How to ask a verifier or AMCAS contact: email templates
Both OMSAS and AMCAS require a person who can confirm each activity you list. OMSAS calls them verifiers and asks for their contact details on each sketch entry. AMCAS calls them contacts and asks for a name, title and contact details per entry. Schools do check, not every entry and not every applicant, and a verifier who does not recognise what you wrote is a worse outcome than a verifier who was never asked. These emails prevent that.
Who to ask
Someone who supervised the activity directly and can speak to your hours and role: a volunteer coordinator, a lab supervisor, a manager, a coach, a physician you shadowed. Not a friend, not a family member, and not a peer who did the same activity, unless there is no one else, in which case say so in the entry. For a long activity with several supervisors, ask the one who covered the most of your time, and tell them the earlier supervisors' names in case they are asked.
When to ask
At least four weeks before the deadline, and earlier for anyone who is likely to be slow or on leave. Ask again, briefly, one week before if you have not heard back. If the person cannot be reached, list a different contact rather than a stale one.
The first email
Keep it under 150 words, put the ask in the first line, and give them everything they need to say yes without opening an attachment.
Subject: Verifier request — [activity name], [your name] Hi [Name], I am applying to medical school this fall and I am listing my [role] with [organisation] on my application. Each entry needs a person who can confirm it if the schools ask. Would you be willing to be that person? What I have written, so you can check it against your records: Role: [title] Dates: [start] to [end / present] Hours: about [N] total, roughly [n] per week Description: "[the exact text of your entry]" If any of this does not match what you remember, please tell me and I will change it. If you agree, I will list your name, title and this email address. Schools rarely contact verifiers, but they may. Thank you for [one specific thing]. [Your name] [Phone]
The follow-up
Subject: Re: Verifier request — [activity name] Hi [Name], a short nudge on the note below. The application deadline is [date] and I would like to have your confirmation before I submit. A one-line reply is all I need. Thank you.
The confirmation to keep
You want a reply that says, in effect, "yes, that is accurate". Save it. If your verifier asks for a change, make the change in your entry first, then reply with the revised text so the record they hold matches what you submitted.
For AMCAS contacts
AMCAS asks for a contact's name, title, organisation, phone and email per entry, and for total hours per date range. Use the same email, but include the hours per date range if you have more than one, and mention that a school, not AMCAS, would be the one to reach out. If your contact has left the organisation, list them anyway with a current email; the organisation is a place, the contact is a person.
Physicians you shadowed
Physicians get many of these requests. Make yours easy: one paragraph, the dates and half-days, what you observed in general terms, and the exact text. Do not send a form to fill in. Ask whether they prefer their clinic email or a personal one for the listing, and do not list a clinic's general line without asking.
Reference letters are a separate ask
A verifier is confirming a fact. A referee is writing an assessment. If you want the same person to do both, ask about the verification first, wait for the yes, and make the reference request a separate conversation with its own lead time. Combining them in one email makes the small ask feel large.
What to send yourself
Keep a table: activity, verifier, date asked, date confirmed, notes. A spreadsheet that already holds your activities and hours can generate the first email from your own rows, which is the point of logging in the first place.
This article describes published rules as understood on 2026-09-06. Rules change each cycle; the linked official pages are the authority. Not affiliated with OUAC, the AAMC or any school.