2013 Nontrad Applicants' Progress Thread

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Committee letter received by AMCAS! Now I'm complete at eleven schools! Hooray! Four more secondaries on my plate right now. Waiting for four more invitations as well. I'm really dreading finishing these four secondaries, though, as they include Case and Vandy, which are both long, long, long. Let's see if I can get all of this crap done before August rolls around.

Vandy is gorgeous and Nashville (or Nash Vegas as I came to call it as an undergrad at Vandy) is a fantastic city with an unbelievably reasonable cost of living. If you get an II from them, spend an extra day to scope things out. While you're at it, grab breakfast at the Loveless Cafe and grab a burger at Rotiers. You will not be disappointed.

Submitted! Later than my absolutely-must-be-in-by-today-or-Seppuku deadline of July 15th, but such is life. Will be pre-writing 1 secondary a day for the next month.

I am not sure if I can be called a non-traditional. Graduated in 2009 and currently work full-time. I am 26 and will be 27 y.o. in September. Single with no children, which makes this process easier and less stressful. Kudos to everyone pursuing a career in medicine with a family right now! I know you have to be considerate of them and are selective in where you apply. I submitted AMCAS 7/11 to a few schools and am waiting for verification. Still haven't submitted AACOMAS or TMDSAS (OOS) due to budgeting issues and car repairs. Hope to submit both in August. Retaking MCAT August 4th. I planned to do everything earlier but that is life for you. I have started prewriting secondaries though, so I can get this thing rolling and be complete in September. I am well-rounded with average stats but I truly believe I will be in someone's medical school Fall 2013. Also, I am being promoted on my job after only a year. Yippie! Good luck to all of you this cycle!

Well I have bad news for my application cycle. My school will not be writing my committee letter until the 20th of August (I was initially told it would be the end of July). On top of that I somehow completely dropped the ball and only got one LOR from a faculty member (my committee requires 2-3) and was notified today that I was missing one. Had to call my favorite chemistry professor this morning (haven't taken a class from him in over 2 years, but I got to know him well enough) on his cell while he's on vacation to ask him to write me a letter. He agreed and will write me one upon his return but MAN I totally almost shruted myself on that one!

And on top of everything I've already submitted all of my secondaries... Oh I hate this waiting.

Originally Posted by dsoz

Released from AACOMAS yesterday. Received my first notifications email today. (VCOM and OSU). Still waiting for other DO secondaries, and for AMCAS verification.

dsoz

Released from AMCAS 7/30!!!! I have been busy with secondaries. Arizona Tucson was long, OHSU is a killer. I just finished Oakland U. I am only part way done with several of them.

All these essays are driving me nuts!

back to work, those essays won't write themselves.

dsoz

Originally Posted by abolt18

Well I have bad news for my application cycle. My school will not be writing my committee letter until the 20th of August (I was initially told it would be the end of July). On top of that I somehow completely dropped the ball and only got one LOR from a faculty member (my committee requires 2-3) and was notified today that I was missing one. Had to call my favorite chemistry professor this morning (haven't taken a class from him in over 2 years, but I got to know him well enough) on his cell while he's on vacation to ask him to write me a letter. He agreed and will write me one upon his return but MAN I totally almost shruted myself on that one!

And on top of everything I've already submitted all of my secondaries... Oh I hate this waiting.

I get ya on the letter-waiting. My 2nd science LOR was sent at the end of June (almost 2 months after I asked for it to be in), but the prof sent it to the wrong place. They forwarded it via snail mail to Interfolio, who finally got it YESTERDAY! It has been delivered to AMCAS as of this morning, so as soon as it's in their system I can be complete at my schools. (All secondaries are finished; however, all the schools that require 2 science letters, which would be most schools, have me as incomplete and won't review without it.)

So much for all that busting my butt to get my portion of the components in early! I was hoping with my average stats that I would be complete before interviews had begun.

.

Still waiting to be verified, which should happen within the next week or so and then I wait for my committee to write my letter, which is another 2-3 weeks. So I'm in a very similar boat as abolt18 in that I won't be complete at schools until late August.

At this point, I'm used to the waiting so it's not too bad and the time it takes the committee to write my letter gives me a good amount of time to finish my secondaries. So all in all, it's not all that bad. Just a lot of waiting.

Originally Posted by craftyconqueror

I get ya on the letter-waiting. My 2nd science LOR was sent at the end of June (almost 2 months after I asked for it to be in), but the prof sent it to the wrong place. They forwarded it via snail mail to Interfolio, who finally got it YESTERDAY! It has been delivered to AMCAS as of this morning, so as soon as it's in their system I can be complete at my schools. (All secondaries are finished; however, all the schools that require 2 science letters, which would be most schools, have me as incomplete and won't review without it.)

