2016 Nontrad Applicants' Progress Thread

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I'm finally pleased with my PS draft so now it's off to the editors. Hoping that they don't rip it apart too much, I'm kind of attached to it. Has anyone else noticed that it's taking a long time for AMCAS to acknowledge they've received your LORs?

I'm on draft 3 of mine and still wring my hands every time I send out another round to the editor firing squad. I've gotten some fantastic feedback though. I hope you do too!

My letter writers aren't even finished yet! Even one who's had my materials since last November. Ah, the waiting.

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I'm on draft 3 of mine and still wring my hands every time I send out another round to the editor firing squad. I've gotten some fantastic feedback though. I hope you do too!
This is wearying, but you'll be so glad in the long run! I looked at my first draft compared to my seventh, and the improvement was startling.
 
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Hello! Just ran into this thread! Non-trad here...Anyone else having a terrible time with works/activities -_- I thought the PS would be the toughest part! I underestimated the complexity:(
 
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Everything is submitted for me here in texasland, now the waiting begins.
 
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I enjoyed all of my activities worth mentioning in AMCAS, so reflecting and writing about them was also enjoyable. I wrote succinct paragraphs that illustrated a lesson or the growth I acquired from each. I even came to appreciate some of them more after distilling those thoughts for the application!

If you have a lot of activities and are having trouble choosing/sorting, I suggest creating a tiered outline with the AMCAS categories (Shadow, Volunteer, Research, Etc.). For me, seeing them sorted out helped to elucidate which activities stood out and which should be collapsed or tossed.

My most troublesome part of the application thus far is the abyss between ordering a transcript and AMCAS's arrival receipt. It is a pure *cough* joy *cough* to order transcripts from 7 different institutions with the uncertainty that is USPS First-Class Mail!

I am waiting for my last transcript to be received. It is a little worrisome that it has been 2 AMCAS business days since its spacial and temporal twin was processed (shipped from the same city, on the same day). Hopefully I will get a receipt e-mail early Tuesday morning!
 
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Transcript tracking has been amazing @ThinkReallyFast :eyebrow:.

I feel your pain, I have 5 colleges and 3 app services - 15 total. Only one transcript was eligible for electronic transmission, which was awesome.
 
I enjoyed all of my activities worth mentioning in AMCAS, so reflecting and writing about them was also enjoyable. I wrote succinct paragraphs that illustrated a lesson or the growth I acquired from each. I even came to appreciate some of them more after distilling those thoughts for the application!

If you have a lot of activities and are having trouble choosing/sorting, I suggest creating a tiered outline with the AMCAS categories (Shadow, Volunteer, Research, Etc.). For me, seeing them sorted out helped to elucidate which activities stood out and which should be collapsed or tossed.

My most troublesome part of the application thus far is the abyss between ordering a transcript and AMCAS's arrival receipt. It is a pure *cough* joy *cough* to order transcripts from 7 different institutions with the uncertainty that is USPS First-Class Mail!

I am waiting for my last transcript to be received. It is a little worrisome that it has been 2 AMCAS business days since its spacial and temporal twin was processed (shipped from the same city, on the same day). Hopefully I will get a receipt e-mail early Tuesday morning!
I was surprised how fast my transcripts were sent and marked 'received' by AMCAS. All 6 of mine are in and waiting for good ol' June 2nd. Can't freaking wait!!!! I think I am going to start pre-writing the secondaries for my preferred schools and just work on the rest as they come. Perhaps this is a good strategy time-wise? I'm also enrolled in class and working this summer, so I am a little worried about time management once they all start flowing in.
 
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Hi! Welcome to the club!. Activities/work section was being a pain for me too, but some of the other posters suggested trying to list those activities that show some sort of theme. What kind of problems ate you having?

Mostly how to group them. I've done experiences for specific amount of time that had leadership, shadowing, non clinical interactions with physicians, volunteering, etc...all in that one chunk. Then Posters I've done, but mostly where on campus. Different research experiences that I've had different roles in. sigh.
 
Prewriting essays is so much fun! it's not, but I'm in the same position as you @emontina, taking two classes this summer and working full time. So I do think prewriting is worth it if only so that I can have a rough draft to work with once secondaries start rolling in. I really just hope that not too many schools change their prompts.
 
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Prewriting essays is so much fun! it's not, but I'm in the same position as you @emontina, taking two classes this summer and working full time. So I do think prewriting is worth it if only so that I can have a rough draft to work with once secondaries start rolling in. I really just hope that not too many schools change their prompts.
Hey @NaomiM! I checked the forums for a ton of schools going 3 years back and to my pleasant surprise they pretty much stayed the same! Here's hoping. I'm planning to do all my regional ones first bc I really hope to stay around home.
 
