Albany Medical College Acceptance Rate & How to Get In

You’re interested in Albany Medical College, but you’re not sure if you’ve done enough to get in. Maybe your GPA isn’t perfect, your clinical hours feel light, or you just don’t know how bad the odds really are.

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This guide breaks down everything you need to know: Albany Medical College’s acceptance rate, GPA and MCAT expectations, what makes the school unique, and how to build an application that actually gets noticed. We’ll walk you through deadlines, essays, interviews, and more.

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How Hard Is It to Get Into Albany Medical College?

For the 2024‑25 entering class at Albany Medical College, there were 12,973 applicants, and of those, only 140 matriculated.

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That means the Albany Medical College acceptance rate is about 1.08%.

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In other words, only about 1 in every 93 applicants gained admission, making AMC one of the more selective private medical schools in New York and the nation.

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But here’s where it gets interesting: while Albany is a private institution and doesn’t officially favor in-state applicants, the numbers tell a different story. 

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Only about 2,063 of the 12,973 applicants were from New York. That’s just 15.9% of the total pool. Yet New Yorkers made up 50% of the incoming class.

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So, when you do the math, these are your real odds based on your state of residence:

• New York resident: ~2.38%
• Out-of-state applicants: ~0.83%

Average GPA & MCAT Scores

Albany Medical College expects applicants to bring strong academic credentials to the table. Here’s the numbers from the most recent incoming class:

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• Average GPA: 3.80
• Average MCAT score: 510

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These numbers are just below the national average for matriculating students at U.S. MD programs (around a 3.84 GPA and a 511.7 MCAT). So while Albany isn’t gunning only for 99th percentile scorers, the bar is still high.

Albany Medical College Requirements

Numbers aren’t everything. 

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Albany Medical College evaluates candidates using a holistic admissions process. That means they consider academic metrics alongside personal qualities, experiences, and recommendations.

Prerequisite Coursework:

AMC requires the following coursework, generally with labs:

• General Biology (1 year)
• General Chemistry (1 year)
• Organic Chemistry (1 year)
• Physics (1 year)

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Elective or recommended courses may include Biochemistry, Calculus, Statistics, and behavioral sciences.

Other Components:

• Letters of recommendation, preferably from a pre‑med advisory committee, professors, or supervisors who can speak to academic ability and character 
• Secondary essays, thoughtful personal statements, and authentic experiences in healthcare or service settings
• Interview performance, assessed as part of the holistic review

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AMC does not require CASPer or AAMC PREview exams at this time.

Albany Medical College Tuition & Scholarships

Let’s be honest: medical school is expensive, and Albany Medical College is no exception. 

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Tuition alone sits at $58,750 for the 2024–2025 academic year. 

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Factor in housing, meals, books, and everything else it takes to survive as a full-time med student, and you're looking at a total cost of attendance around $87,914. 

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Here’s the good news: Every full-time MD student is automatically considered for institutional scholarships. No begging required. 

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Just make sure your FAFSA and the Albany Financial Aid Form are submitted by January 15. Awards are based on your financial need, your program, prior debt, and the substance of your essays. If you've put in the work, you’ll be in the running.

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Scholarships are handed out by term and go straight to your tuition account. On top of that, AMC offers federal loans, Federal Work-Study, and even loan forgiveness opportunities for students willing to serve where they're needed most.

What Makes Albany Medical College Stand Out

Albany Medical College isn’t trying to be flashy. It’s focused on substance. And in a field like medicine, that’s exactly what matters. 

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Here’s what sets AMC apart from the hundreds of other programs you could apply to:

1. A Mission-Driven Education

AMC was one of the first medical schools in the nation, and its mission hasn’t changed: train doctors who serve communities that need them most. That’s not just a tagline. It’s baked into the curriculum, the clinical rotations, and the types of applicants they admit. If you care about impact over prestige, you’ll feel right at home.

2. Community-Focused Clinical Training

Albany Medical College is in New York’s Capital Region, where healthcare disparities are real and complex. That gives students direct access to underserved urban and rural populations starting in year one.

3. Flexibility in the Curriculum

The school offers tracks in things like bioethics, health care management, and medical education, so you’re not locked into a one-size-fits-all training model. AMC understands that the future of medicine isn’t just about being a good clinician. It’s about being a leader, advocate, and thinker, too.

4. Close-Knit Community

With smaller class sizes and a collaborative culture, AMC is the kind of place where you’ll actually know your professors, and they’ll know you. It’s not about who can flex the hardest on test day; it’s about who’s committed to becoming the kind of doctor people trust with their lives.

5. Accelerated & Combined Programs

AMC offers accelerated and combined degree options, including the 8-year BS/MD program and linkage programs that allow some students to bypass the traditional application grind. Translation: less time, less debt, and a straight shot to your MD.

