The AAMC Premed Competencies in this Month’s Curriculum

HSAFP Curriculum

Nearly all U.S. medical schools use the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Premed Competencies to “evaluate applicants’ readiness for medical school” (AAMC, 2023). The very same AAMC also administers the MCAT, which many U.S. and Canadian medical schools require for admission.

Due to these reasons, HSAFP develops our curriculum based on the updated version of the Association of American Medical College’s 17 Premed Competencies. For even more information, please visit AAMC’s website and HSAFP’s Curriculum.

Listed alphabetically in each category below are the AAMC Premed Competencies that students will use or learn about when they participate in all activities this month.

AAMC Premed Professional Competencies

• Commitment to Learning and Growth: Practices continuous personal and professional growth for improvement, including setting and communicating goals for learning and development; reflects on successes, challenges, and mistakes; pursues opportunities to improve knowledge and understanding; and asks for and incorporates feedback to learn and grow.
  
  
• Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others: Behaves with honesty and integrity; considers multiple and/or conflicting principles and values to inform decisions; adheres to ethical principles when carrying out professional obligations; resists pressure to engage in unethical behavior; and encourages others to behave honestly and ethically.
  
  
• Oral Communication: Effectively conveys information to others using spoken words and sentences; actively listens to understand the meaning and intent behind what others say; and recognizes potential communication barriers and adjusts approach or clarifies information as needed.
  
  
• Reliability and Dependability: Demonstrates accountability for performance and responsibilities to self and others; prioritizes and fulfills obligations in a timely and satisfactory manner; and understands consequences of not fulfilling one’s responsibilities to self and others.
  
  
• Resilience and Adaptability: Perseveres in challenging, stressful, or ambiguous environments or situations by adjusting behavior or approach in response to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles, and recognizes and seeks help and support when needed; recovers from and reflects on setbacks; and balances personal well-being with responsibilities.
  
  
• Teamwork and Collaboration: Collaborates with others to achieve shared goals and prioritizes shared goals; adjusts role between team member and leader based on one’s own and others’ expertise and experience; shares information with team members and encourages this behavior in others; and gives and accepts feedback to improve team performance.
  

AAMC Premed Science Competencies

• Human Behavior: Applies knowledge of the self, others, and social systems to solve problems related to the psychological, sociocultural, and biological factors that influence health and well-being.
  
  
• Living Systems: Applies knowledge and skill in the natural sciences to solve problems related to molecular and macro systems, including biomolecules, molecules, cells, and organs.

AAMC Premed Thinking and Reasoning Competencies

• Critical Thinking: Uses logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  
  
• Scientific Inquiry: Applies knowledge of the scientific process to integrate and synthesize information, solve problems, and formulate research questions and hypotheses; is facile in the language of the sciences and uses it to participate in the discourse of science and explain how scientific knowledge is discovered and validated.
  
  
• Written Communication: Effectively conveys information to others by using written words and sentences.