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Mostly how to group them. I've done experiences for specific amount of time that had leadership, shadowing, non clinical interactions with physicians, volunteering, etc...all in that one chunk. Then Posters I've done, but mostly where on campus. Different research experiences that I've had different roles in. sigh.

Most activities are multi-dimension. I would suggest asking yourself: what is most important lesson/thing you learned from an activity? What single component it will contribute most to you being a better physician? There may be many components, but focus primarily on the one most important to you. I am over simplifying, as you can definitely elaborate a more than one quality, but just be certain that one quality comes across clearly. My theory, is if each of your activities clearly, concisely, and effectively demonstrates a single quality that will make you a better physician, you have just given the reader 15 reasons why they should advocate for you.

Also, this helped me simplify the selection from "what activity looks best" to "what 15 qualities can I support and sell myself with."

For example, I have volunteered three clinics over the past two years. Instead of three competing as clinical volunteer slots on my application, they now compete for what they demonstrate about me and illustrate that I learned and grew very differently as a result of my separate clinic experiences. Since I believed the lessons were distinct enough, they each got their own slot. Conversely, when I evaluated the many research projects that I have been on, the lessons were similar, so I collapsed them into a single category.
 
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Q: anyone mind sharing how many schools you are planning to apply to? And are your schools pretty much in one geographic region, or all over the country?

A: Right now I have 30 schools picked out for myself.. I am trying to weigh the cost-benefit of applying widely. I really do not want to go anywhere more than 500 miles away from my home city. Fortunately, I have 7 med schools in my state (2 of which are long shots for me). What is the likelihood I would ONLY get accepted out-of-state and NOT in any of my home state schools? It does not seem likely to me, but if I ONLY get in out-of-state I would go, so that's my logic.

EDIT: Ok I just checked and i have 31 schools selected. That is ridiculous right??? I need to cut like 10 to maintain some semblance of sanity...
 
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31 applications? For emontina, I understand that the more the better. What kind of grades do you have? Just out of curiosity...
omg.. I have to rethink my plan. I am only preparing 3 applications to be submitted to NYU, Columbia and Harvard Ext., what schools are good for career changers? Will this be enough?
It's a little more complicated for me as my credentials are from our of US. But my intention to pursue this is really coming from the heart. In this regards, I want this to be successful application. I worked for 7 years here in IT as a California resident.
I'm working on PS too. Are there anyone good in reviewing PS?
Should one go to extraordinary ways to make a statement to get accepted. My desire has been put by what happened to me personally... when I was younger...applying for courses.. I didn't think about that meaning of life. I just know what I want to become. However, I know when I was a child, this dream of being a doctor is a well kept secret. Now that I'm at this age, I just realized what are the things in life that makes me happy. It's not the superficial things in life. It's not vacation, it's not living in a secure and safe neighborhood (though of course it's important), what matters is how much we give back, how we can make a difference in someone's life, how can challenge ourselves for others, how can we make use of our experiences to strengthen us in our passion. Intention, Mind-set and action will come into place in the end.
I just need some practical advise on what works.
 
I think I am going to start pre-writing the secondaries for my preferred schools and just work on the rest as they come. Perhaps this is a good strategy time-wise? I'm also enrolled in genetics and working full-time this summer, so I am a little worried about time management once they all start flowing in.
Pre-writing secondaries in order of school preference [giving a nod to likelihood of acceptance as well] is an excellent idea--prompts are often identical from year to year. You do grow weary toward the end...some applicants even decide not to bother with any more secondaries after a certain point. That gives you a hint of the draining nature of the process. The prolonged effort required for this part of applying caught me off guard.

The secondaries, if you do them wholeheartedly, are surprisingly time consuming. I wish I would have pre-written more. I put a load of unnecessary pressure on myself by jamming so many into a short time span. Another mistake I made was attempting them when I wasn't most productive. I'd try to work on secondaries after the whole family had gone to sleep at night. Every response took me twice as long as it would have had I simply attempted it at my peak productivity time from early morning to mid-afternoon.