How to Get Into Albany Medical College

Getting in isn’t about being perfect—even though it can seem like that. Albany wants applicants who can reflect deeply in their personal statements, respond with insight in their secondaries, and earn letters of recommendation that say more than “hard worker.” They’re looking for the kind of student who could already walk the hospital halls, not just tour them.

Application Timeline: Don’t Fall Behind

Albany Medical College’s MD program is not rolling admission in the traditional sense. It has a fixed AMCAS deadline of November 1, followed by a school-specific supplemental application. That said, once your complete application arrives (AMCAS + secondary + all letters), AMC reviews holistically and notifies candidates continuously, often within 4–6 weeks of verification. 

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If you drag your feet past the key dates, you risk missing out on interview slots, scholarship opportunities, and may be competing with a shrinking pool of seats.

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Here’s the AMC application timeline:

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Personal Statement: Create a Cohesive Narrative

Your personal statement is where you make one clear claim about who you are and why you belong in medicine.

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The mistake most applicants make? Listing a bunch of impressive experiences with no connection between them. You volunteered at a hospital, shadowed a surgeon, worked in a lab, ran a health fair. Great. But what does it mean? Why did you do those things, and how do they tie together?

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Let’s say your theme is “building trust through communication.” That means your patient transport role wasn’t just about moving beds. It was where you learned how to calm anxious families. Your research wasn’t just data. It was your first lesson in asking better questions. Your shadowing? It taught you that the best doctors don’t just treat symptoms, they listen.

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Let’s say your theme is women’s health advocacy. Then talk about the time you volunteered at a local OBGYN clinic, led a campus group that provided menstrual hygiene kits to shelters, and did research involving HPV vaccination disparities in underserved populations.

Secondary Essays: Show Your Mission-Fit

The secondary essays are where AMC decides if you’re aligned with their mission to train physicians who serve with empathy, integrity, and community focus. Unlike the primary application, where you paint in broad strokes, the secondaries are where you prove that Albany is your school and not just one of 30 on your list.

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Below are the exact prompts from the last cycle (they’re often recycled) and how to address each one.

1. Describe yourself (1,000 characters)

Frame this as a mini memoir, not a biography. Pick one story or trait, lead with action, and let the reader see who you are, not just read about your qualities.

2. Please explain any inconsistencies in your university, graduate, or professional school academic performance and/or MCAT scores (1,000 characters)

Don’t excuse or defend. Explain clearly, take responsibility, and show how you resolved the issue. Then pivot: illustrate what improved and why you’re more prepared today.

3. Has your college or university, graduate or professional school attendance been interrupted for any reason? Also describe any extended gaps in activity/employment in your post‑graduate history (1,000 characters)

Be transparent. Briefly state the reason for any gap, whether it was medical, personal, or work-related. Then shift quickly to purpose: how you used that time to grow, contribute, or clarify your goals.

4. Describe a significant challenge that has prepared you for the MD career path (1,000 characters)

Choose one meaningful obstacle—academic, personal, or work—and show how you responded. Focus on emotional honesty and the insight you gained. It’s not about the difficulty, it’s about the depth.

5. Describe your personal experiences with the structural and social determinants of health in your life and community, how they shaped your engagement with medicine and your future ideas for doctoring (1,000 characters)

This is your equity prompt. Share a clear example, like your time volunteering in under-resourced clinics, the personal or health barriers you faced, or the time you witnessed bias. Show how that perspective reshaped you as an advocate and future physician.

6. Tell us about a community with which you identify and how you are involved with it (1,000 characters)

Go deeper than “I identify.” Show action. Leadership. The initiatives you’ve taken or contributions you’ve made. The impact of your involvement and why it continues to matter to you.

7. Is there anything else you’d like the admissions committee to know when reviewing your application? (1,000 characters)

Use wisely and sparingly. Avoid repeating resume details. Instead, add meaningful context: caregiving responsibilities, multilingual environment, non-traditional journey. Choose only if it adds clarity.

8. From your AMCAS Work & Activities section, select the one experience that most influenced your decision to pursue medicine. Explain why and describe which part of that experience best equips you to make an impact in the medical profession (1,000 characters)

Pick one activity that aligns with Albany’s mission. Think community health, teaching, mentoring, advocacy. Explain not just what you did but why it mattered and how it changed you.

Letters of Recommendation: Prove Your Character

Letters of recommendation are essential character references that confirm the qualities the school hopes to cultivate: empathy, grit, integrity, and community commitment.

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Albany participates in the AMCAS letter service. They do not accept letters submitted outside that system.

