Do Medical Schools Call Your References

During the interview with the med school, I was ultimately accepted into, there was a dedicated interviewer around the topic of ongoing activities. They basically gave me a list of things I said I was going to do and asked if I did them. Then they asked what else I did.

Please, Don’t Lie on Your Medical School Application

I didn’t think I should have to tell anyone not to lie on their medical school application, but apparently, I do. Let me do it one more time: Don’t lie on your med school application.

It would be a huge red flag if you got caught lying in your application. You’re not going to get interviews. You’re not going to get an acceptance. It would likely get you kicked out of medical school if you were already accepted when they found out.

Listen to this podcast episode with the player above, or keep reading for the highlights and takeaway points.

[00:57] Don’t Lie in Your Application to Medical School

I’m part of a prehealth advisors email list. There was a recent email from an advisor saying that she came across a student who wasn’t being very honest. This student was exaggerating stories and marking off minority statuses when she wasn’t really a minority. This student was filing the disadvantaged statements when she wasn’t disadvantaged.

This student submitted the application the way it was. And so what the advisor did was to put on the letter of recommendation that this student has serious issues in terms of fabricating. So the advisor recommended that the admissions committee carefully look through the application and verify things.

[02:10] You May Get an Interview, But They Will Soon Find Out

So the school is basically getting a letter from the advisor saying not to interview or accept this student. Interestingly, a lot of schools still invited the student for interviews.

One of the medical schools explained why they still invited the student for an interview. They simply explained that they receive 10,000 applications per year. On average, each application comes with three letters of recommendation. So that’s 30,000 letters of recommendation they have to go through. So this school just hadn’t read the letter from the advisor yet.

It depends on the specific process at each medical school for when and how they review those letters. Whether they review it upfront, post-interview, or in between interview invite and the interview varies. Every school is going to be different.

So you may sneak through the cracks long enough to get an interview if you’re fabricating things on your application. But this is just because the schools are not going to look at the letters of recommendation until later.

You Won’t Get Away with Lying on Your Medical School Application

But one way or another, trust me, it will catch up to you. And as soon as it does, you’re in a world of hurt because that school is going to tell everybody else out there. You’re going to fall flat on your face.

You wasted all of that money applying and all that money traveling for interviews. At the end of the day, you’re probably not going to get in. In fact, I hope you don’t get in if you’re fabricating stuff on your application.

You’re entering a career field where you are supposed to be honest. This bears repeating. Do not fabricate anything in your application.

Links and Other Resources

What Do Medical Schools Actually Verify On Your Application?

In order to get into medical school, you have to make yourself a competitive applicant. Aside from having a good GPA, this means doing lots of extracurricular activities and having solid letters of recommendation.

You may be wondering, what do medical schools actually verify on your application? Will they notice if I add an extra 50 hours to my volunteer activities?

Let me start off by saying, it’s never good to lie. Especially on your med school application.

But if you’re still curious, in this article we’ll cover everything you need to know about what med schools verify on your application.

Do Medical Schools Ever Contact Your Activities Or Verify Hours?

Alright, let’s get right to it. Are people at the med school admissions office getting on the phone and calling volunteer organizations and physicians to verify your hours?

Yes and no. For the most part, med schools are not going to have the time to call every activity you listed on your application. However, if there is a particularly significant activity, they might.

The key here is that med schools are going to be purposeful when it comes to physically/virtually contacting people. There are a ton of applications to go through and only a finite number of people are able to reach out.

And even if they do reach out to an old employer or a physician you shadowed, there is a pretty big chance that person won’t answer anyway.

But, as I mentioned earlier, if it’s a significant activity there is a good chance they will verify the activity. What do I mean by a significant activity? Here are some examples:

• A very large number of hours (we are talking in the 1000s)
• An activity that results in a publication (these are easy to verify because usually they can do it online)
• Or something that is not typical for a student (like being a police officer)

Do Med Schools Verify Shadowing?

