detailed information about what courses are permissible to fulfill their requirements while others simply list recommended pre-med courses. MSAR also highlights a school’s requirements and preferences for how applicants’ should submit American Medical College Service (AMCAS) letters of recommendation.

Premedical experience: For each school, MSAR has data and charts that quantify the extracurricular activities of past applicants, including the percentage of first-year students who had different types of clinical, shadowing and research experience.

Information about the interview process: Most schools have information about how their admissions office conducts the interview process. In most cases, schools list the format of their interviews (MMI, one-on-one, virtual or in-person, etc.) Many schools will also list the number of applicants who received interviews which, when compared to the number of students who applied, can give you more insight into a school’s individual admissions process.

Waitlist information: Some schools share information about their waitlist process, such as the number of students waitlisted in the last admissions cycles.

Prior to adding a medical school to your list, use the admissions information on the school’s profile to make sure you meet their admissions requirements.

MSAR Acceptance data

A school’s acceptance data provides concrete information about the caliber of applicants it accepts for its first year class. Read this information closely and particularly pay attention to two data points that weigh heavily in the admissions process: MCAT scores and GPAs.

MCAT data: In addition to showing a school’s median MCAT score, MSAR also charts the 10th to 90th percentile range and 25th to 75th percentile range for accepted applicants. This information is invaluable, because it provides a practical breakdown of the scores necessary to be accepted into that medical school.

For instance, if your MCAT score is above the 90th percentile or higher for a school, chances are that program may be a good “undershoot” or “far undershoot” to have on your medical school list. Alternatively, if your MCAT score is below the 10th percentile, that school is probably going to be a “reach” for you.

You can also use a drop-down box to cross-reference the MCAT scores for different types of applicants (i.e. in-state versus out-of-state) or compare a school’s accepted applicant MCAT scores to the MCAT scores of matriculants.

GPA data: MSAR breaks down its data into “Total or Overall GPAs” and “Science GPAs” for greater transparency. Similar to viewing MCAT scores, you can see a school’s median GPA scores, the 10th to 90th percentile range and the 25th to 75th percentile range for accepted students.

This chart will show you how your GPA stacks up against the competition. And, similar to viewing MCAT scores, you can use drop down boxes to compare the GPAs of different types of accepted applicants.

The acceptance data section of each profile also provides information about how applicants have fared in the admissions process i.e. the numbers of prospective students who’ve applied, received interviews, pursued the Early Assurance and Early Decision programs, etc.

Lastly, the acceptance data section charts the demographic breakdown of accepted students at a given school by using metrics such as gender, race and ethnicity, disadvantaged status, residency, and age. Although this information is self-reported by applicants, it provides a snapshot of the types of students admitted into particular medical schools.

Some medical schools prefer applicants from a particular state or region of the country. Other schools have a tradition of accepting non-traditional applicants, who tend to be older than applicants who pursue a medical career right after college.

Demographic information can help you examine these nuances in the admissions process and determine if a particular school is right for you.

Education and research

This section of a school’s profile provides information about the academic curriculum and the professional and research opportunities offered by the medical school. If you’re interested in pursuing opportunities outside the classroom, you may find a school’s list of resources in this section.

Tuition, aid and debt

This section breaks down a school’s tuition costs, provides hard data about the percentage of students who receive some form of financial aid, and quotes the average amount of student debt after graduation. Because of the high costs associated with pursuing an MD degree, it’s important to be aware of this information when creating your medical school list, particularly if you’re eligible for in-state tuition at certain institutions.

Campus life

The campus life section provides an overview of student life and support systems at a given medical school, including information about housing and diversity programming. Applicants eager for a certain type of lifestyle during medical school will find information about the day-to-day experience of enrolled students in this section.

Adding notes

On each profile page, you can add personal notes to record your impressions of that school. These private comments can be viewed only by you and are saved to the “notes” section of your MSAR account.

Your Coursework and Scores

To make the process of finding the right schools easier, MSAR allows you to save your MCAT score, overall GPA and coursework in your account. This way, as you’re browsing schools, the website automatically compares your credentials to those of accepted students.

MCAT Scores and GPA

You can upload these figures on the “My Coursework and Scores” page of the website. MSAR utilizes your MCAT score and overall GPA by overlaying these numbers on the MCAT and GPA charts that appear on each school’s profile page. When you’re reviewing different schools, you can instantly see how your scores compare to those of applicants who were accepted in previous admissions cycles.

Coursework

MSAR also allows you to save your coursework in your account so that you can quickly check and see whether you meet the admissions requirements of a particular medical school. MSAR asks you to choose from a set list of generic courses, plug in the hours you completed, and share whether you have lab experience connected to that course.

The list of courses you can input are:

Behavioral Sciences
Biochemistry
Biology
Biology/Zoology
Calculus
Computer Science
College English
Genetics
Humanities
Inorganic Chemistry
College Mathematics
Organic Chemistry
Physics
Psychology
Social Sciences.

Remember, as you move closer to finalizing your school list, refer to the individual admissions websites of different schools to make sure you meet specific requirements for their programs. MSAR tries to have the most up-to-date information, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t cover your bases when a school’s requirements are concerned.

“My Favorites” Page

You can save your top med schools to the “My Favorites” page of your MSAR account. Here, you can rank your top schools, add comments about them, and use drop-down boxes to indicate what schools you’re applying to and what school you’re still considering.

The “Compare” Feature

One of the highlights of the My Favorites page is that you can use the “compare” feature to view key information about schools side-by-side.

You can click on the two to ten schools you want to review alongside one another, and MSAR generates a data table that compares and contrasts these schools using metrics that factor prominently in the admissions process, such as median MCAT score, median GPA, interview format, shadowing requirements, etc. The table also compares general admissions information, including application deadlines, secondary deadlines and tuition.

For prospective applicants who find the school profile pages overwhelming, reviewing schools using the compare feature may be helpful—users are given less data and information to consider and digest.

The compare feature also forces you to be honest with yourself about your medical school list as a whole. For instance, if you compare your top schools side-by-side and see that your MCAT score is higher than every median MCAT listed, then you’re probably not fully grasping the nature of your potential in the admissions process.

Alternatively, if your top schools have median MCAT scores that are significantly higher than your own, this probably confirms that all your top schools are “reaches.” Seeing schools compared side-by-side may or may not change how you go about creating your school list. Still, it’s important to have the information you need to make informed decisions.

Is MSAR worth it?

The answer to this question is a resounding “yes.” With its detailed data breakdown for every medical school, MSAR can be extremely helpful as you piece together a roadmap for your personal admissions process. Whether you’re using the database to begin your search or narrowing down your list of schools, information on MSAR can help you feel confident and clear-headed about the decisions you make with regard to your future.

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How to Use MSAR to Build Your Medical School List