AAMC Core Competencies for Pre-Med: What to Know in 2025

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has established a set of core competencies for pre-med students. These competencies outline the skills and knowledge that aspiring medical professionals should possess to succeed in their future careers. Understanding these competencies for entering medical school is essential for pre-med students and can help them prepare effectively for the challenging journey ahead. This article provides a comprehensive guide and valuable resources to aid pre-med students in navigating the AAMC core of premed competencies and integrating them into their applications.

Read: Preparing for Medical School: A Comprehensive Guide

This guide will walk you through the 17 AAMC Core Competencies, explain their relevance to completing a medical school application, and show you exactly how to showcase them in your medical school application. Whether you’re looking to stand out as a successful medical school applicant or align your profile with the expectations of entering medical students, mastering these competencies is critical.

What Are the AAMC Core Competencies?

The AAMC Core Competencies are a framework established by the Association of American Medical Colleges to evaluate applicants beyond their academic achievements. These competencies serve as a blueprint for determining whether an applicant has the essential skills, attitudes, and knowledge required to succeed in medical school and eventually excel as a practicing physician. Successful medical school applicants demonstrate specific skills, knowledge, and capabilities across these defined competency areas.

These competencies are divided into three distinct categories, each highlighting critical attributes of a successful medical student and future doctor:

1. Professional Competencies
2. Science Competencies
3. Thinking and Reasoning Competencies

The Three Categories of Competencies

1. Professional Competencies: These focus on personal attributes and behaviors necessary for building trust, managing relationships, and maintaining integrity as a future physician. Examples include resilience and adaptability, interpersonal skills, and service orientation.
2. Science Competencies: These assess your understanding of biological systems and human behavior, which form the foundation for medical science. These include living systems and human behavior, ensuring you possess the scientific knowledge to approach patient care effectively.
3. Thinking and Reasoning Competencies: These involve analytical skills like critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, and scientific inquiry, enabling students to evaluate complex problems, formulate hypotheses, and make informed decisions in real-world healthcare scenarios.

Why the Competencies Matter?

Medical schools adopt a holistic review process to assess applicants comprehensively, moving beyond traditional academic metrics like GPA and MCAT scores. While those numbers matter, they don’t tell the full story. The AAMC Core Competencies allow admissions officers to evaluate a candidate’s readiness for the emotional, social, and professional demands of medical education and medical practice.

For example, a high MCAT score might demonstrate mastery of quantitative reasoning and scientific knowledge, but the competencies encourage schools to also weigh traits like cultural humility, service orientation, and ethical responsibility—qualities critical for interacting with patients and contributing to the healthcare community.

Read: MCAT Test: What You Need to Know and How to Prepare

The 17 AAMC Core Competencies

Professional Competencies

1. Commitment to Learning and Growth
2. Cultural Awareness
3. Cultural Humility
4. Empathy and Compassion
5. Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others
6. Interpersonal Skills
7. Oral Communication
8. Reliability and Dependability
9. Resilience and Adaptability
10. Service Orientation
11. Teamwork and Collaboration

Thinking and Reasoning Competencies

1. Critical Thinking
2. Quantitative Reasoning
3. Scientific Inquiry
4. Written Communication

Science Competencies

1. Living Systems
2. Human Behavior

Professional Competencies

Commitment to Learning and Growth

This competency is about your ability to embrace feedback, set goals for improvement, and demonstrate continuous learning. Medical education is a journey of lifelong growth, and this competency reflects how well you can adapt and improve. In your personal statement, you could share an example of how you overcame a challenge by applying constructive criticism or mentorship. For instance, you might describe a time when you struggled with a course or skill but sought guidance and took concrete steps to improve. Extracurricular activities, such as learning new techniques in a lab setting or completing additional certifications, also demonstrate this trait. Letters of recommendation should ideally emphasize your commitment to personal and academic development, further solidifying this competency.

Cultural Awareness

Cultural awareness refers to your understanding of how sociocultural influences affect interactions and relationships. As a physician, you’ll encounter patients from diverse backgrounds, so it’s essential to navigate these interactions with sensitivity and understanding. To demonstrate this competency, you might describe volunteer work in underserved communities or experiences where you adapted to cultural differences. For example, discussing how you adjusted your communication style to connect better with patients or colleagues from different cultures can show your ability to appreciate diversity and foster inclusion.