Usually no. This is because shadowing is very difficult to verify. In order for a med school to verify your shadowing hours, they will have to actually get the physician you shadowed on the phone.

This alone is tough because most doctors are very busy and won’t take random phone calls.

In addition to this, most doctors won’t remember how many hours you shadowed them. The only chance of you getting caught in a lie here is if you fabricated a ridiculous amount of hours.

Does AMCAS Actually Contact Work Activities?

The AMCAS does not verify your work activities.

In fact, AMCAS is not responsible for verifying any work activities, shadowing hours, research experience, or other extracurricular activities. All of this is done by individual med schools.

That means that every med school is going to have its own policies for verifying activities. Some might not do it at all, some might only do it for interviewees, and others might have a different policy altogether.

Do Medical Schools Call Your Employer?

This is going to depend a lot on the type of employment. Most of the time, no medical school is not going to call your employer.

But for medically related employment jobs, especially ones that are not common for premed students, they might.

It all depends on the school and whether or not they think it’s necessary for your application.

Do Med Schools Verify Volunteer Hours?

Volunteer hours are very rarely verified by med schools. This is due to the fact that most volunteer organizations don’t keep track of hours on their own.

Plus, you aren’t listing any direct phone numbers. A med school would have to find the organization, find the right contact there, and see if they remember you.

But again, if the volunteer activity is especially unique or borderline unbelievable, they probably will try to verify it.

Do Med Schools Verify Research Work?

Research work is much easier for med schools to verify and this is because there tends to be a lot of documentation in these types of roles.

The most common is publications.

Usually, if you are working with a researcher, you are trying to get your name on a publication. This is easily verified online.

Even if you are not published, chances are you did some sort of research report. These kinds of reports make it really easy for med schools to see if you were BSing or not.

Do Medical Schools Verify Letters Of Recommendation?

Your letter has to be submitted by the letter writer directly to AMCAS/AACOMAS or through the 3rd party Interfolio.

Therefore, it’s almost impossible to fabricate a letter of recommendation.

Do medical schools contact your references?

Will med schools contact your references from your letters of recommendation? No. Very unlikely.

The only reason for them to contact your references would be some extraordinary scenario. Such as the letter writer commenting on something crazy you accomplished.

Do Medical Schools Verify Transcripts?

Medical schools don’t verify your transcripts because the AMCAS and AACOMAS already do. You have to submit official transcripts to the AMCAS through your school.

Therefore, there is no way for you to falsify your transcripts records.

Can Med Schools Verify Future Hours That You Put On Your Application?

On your med school applications, you are going to put in extracurriculars that you are currently doing and expect to continue doing throughout the year while your application is being reviewed.

Obviously, you can’t confirm these hours so you’ll have to give your best guess.

A lot can change during the year, so it’s not considered lying if you don’t complete those hours.

However, if you get called for an interview, the med school is most likely going to ask about your ongoing activities and compare them to what you entered on your application.

If you are way off your mark, you’ll need to justify that during the interview. Be honest and explain why you didn’t continue doing that activity.

During the interview with the med school, I was ultimately accepted into, there was a dedicated interviewer around the topic of ongoing activities. They basically gave me a list of things I said I was going to do and asked if I did them. Then they asked what else I did.

Your Med School Interview Is A Verification Process

Even if the med schools you apply to don’t call around your extracurricular activity contacts, your interview is like a verification process.

If you are lying about the activities you have listed, it will show in your interview. Med school interviewers are masters at the art of detecting BS.

If you claim to have 2000 hours of scribing but you actually only have 100, your lack of experience will come out.

Again, don’t lie on your med school application. It’s a terrible idea.

What Happens If You Get Caught Lying?

If you get caught lying, this will end very badly for you. You will be blacklisted from the school you applied to.

Plus, people in the med school community talk. Chances are your name will get circulated around.

And by the way, you aren’t safe just because you get accepted into a med school. If your lie surfaces later on, you can still be rejected and even kicked out of med school.

I can’t stress it enough, don’t lie on your med school application.