So much for all that busting my butt to get my portion of the components in early! I was hoping with my average stats that I would be complete before interviews had begun.

Yeah congrats on getting all that done! I've been super frustrated with the fact that I was waiting on my committee letter, now I'm just frustrated with myself for not realizing I needed another faculty LOR! At this point there's no one to blame but myself. Good luck on the cycle after you're complete!

Originally Posted by abolt18

Yeah congrats on getting all that done! I've been super frustrated with the fact that I was waiting on my committee letter, now I'm just frustrated with myself for not realizing I needed another faculty LOR! At this point there's no one to blame but myself. Good luck on the cycle after you're complete!

And to you!

I am also kicking myself a little. ( I could have checked sooner on the letter, but I wasn't aggressive enough in getting it.) I just keep reminding myself that I can't change it, so what's meant to happen will happen.

Best of luck to all of us!

Originally Posted by Esquire

Rejected, Indiana U. pre-secondary.

Boo. On the upside, I'd rather have a rejection pre-secondary than post. Less time and money wasted! I only picked a few schools that pre-screen, and all but 1 have pretty minimal requirements. I wish there were more with stringent pre-screens.

Good luck with your other schools!

Originally Posted by Remy LeBeau

Hi everyone,

I am 29 years old, married, with no kids. I have a 3.4 cGPA, 3.9 sGPA. My post-bacc GPA is 4.0, but my UG GPA was 3.2. I am worried about how that UG GPA will hurt my app.

I took the MCAT Friday, and I think I made 30-32.

I work in an organic research lab, TA for gen chem and organic, and volunteer at a low-income clinic. I will start as an organic tutor in the fall.

All of my transcripts have been received by AMCAS and AACOMAS. I have one LOR loaded into Interfolio, and I should be submitting later this week once I am happy with my personal statement. It is surreal to see the application process finally starting after having planned and worked for it for so long.

Good luck to everyone!

Originally Posted by Remy LeBeau

I still haven't submitted, seeing as my personal statement is still not finished. However, I arranged for a week of shadowing at a private practice in August, and a doc I work with at the clinic agreed to write me a strong letter.

Submitted AMCAS last night, and I will be submitting AACOMAS soon.

Originally Posted by Remy LeBeau

Submitted AMCAS last night, and I will be submitting AACOMAS soon.

I have nothing to add to this thread other than I geeked out over the X-men username. My dog is named Remy LeBeau. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Jennet

I have nothing to add to this thread other than I geeked out over the X-men username. My dog is named Remy LeBeau. Good luck!

Hello fellow nontrads. I'm also in this applying boat. It's really challenging. I am prior service Army and have worked in the hospital for 12 years with kids. FINALLY finishing my undergrad degree in Dec.

My MCAT score SUCKED! I'm going to retake it but had to choose between paying for the test or paying for secondaries. I'm sure you guys can guess which one I chose. Applied to 9 MD programs so hopefully I can get one. I'm also a URM so I'm hoping I can still qualify for scholarships.

AMCAS completed 6/19
verified 7/16
ALL secondaries completed 8/2

Good luck everyone!!!!

Received my first interview invite!!! NSU-COM. My school hasn't even sent out my LOR's yet so I'm not going to see invite to any other schools until the end of the month. I'll probably schedule for November in hopes that I get invites to my top 2 or 3 schools for October (it'll save me $340 on airfare).

Originally Posted by abolt18

Received my first interview invite!!! NSU-COM. My school hasn't even sent out my LOR's yet so I'm not going to see invite to any other schools until the end of the month. I'll probably schedule for November in hopes that I get invites to my top 2 or 3 schools for October (it'll save me $340 on airfare).

Congrats!!!

We are well underway!

Originally Posted by craftyconqueror

(All secondaries are finished; however, all the schools that require 2 science letters, which would be most schools, have me as incomplete and won't review without it.)

Uh-oh for me. I was hoping schools would see non-traditional students in a different light and waive the science letters after being out of school for years.

Originally Posted by sam2002

Uh-oh for me. I was hoping schools would see non-traditional students in a different light and waive the science letters after being out of school for years.

Some do. Some expect you to have taken some recent classes to make sure you can still handle it. (I did get waivers at the schools that require non-science faculty.) I would suggest calling your target schools to see what they expect, which isn't necessary what's printed on the website..

Originally Posted by Jennet

I have nothing to add to this thread other than I geeked out over the X-men username. My dog is named Remy LeBeau. Good luck!