Cultural Humility

Cultural humility builds on cultural awareness by emphasizing inclusivity and addressing personal biases. This competency requires self-awareness and an open mind to view situations differently. One effective way to highlight cultural humility is by writing about how an experience changed your perspective or challenged your assumptions. For instance, interacting with individuals from a different background during a healthcare initiative or community service project could serve as a strong example. Discussing how this experience influenced your approach to collaboration or patient care can further demonstrate this competency.

Empathy and Compassion

Empathy and compassion are crucial for forming meaningful connections with patients and understanding their needs. This competency reflects your ability to respect and care for others. You can effectively demonstrate this competency through your extracurricular activities, hobbies, or personal experiences. For example, volunteering at a hospice or assisting individuals during a crisis are strong illustrations of this attribute. Highlight moments where you went beyond what was expected to support others, showing your genuine concern for their well-being.

Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others

Personal and academic integrity is one of the most critical and nuanced competencies to demonstrate in the context of ethical responsibility. It encompasses acting with honesty and integrity, both personally and professionally. You could share a time when you faced an ethical dilemma, explaining how you made decisions that prioritized fairness and minimized harm. During interviews or CASPer assessments, admissions committees may present hypothetical ethical scenarios. When responding in an honest and ethical manner, focus on solutions that emphasize honesty, fairness, and respect for all parties involved. This competency is essential for gaining the trust of patients and colleagues.

Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills involve the ability to build and maintain positive relationships with others. These skills are necessary for effective teamwork and patient interactions. Experiences such as participating in group projects, leading teams, or engaging in clinical shadowing provide opportunities to demonstrate this attribute. Reflect on moments when you successfully collaborated with others, resolved conflicts, or supported a team to achieve shared goals. These examples can be incorporated into your personal statement or secondary essays.

Oral Communication

Oral communication is not only about speaking clearly but also about listening actively and addressing potential communication barriers. This competency can be demonstrated through research presentations, patient interactions, or public speaking roles. You could highlight experiences where you educated patients about complex medical concepts or presented research findings to a diverse audience. Letters of recommendation can further validate your ability to communicate effectively in both formal and informal settings.

Reliability and Dependability

This competency reflects your ability to fulfill commitments in a timely satisfactory and ethical manner while taking full responsibility for your actions. It extends beyond academics to every aspect of your life. For example, if you held a leadership role in an organization, you could describe how you ensured that your responsibilities were met without fail. Supervisors from shadowing or work experiences can also speak to your reliability in their recommendation letters.

Resilience and Adaptability

Resilience and adaptability demonstrate your ability to handle stress and adjust to changing circumstances. In your application, describe how you overcame significant challenges or adapted to unforeseen situations. For example, balancing academics, work, and personal obligations during a difficult period could highlight your perseverance and flexibility. Even if your journey doesn’t involve overcoming extraordinary odds, sharing how you navigated everyday obstacles with determination can be equally compelling.

Service Orientation

This competency represents your desire to help others and improve their well-being. Service orientation can be demonstrated through long-term volunteer work, clinical experiences, or community service projects. For instance, you could discuss your involvement in organizing a health education program or working at a local food bank. Admissions committees value applicants who are committed to making a positive impact, regardless of the scale of their efforts.

Teamwork and Collaboration

Teamwork and collaboration are essential in the medical field, where success often depends on effective collaboration among healthcare professionals. To showcase this competency, describe instances where you worked as part of a team, such as participating in research projects or clinical rotations. Reflect on how you contributed to the team’s success, whether through leadership, problem-solving, or supporting others. Additionally, include examples of giving and receiving constructive feedback within a group setting.

Thinking and Reasoning Competencies

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking involves analyzing problems, identifying patterns, and devising effective solutions. Medical schools seek applicants who can think logically and evaluate evidence. To showcase this competency, include experiences where you solved challenging problems, whether in research, clinical settings, or academic projects. For example, you might discuss a research project where you identified a key variable that led to better results or a volunteer experience where you developed a creative solution to improve patient education. Highlighting specific outcomes from your critical thinking will make your application more compelling.

