Can Medical Schools Verify Your Hours? The Rules
AACOMAS asks for a supervisor programs can contact; TMDSAS authorizes schools to verify. What each service says about false hours and essays.
Can Medical Schools Verify Your Hours? The Rules
The forms give them the means. AACOMAS asks for a supervisor for each experience, "a person that programs can contact to verify that this experience occurred", and the TMDSAS certification authorizes schools "to verify the information I have provided". How often any school checks is not published on any page we read.
The question sounds like "will they actually call?" That is the wrong question, because no page we read publishes the answer. The right one is what you signed. Every service quoted below attaches its consequences to false information in general, so padded hours and an essay someone else wrote sit under the same clauses. This page lays out what the forms ask, what each service says happens, and how to estimate hours so that every number survives a call. It sits inside our medical and health application essays hub.
Every application-service and school page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026. AAMC's pages, including the AMCAS Work/Activities chapter, the certification statements and the investigations chapter, returned HTTP 403 to our fetch that day. This page quotes no AMCAS wording; read those chapters before you enter or change anything.
What the forms already give schools
| Service | Contact for each experience | Authorization or accuracy line |
|---|---|---|
| AMCAS | Not verified (HTTP 403) | Not verified (HTTP 403) |
| AACOMAS (DO) | "This is a person that programs can contact to verify that this experience occurred." | "Select Yes or No to indicate a release authorization to allow your selected programs to contact the organization." |
| TMDSAS (Texas) | "Unlike other application services, you do not need to enter the contact information in the activity descriptions." | "I authorize the Texas Medical and Dental School Application Service (TMDSAS) and any dental, medical, podiatric, or veterinary school to which I am applying to verify the information I have provided." (certification) |
| ADEA CAS (dental) | Not stated in the agreement | "You agree to provide only accurate and complete information and materials to ADEA CAS." |
| PTCAS (physical therapy) | Not stated in the certification | "I certify that all the information and statements I have provided in this application are current, correct, and complete to the best of my knowledge." |
Two different designs. AACOMAS builds a contact into each entry and asks whether your programs may contact the organization. TMDSAS skips the contact field, and its certification authorizes every school you apply to to verify what you provided.
AACOMAS also covers the case with no adviser: "If the experience was a student-organized group and there was no advisor, list a member who can verify your experience."
What each service says happens when something is false
| Service | Consequence (verbatim) | Who else is told |
|---|---|---|
| TMDSAS | "submission of false information is grounds for rejection of my application, withdrawal of any offer of acceptance, dismissal after enrollment, or rescission of any degrees granted." | "application irregularities are documented by TMDSAS and member schools and are reported to the Association of American Medical Colleges, American Dental Education Association, American Association of Osteopathic Medicine, Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, American Podiatric Medical Association , and other appropriate professional organizations." |
| ADEA CAS | Misrepresenting information "may jeopardize your application or result in other actions by a school." | "Reports of incomplete, misleading, missing or false information may result in the reported information being posted to your application(s)." |
| PharmCAS | "Applicants must not falsify information (for example, make a false claim to be an officer in an organization, falsify work experience, plagiarize your personal essay or provide altered transcripts)." | "PharmCAS staff will enter a related note in your PharmCAS record that will be visible to all of your designated colleges and schools of pharmacy." |
| VMCAS 2027 guide | "Withholding relevant information or providing false information on this application may result in denial of admission to a participating veterinary school or college through VMCAS or in expulsion after admission or enrollment." | "AAVMC reserves the right to notify the selected programs of any violations of the Applicant Code of Conduct." |
| PTCAS | "withholding information requested on the PTCAS application, or giving false information, may be grounds for denial of admission to a program participating in PTCAS or may be grounds for expulsion from the institution after I have been admitted." | Not stated in the certification |
Read the TMDSAS sentence whole. It begins with the information TMDSAS and schools rely on "in determining my residence status for admission and later for tuition purposes", then lists the consequences of "submission of false information". PharmCAS is the only service here that names work experience as an example of falsifying.
Our view: the right test for every number is whether you could defend it to the person you listed, on the phone, today. Not whether anyone will call. The clauses above do not depend on how likely a check is, and several reach past the acceptance to enrollment or a degree.
The countercase: an honest estimate that turns out to be off is not falsification. TMDSAS's own instructions ask you to estimate future hours. The protection is a method you can explain, which the next section gives.
One clause covers hours and essays
TMDSAS writes activity descriptions into its written-passages certification: "descriptions of employment/activities" are among the passages you certify "are my own and have not been composed or generated by a third party." ADEA's agreement does the same for "your descriptions of experiences".
So a description someone else wrote and an hour count you inflated are both statements you certified. The consultant and authorship page compares those written-passage lines across five services.
Estimating hours you can defend
TMDSAS says it twice: "Estimate (but don't overinflate) the hours you expect to complete" and "Be careful not to overinflate your total hours." AACOMAS asks for "the average weekly number of hours that you completed for this experience during the date range that you indicated", says "Enter only current and in-progress experiences (not planned experiences)", and says "you cannot repeat hours between experience types."