COUGH*alsoapornstarname*COUGH lol

cj8

I got verified this morning and within an hour I already have received 5 secondary applications. Time to buckle down and get these done!

My committee letter will take another 2-3 weeks to be written so I still have some waiting to do before I can start stressing over not getting interview invites.

On another note, my official undergrad GPA is depressing. It's one thing to look at the transcript and see alphabet soup. But when it's in numerical form on an AMCAS printout, it hurts a lot more. Apparently, I REALLY didn't care about school my junior year.

Originally Posted by augeremt

I got verified this morning and within an hour I already have received 5 secondary applications.

They come in like crazy!

Originally Posted by augeremt

On another note, my official undergrad GPA is depressing. It's one thing to look at the transcript and see alphabet soup. But when it's in numerical form on an AMCAS printout, it hurts a lot more. Apparently, I REALLY didn't care about school my junior year.

I think many of us (non-trads, I mean) are right there with you.

Has anyone else NOT gotten any interview invites yet? I've been complete at TX schools for over a month (probably nearly 2) and at AMCAS schools anywhere from a month to a week, depending on what letters they requested.

I feel like most of my school-specific threads have sent rounds of interview invites, yet I remain silent here. Very stressful.

Congrats to those of you who have received invites already!!!

Originally Posted by craftyconqueror

Has anyone else NOT gotten any interview invites yet? I've been complete at TX schools for over a month (probably nearly 2) and at AMCAS schools anywhere from a month to a week, depending on what letters they requested.

I feel like most of my school-specific threads have sent rounds of interview invites, yet I remain silent here. Very stressful.

Congrats to those of you who have received invites already!!!

I haven't gotten any yet either
I've only been technically complete for about 2 weeks because of a slow letter writer, but it still is rough to watch all those IIs on school specific threads. Talked to an adcom at one of my top choices yesterday (she called me!) but when I sent the info she requested I made the mistake of addressing her as Ms. instead of Dr. in the email what an idiot rookie error, was just rushing too much

Originally Posted by wanderedtoolong

I haven't gotten any yet either
I've only been technically complete for about 2 weeks because of a slow letter writer, but it still is rough to watch all those IIs on school specific threads. Talked to an adcom at one of my top choices yesterday (she called me!) but when I sent the info she requested I made the mistake of addressing her as Ms. instead of Dr. in the email what an idiot rookie error, was just rushing too much

Oh that sucks...but I'm going to guess it happens. It's probably a flip of the coin as to whether or not she'll be offended. Good luck!

1)Me too, but I can't see my GPA calculations on AMCAS. Submitted last week. I wonder if they are any different than the AACOMAS application for GPA calculations?

2)How long until anyone got their secondaries from SOM's?

Originally Posted by hjc248

1)Me too, but I can't see my GPA calculations on AMCAS. Submitted last week. I wonder if they are any different than the AACOMAS application for GPA calculations?

2)How long until anyone got their secondaries from SOM's?

2) I did AMCAS and received 1-3 secondaries daily after verification was complete
If you have the time I strongly suggest you start pre-writing essays. At the very least think through a challenging situation and how you coped and then also think through how you will add diversity to the class. I think these 2 are the recurring ones on 90% of the secondaries I have completed. Also a strong perhaps 50% will ask some variation of the why this school question.

Originally Posted by hjc248

1)Me too, but I can't see my GPA calculations on AMCAS. Submitted last week. I wonder if they are any different than the AACOMAS application for GPA calculations?

I believe the only way to see GPA on your AMCAS app is on the printable PDF.

.

Originally Posted by Esquire

I think a lot of schools are pretty slow. Only 5 of the approximately 20 schools I've applied to have gone through a round of invites. I've been complete at one school for over a month and just got their secondary.

I was feeling pretty good because I got my first invite, but then I got another rejection, my 2nd pre-secondary rejection. I was very surprised because it was my in-state school and my MCAT was 4+ points above their average. WTF??? Very bummed because it was my first choice and the school I had in mind when starting this whole med process. It was doubly harder when my kid burst out in tears because not getting into an in-state school means we'll be moving away from grandma. *sigh*

That's rough! We can't really be any farther from family already, so we don't have that issue.

Not many schools reject pre-secondary, right? The one bonus I see there would be paying less. The cost is killing me!

Originally Posted by Esquire

I think a lot of schools are pretty slow. Only 5 of the approximately 20 schools I've applied to have gone through a round of invites. I've been complete at one school for over a month and just got their secondary.

