All medical schools have some prerequisite courses that incoming students are expected to have had prior to starting. At a minimum these courses include a year of general chemistry with lab, a year of organic chemistry/biochemistry with lab, a year of physics with lab, a year of biology with lab, a year of English, and math through college algebra.
Affectionately known to pre-meds as the MCAT, this standardized exam is required by medical schools in order to assess all applicants on the same level. The exam includes sections on physical sciences, verbal reasoning, biology, and a writing sample. The MCAT is offered several times per year in various locations nationwide.
The American Medical Colleges Applications Service is used by almost all of the U.S. medical schools granting the M.D. degree. It streamlines the application process for most applicants, as one electronic copy of the AMCAS application can be forwarded to all schools participating in the system. Applications may be started June 1st of the year prior to the anticipated admission date.
This is a very important part of the application. Medical school admissions committees use the personal statement to evaluate the applicant's motivation to study medicine and commit to close to a decade of training. It is vital for the admissions committee to sense the applicant's ability to endure and succeed.
On average, the successful medical school applicant has a 3.5 GPA. Of course, this varies by school and is not to say that all applicants with a 3.0 GPA are turned away. However, it is generally more favorable to have a high GPA. This aspect of the application can be balanced out by the MCAT score---that is, a low GPA but high MCAT score may still stand a chance for admission.