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Preference is given as follows:

• A pre-medical advisory committee letter or a college letter service packet (e.g. Pre‑Health Advisory Committee) is preferred.
• If your school doesn’t offer that, you can submit 3–4 individual letters.

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Among those letters, Albany particularly wants:

1. At least one academic (faculty) letter—ideally someone who taught you in a classroom setting and can testify to both your academic skills and who you are as a person.
2. At least one clinical or research supervisor—someone who knows your hands‑on performance, whether you're volunteering, conducting lab work, or doing patient care.

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You’re limited to four individual letters maximum, so make every one count.

Interview: Stay True to Your Story

Albany Medical College conducts its MD interviews using a virtual Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format, not a traditional panel interview. This format is designed to gauge your soft skills, ethical judgment, adaptability, and mission alignment, especially in New York’s diverse healthcare environment.

Format & What to Expect

• You’ll rotate through 8–10 timed stations, each lasting 6–10 minutes, with a different evaluator or scenario at each one.
• Stations can include role-plays with actors, written prompts, teamwork scenarios, and traditional interviews embedded within the circuit.
• The prompts range from ethics dilemmas and public health strategy questions to situational teamwork or empathetic communication challenges.

What Albany Is Looking For

• Health equity awareness: Expect scenarios focusing on rural-urban divides or vulnerable populations, which is common in Upstate New York.
• Ethical reasoning: You might be asked, for example, how to counsel a hesitant parent on vaccination or prioritize limited resources during a crisis.
• Collaborative problem-solving: Some stations are interactive. Think team-based cases where you must facilitate consensus.
• Adaptability and empathy: Albany wants future doctors who respond thoughtfully under pressure and understand policy-impacted care settings.

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Expect open file interviews, meaning interviewers had access to their applications. That means you need to stay true to the narrative you wrote about in your primary and secondary applications.

Is Albany Medical College Right For You?

Choosing the right med school isn’t just about getting in. It’s about belonging. Albany Medical College has a clear identity, and you’ll thrive here if your goals and values line up with what the school actually delivers. And if not, you should keep looking.

You're a Great Fit for Albany Medical College If…

• You want to serve underserved communities. From the first year, you’ll engage with underserved populations in both urban Albany and surrounding rural New York. This school walks the walk on health equity.
  
  
• You value small class sizes and tight-knit support. Albany fosters a collaborative, non-cutthroat culture. You’ll actually know your professors and your classmates.
  
  
• You want flexibility in your training. With specialized tracks in bioethics, health systems, and education, AMC gives you options to explore the kind of physician you want to be beyond the clinical.
  
  
• You’re looking for strong clinical exposure early. The partnership with Albany Medical Center means hands-on experience starts early and runs deep, especially in patient-facing environments that reflect real health disparities.
  
  
• You care more about mission than about name-brand. If you're in this to make a difference in people’s lives, not just collect prestige, AMC is the kind of school that will nurture that fire.

Albany May Not Be the Right Fit If…

• You’re focused on cutting-edge research above all else. While Albany offers research opportunities, it’s not a major research powerhouse. If your dream is an academic lab-based career or NIH-funded projects from year one, this may not be your strongest launchpad.
  
  
• You’re looking for a coastal metro experience. Albany isn’t NYC or Boston. It’s quieter, more community-centered, and doesn’t offer the same urban buzz or global diversity that some larger city schools do.
  
  
• You want lots of dual-degree or MD/PhD options. AMC’s combined degree offerings are more limited compared to research-heavy institutions. If you’re planning on doing an MBA, MPH, or PhD alongside your MD, you’ll have fewer built-in pathways here.
  
  
• You thrive in high-stakes competition. Albany’s culture is more collaborative than competitive. If you’re energized by a hyper-competitive environment, AMC might feel too relaxed for you.

Other Medical Schools in New York

New York is one of the most diverse and opportunity-rich places to go to medical school. Whether you're looking for heavy-hitting research institutions, mission-driven community programs, or accelerated primary care tracks, you’ll find something that fits you.

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To help you compare, we’ve created detailed guides on many of the top medical schools in New York, each one breaking down acceptance rates, application strategies, and what makes each school unique.

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Columbia

Weill Cornell

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Stony Brook University

Icahn

The University of Rochester

New York Medical College

CUNY School of Medicine

NYU Grossman

NYITCOM

SUNY Upstate Medical University

See Real AMCAS That Earned Real Acceptances

Still wondering if your stats or story are strong enough for Albany Medical College or any med school at all?

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At Premed Catalyst, we’ve pulled back the curtain.

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We built a free Application Database with 8 real, full AMCAS applications that earned acceptances to top-tier medical schools, including UCSF, UCLA, and more. These aren’t cherry-picked unicorns. They’re real students who figured out how to tell their story, highlight their impact, and make every part of their app count.

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Get the free resource here.