Quantitative Reasoning

This competency focuses on your ability to use appropriate mathematics to interpret and solve problems. Physicians rely on quantitative reasoning in tasks like interpreting lab results, analyzing patient data, or conducting research. To demonstrate this, discuss experiences where you applied statistical or mathematical concepts. For instance, you could mention analyzing data during a research internship in med school or using statistics in a public health study. Academic excellence in subjects like calculus, physics, or statistics can also reinforce your skills in this area.

Scientific Inquiry

Scientific inquiry reflects your ability to use the scientific process to ask questions, design experiments, formulate research questions, and analyze results. Medical schools value candidates who are curious, methodical, and capable of advancing medical knowledge. To demonstrate this competency, describe any research projects you've undertaken. Share details about your role, such as developing hypotheses, conducting experiments, or analyzing data. Explain how these experiences helped you refine your analytical skills and deepened your understanding of scientific knowledge. Even if your research wasn’t directly related to medicine, showing how you approached scientific challenges will be valuable.

Written Communication

Written communication involves the ability to clearly and concisely express ideas. This skill is critical for documenting patient care, writing research papers, or crafting grant proposals. To highlight this competency, point to well-written essays, reports, or research papers. Your personal statement is a prime opportunity to showcase your writing ability. Ensure it is polished, focused, and reflective of your ability to convey complex ideas effectively. Letters of recommendation can also validate your writing skills if a mentor has seen your work in an academic or research context.

Science Competencies

Living Systems

Living Systems refers to your knowledge of natural sciences, specifically molecular and macro systems, and how they apply to human health and disease. Medical schools look for applicants who can understand and use these principles effectively. To demonstrate this competency, highlight experiences where you applied biological concepts in academic or practical settings. For example, if you conducted research in cell biology, immunology, or physiology, describe how you gained insights into processes that directly influence health outcomes. Additionally, you can discuss how coursework in subjects like biochemistry or anatomy has prepared you to handle the rigorous science foundation in medical school.

Human Behavior

This competency focuses on understanding the psychological, sociocultural, and biological factors that shape human health, decision-making, and well-being. Medical schools value candidates who can apply this understanding to solve problems related to patient care. To demonstrate this, discuss how you have studied or applied behavioral sciences in real-world contexts. For instance, you might describe a psychology course that helped you understand mental health disorders or a sociology project that examined how social determinants of health impact access to care. If you volunteered or worked with underserved populations, share how that experience enhanced your awareness of human behavior and its role in healthcare delivery.

Levels of Core Competency

The AAMC recognizes that core competencies are developed at different stages. These stages represent your level of familiarity and experience with a specific skill. Understanding where you are with each competency can help you highlight your strengths and identify areas for growth.

1. Planning: At this stage, you’re exploring how to build a particular competency. This might involve researching opportunities, seeking mentorship, or preparing for experiences that will help you develop this skill.
2. Progressing: Here, you’re actively gaining experience and starting to become more comfortable and proficient with the competency.
3. Demonstrating: At this level, you have significant experience and can confidently show your expertise in the competency through your actions and achievements.

The AAMC offers a premed student self-assessment worksheet that can help you determine where you stand with each competency. Using this tool can also help you brainstorm specific examples to include in your medical school application.

When reflecting on your competencies, consider these questions:

• How am I planning to develop this specific competency?
• What experiences have helped me gain this competency, and how did I demonstrate it during those experiences?
• What did I learn from these experiences, and how did they shape me as a person?
• Why does this competency make me a stronger candidate for medical school?
• How have these experiences prepared me for the challenges of medical school and my future career in medicine?

Expert Tips: Consider speaking with a pre-health advisor or admissions consultant. They can help you develop the competencies further and ensure you present them effectively in your application. This reflective process will not only strengthen your application but also give you a clearer understanding of how your skills align with the expectations of medical schools.

Read: Top Pre-Med Schools: A Comprehensive Ranking and Guide

How to Use the AAMC Core Competencies to Strengthen Your Application

Knowing the AAMC Core Competencies is just the beginning. The real task is showing how these qualities show up in your life. Admissions committees don’t want you to simply list skills—they want to see real examples that back them up. Here are practical ways to connect your experiences to the competencies:

• Personal Statement: Use this space to share a meaningful story that shows your resilience, ethical responsibility, or dedication to personal growth. Talk about a challenge you faced, what you learned, and how it shaped you.
• Work and Activities Section: Highlight experiences that reflect competencies like service orientation, teamwork, or scientific inquiry. For example, you could discuss volunteering at a free clinic, leading a student organization, or contributing to research projects.
• Letters of Recommendation: Select people who can share specific examples of your strengths, such as interpersonal skills, cultural awareness, or dependability. Strong letters that align with the competencies can reinforce your application.