A method that holds up:
- Start from a record. Shift schedules, a volunteer log, a timesheet, emails confirming dates. Use the record over memory every time.
- Count weeks, not months. Count the weeks you actually attended. Take out exams, holidays and breaks.
- Use your normal week. Multiply typical hours per week by weeks attended. Do not use your busiest week.
- Round down. If the arithmetic gives 213, enter 210, not 220.
- Split, do not double count. If one job fits two categories, divide the hours, as AACOMAS requires.
- Write down the method. Keep a note of how you got each number. If anyone asks, that note is your answer.
For how many hours schools say they want, see how many clinical and shadowing hours for med school. PA applicants sorting hours into categories should read the CASPA PCE vs. HCE guide.
Constructed hours worksheet: two experiences
Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's record.
Context (invented): Leah Thompson is applying in June. She volunteers at a hospital and worked as a scribe.
| Experience | Record | Weeks attended | Hours per week | Total (our arithmetic) | Entered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital volunteer | Volunteer office log | 40 of 52 (12 off for exams and travel) | 4 | 160 | 160 |
| Emergency scribe | Pay stubs | 30 | 12 shifts a month ÷ 4.3 weeks × 8 hours ≈ 22 | 30 × 22 = 660 | 660 |
Our arithmetic: 12 ÷ 4.3 = 2.79 shifts a week; 2.79 × 8 = 22.3 hours, rounded down to 22; 30 × 22 = 660. The weak version Leah almost entered was "about 200" and "about 1,100". Both counted all 52 weeks of the year (52 × 4 = 208; 52 × 22 = 1,144), including the 12 weeks she missed at the hospital and the 22 weeks before the scribe job started. She could not have explained either one to her contact.
Can an acceptance be withdrawn for an AI essay or padded hours?
The published wording allows it. TMDSAS lists "withdrawal of any offer of acceptance" among the consequences of false information. Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine's admissions page says an offer may be rescinded if a violation of its AI rules is found after the offer is made. VMCAS and PTCAS name expulsion after admission.
Note what TMDSAS does not say: its written-passages sentence carries no penalty of its own. The consequences sit in the sentence about false information.
We found no published count of offers withdrawn for hours or essays on any page we read today. The clauses are what you have.
If you find a mistake after submitting
Correct it with the service and the schools; do not wait. TMDSAS's certification includes: "I certify that I will report to TMDSAS any event which occurs subsequent to filing this application but prior to matriculation that would alter any answer provided on my application." For AMCAS steps, our AMCAS mistake triage guide covers what can and cannot be changed. If the issue is a past conduct finding, see the AMCAS institutional action guide.
Questions about verifying hours
Do medical schools call your experience contacts?
AACOMAS says programs "can contact" the supervisor you list, and TMDSAS has you authorize schools to verify. No page we read says how often schools do.
Can I list myself as the contact?
AACOMAS asks for a supervisor, or "a member who can verify your experience" for a student-run group with no adviser. For AMCAS, read the Work/Activities chapter; we could not open it today.
Is it lying to estimate future hours?
No. TMDSAS asks you to estimate planned hours, with the warning not to overinflate them. AACOMAS asks for completed and in-progress experiences only. Follow the rule of the service you are in.
What if my contact has left the organization?
List the person who can best confirm the experience now, and keep your own record. The AACOMAS wording is about someone who can verify "that this experience occurred."
Can a small rounding error get my acceptance withdrawn?
The clauses quoted here are about false information. A rounding method you can explain is the opposite of that. Round down, and keep the note.
Get a free review of your activity descriptions
Get a free Quick Review of your activity descriptions against GradPilot's AMCAS Work and Activities rubric. It reads whether each entry makes your part clear, backs its main claim with specific evidence, and keeps its claims verifiable and bounded. For your top three experiences, use the AMCAS most meaningful experiences rubric; for entry ideas, see AMCAS work and activities examples.
Sources
Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.
- Liaison, AACOMAS Experiences (no year stated): supervisor contact, release authorization, hours fields.
- Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service, Biographical and Activities guide (EY2027) and Application Certification (EY2027): contact field, hour estimates, verification authorization, consequences, reporting.
- American Dental Education Association, ADEA CAS Policies and Applicant Release Statements (no year stated): accuracy and posting of reports.
- AACP, PharmCAS Applicant Code of Conduct (no year stated): falsifying work experience and the record note.
- AAVMC, VMCAS 2027 Applicant Guide (PDF) (2027 cycle): false information and notification.
- American Physical Therapy Association, PTCAS application preparation (no year stated): accuracy certification and consequences.
- Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, Admission Process and Procedures (no year stated): rescission of offers for AI violations.
- AAMC, AMCAS Work/Activities, certification statements and investigations chapters: not retrieved (HTTP 403 on November 7, 2026); nothing quoted.
Review Your Personal Statement
See how your AMCAS or secondary essay scores before you submit.