I was feeling pretty good because I got my first invite, but then I got another rejection, my 2nd pre-secondary rejection. I was very surprised because it was my in-state school and my MCAT was 4+ points above their average. WTF??? Very bummed because it was my first choice and the school I had in mind when starting this whole med process. It was doubly harder when my kid burst out in tears because not getting into an in-state school means we'll be moving away from grandma. *sigh*

perhaps call the school for feedback? At the very least you will find out if it was a mistake. Pre-secondary rejections are rare, let alone from a in-state school. I vote you call them since this school is so important.

I did receive 3 secondaries for AMCAS within the week I applied and my GPA isn't verified, but none from AACOMAS. Did you apply to any Osteo schools? Did you receive secondaries for it quickly?

Do you when you got your AMCAS GPA verified? Appr. how long after application was submitted?

Originally Posted by hjc248

Do you when you got your AMCAS GPA verified? Appr. how long after application was submitted?

Have you seen the thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/show...1#post12920691

also for AACOMAS
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/show...1#post12920461

It really helps if everyone puts in their dates of application, verification and, for AACOMAS, release.

For one of the prior postings:
Once AMCAS is verified you can see your GPA calculations when you "print the application" both PDF or HTML format shows GPA calculations

To see GPA for AACOMAS you look in the "schools applied to" list. Under the word "released" there is a blue word "view." It will show GPA calculations.

dsoz

My committee letter writer said that she's all caught up on her letters and mine should be going out within the next week or so, which is much faster than I anticipated.

I'm pretty stoked that I'll be complete at all my schools by mid-August! I thought for sure I'd have to wait til the end of the month and would be pretty behind all those who had submitted early.

Originally Posted by augeremt

My committee letter writer said that she's all caught up on her letters and mine should be going out within the next week or so, which is much faster than I anticipated.

I'm pretty stoked that I'll be complete at all my schools by mid-August! I thought for sure I'd have to wait til the end of the month and would be pretty behind all those who had submitted early.

Yeah! I'm not even sure when "early submission" is considering lots of people are still working on secondaries. I don't think now is bad.

First II! Brody at ECU- in state so the price is right
better start some interview practice!

Originally Posted by dsoz

Released from AMCAS 7/30!!!! I have been busy with secondaries. Arizona Tucson was long, OHSU is a killer. I just finished Oakland U. I am only part way done with several of them.

All these essays are driving me nuts!

back to work, those essays won't write themselves.

dsozReleased from AMCAS 7/30!!!! I have been busy with secondaries. Arizona Tucson was long, OHSU is a killer. I just finished Oakland U. I am only part way done with several of them.

All these essays are driving me nuts!

back to work, those essays won't write themselves.

dsoz

LECOM-B marked me complete in the portal and stated I was invited to an interview. I have not received the email yet. FIRST II !!!!!! I am assuming that LECOM-E will be close behind. Now if I could only get my state school to move a little faster than a glacier...

dsoz

Edit: interview scheduled 9/10/12. I will miss one day of work. I know it will not be the last day of work that I will miss for this job... Come on, more interviews!

Fellow Non-trad, 26y/o no kids, re-applying this year for Fall 2013...to MD and DO schools. 2+yrs in clinical research/data management! We will see how this cycle goes! :-)

.

Interview at Nova! I'm hoping for MD, but Nova's Florida sunshine would be nice too. About 2/3rds of the interviews get acceptances, so it's nice to know that the odds of actually becoming a doctor are already in my favor.

I had no idea the waiting would be this hard- I need to get a new, very distracting hobby or I'm going to lose my mind long before the end of this cycle.

Originally Posted by wanderedtoolong

I had no idea the waiting would be this hard- I need to get a new, very distracting hobby or I'm going to lose my mind long before the end of this cycle.

It is good and bad that I will be returning to work in a week.

Good that I can distract myself from this mess.

Bad that I won't have very much time to work on scheduling plane tickets, hotels, car rentals, etc.

dsoz

got my second interview invite! and am now realizing how much this is really going to cost if I get a bunch of OOS interviews. time to look for a second job. . .

Originally Posted by wanderedtoolong

got my second interview invite! and am now realizing how much this is really going to cost if I get a bunch of OOS interviews. time to look for a second job. . .

agreed!

Ho-lee, I actually have an interview! I applied to 7 schools, this is the first one I have heard back from. Hoping that is a good sign and I applied to enough!

Originally Posted by excitedtoapply

Ho-lee, I actually have an interview! I applied to 7 schools, this is the first one I have heard back from. Hoping that is a good sign and I applied to enough!

7 is probably on the low end. But this is definitely a good sign. Congratulations!