By integrating the competencies into all parts of your application, you show admissions officers that you’re not just academically strong but also ready for the ethical and moral reasoning,, interpersonal, and problem-solving challenges of medical school. Learn thoroughly these competencies will help you stand out as a well-rounded and prepared candidate. Showing how they connect to your experiences demonstrates your readiness for the demands of both medical school and a career in medicine.

Bottom Line

The AAMC Core Competencies are the key to presenting yourself as a well-rounded and capable medical school applicant. By understanding these competencies and aligning them with your experiences, you demonstrate to admissions committees that you are prepared for the academic, interpersonal, and ethical challenges of medicine. Use your personal statement, work and activities section, letters of recommendation, and interviews to showcase real examples that reflect these qualities. The stronger your ability to highlight these competencies, the better your chances of standing out as a confident and prepared candidate for medical school.

Work with an expert Medical School Admissions Coach

Create a standout application that showcases your strengths, aligns with the AAMC Core Competencies, and grabs the attention of admissions committees. Whether it’s perfecting your personal statement, selecting experiences to highlight, or preparing for interviews, our coaches are here to guide you every step of the way.

Related Articles

Looking for more tips and resources to strengthen your medical school application? Check out these helpful articles:

• The Ultimate Guide on How to Get Into Medical School
• A Guide to the T20 Medical Schools in the U.S.
• Medical School Requirements: What You Need to Get In
• How Many Medical Schools Should I Apply To? A Strategic Approach
• MCAT Test: What You Need to Know and How to Prepare
• How Many Hours of Research for Medical School? A Comprehensive Guide
• How to Start Preparing for the MCAT During College
• Prerequisite for Medical School: What You Need to Know

FAQs

What are the 6 ACGME Core Competencies?

• The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) defines six core competencies that medical residents and fellows must develop during their training:
  1. Patient Care – Providing compassionate, appropriate, and effective care.
  2. Medical Knowledge – Demonstrating knowledge of established and evolving biomedical, clinical, and social sciences.
  3. Practice-Based Learning and Improvement – Using self-evaluation and quality improvement to enhance patient care.
  4. Interpersonal and Communication Skills – Effectively exchanging information with patients, families, and colleagues.
  5. Professionalism – Upholding ethical principles and sensitivity to diverse patient populations.
  6. Systems-Based Practice – Understanding and working within healthcare systems to provide optimal care.

What are the 5 Core Competencies of IOM?

• The Institute of Medicine (IOM), now the National Academy of Medicine, has identified five core competencies for all healthcare professionals:
  1. Deliver patient-centered care.
  2. Work in interprofessional teams.
  3. Use evidence-based practice.
  4. Apply quality improvement principles.
  5. Utilize informatics to improve care delivery.

How Many ICF Core Competencies Are There?

• The International Coaching Federation (ICF) has identified 8 core competencies grouped into four categories:
  1. Foundation: Ethics and professional standards, coaching mindset.
  2. Co-creating the Relationship: Establishing trust and maintaining presence.
  3. Communicating Effectively: Active listening and powerful questioning.
  4. Cultivating Learning and Growth: Setting goals, promoting awareness, and achieving results.

What Are the Six Interprofessional Competencies?

• The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) outlines six competencies for collaborative healthcare practice:
  1. Values and Ethics: Work with mutual respect for all team members.
  2. Roles and Responsibilities: Understand your role and the roles of others.
  3. Interprofessional Communication: Communicate effectively across disciplines.
  4. Teams and Teamwork: Build strong interprofessional teams.
  5. Cultural Competence: Provide care with cultural sensitivity.
  6. Patient-Centered Care: Focus on the needs and preferences of patients.

What is the Difference Between Core and Detail ACGME Competencies?

• The core competencies of ACGME represent the broad categories of skills and attributes that every resident must develop, such as medical knowledge or patient care. The detailed competencies, on the other hand, break these broad categories into specific milestones or expectations that residents should achieve at different stages of their training. These detailed competencies provide measurable benchmarks for assessing progress.