Work on it when you're wide awake and over the course of several weeks or more, starting now. Don't do what I did.:rolleyes:
 
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I have to rethink my plan. I am only preparing 3 applications to be submitted to NYU, Columbia and Harvard Ext., what schools are good for career changers? Will this be enough?
Respectfully, I think you may need to do a lot more reading on these forums and other places before applying. The average successful applicant applied to 15 schools, with a good mixture of "safety schools", middle range, and top tier. These are arbitrary categories that depend on your GPAs and MCAT to be determined. You should buy a subscription to the MSAR, look at the schools' median matriculant statistics and make your picks that way. The schools you chose are all very very difficult to get into..
 
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Thanks for your advice, @it'sabeautifullife. I hope to find the focus and discipline to start pre-writing them over the next month and a half. God knows my PS and activities 'essays' evolved over countless rewrites. I now understand that writing quality application materials is a process.
 
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My school list is still a work in progress, but i'll definitely be applying to most of the DO schools, as well as a couple of MD schools that match my stats. I'm still waiting on my new mcat score to come back before I commit to too many of the MD schools.
 
My school list is still a work in progress, but i'll definitely be applying to most of the DO schools, as well as a couple of MD schools that match my stats. I'm still waiting on my new mcat score to come back before I commit to too many of the MD schools.
Uggggggh @NaomiM I feel for ya buddy, I've been there... Twice, haha. Wishing you all the best. I widdled my list down to a respectable 26. I think I'm happy with it.

EDIT: is "widdled" even a word?
 
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EDIT: is "widdled" even a word?

It is "whittled", like in Boy Scouts when we used a knife to make a block of wood smaller.

Still working on whittling my list down as well!
 
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Are you guys seriously exhausting the 600 characters limit for each work/volunteer/extracurricular experience. I find myself to use an average of 250-450 characters through 2-3 sentences for each experience. The instruction specifically asks for a brief description instead of a narrative.
 
I qualify for the fee waiver for both do and md schools.

I'm planning to apply to 14-15 do schools and 20-30 md schools. I'm not taking any chances.
 
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Are you guys seriously exhausting the 600 characters limit for each work/volunteer/extracurricular experience. I find myself to use an average of 250-450 characters through 2-3 sentences for each experience. The instruction specifically asks for a brief description instead of a narrative.
Well, it's 700 characters, not 600. And my descriptions pretty much took up 650-700! It is totally acceptable to include one sentence at the end about what you contributed/ what you learned from it. Some of mine were just about the 'business', like my shadowing entry where I list each of the doctors, what I observed, how many hours; and the posters/presentations where I just list them. But for my experiences I still feel were meaningful (maybe not 'most meaningful') I included a sentence or 2 about the 'meaning' to me. Is this frowned upon? I figure we should be taking advantage of the space available to tell our story! Advice/opinions??
 
I just cant imagine adcom people appreciating reading 600-700 characters for each work experience or activity. What else is there to talk about on the interview trail if you lay down all your cards already? If you dig out previous threads, I think Lizzy had commented about keeping it clean and direct. Your narratives for each activity can be further emphasized on interview days. That's what I'm planning to do anyways.
 
Everyone is definitely going to have a different viewpoint on this for sure. For myself, some of them are pretty direct, not much in the way of narrative, while others I've definitely spent more time describing both what it is I'm doing and the meaning attached to it. I'd say half of mine are at the character limit.
 
Everyone is definitely going to have a different viewpoint on this for sure. For myself, some of them are pretty direct, not much in the way of narrative, while others I've definitely spent more time describing both what it is I'm doing and the meaning attached to it. I'd say half of mine are at the character limit.
Yeah, that makes more sense. There are definitely both opinions, ranging from bullet points to narratives. I think the best approach is like you said, a little of each. Where it makes sense to share more, as long as it is truly adding something, I think it best to do so.
 
Draft 2 of my PS and I'll have the AMCAS done then onto the DO stuff.
 
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So, I have just made my list of MD schools using MSAR.

I will be applying to 30 MD schools. For DOs, I will be applying to 15. LOL. I am going to die writing all those secondaries.
 
I plan to apply to ~35 MD schools.

Started Secondaries this weekend! So far they don't seem too bad -- most are short and simple, there are a few questions that seems to repeat at the schools I've selected.

If anyone wants an editing partner for secondaries, activities, PS, etc. let me know! I started reading PS for others by offering up in the official PS thread, so I have a little experience under my belt. :)
 
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I plan to apply to ~35 MD schools.

Started Secondaries this weekend! So far they don't seem too bad -- most are short and simple, there are a few questions that seems to repeat at the schools I've selected.

If anyone wants an editing partner for secondaries, activities, PS, etc. let me know! I started reading PS for others by offering up in the official PS thread, so I have a little experience under my belt. :)
I pm my ps. I want to submit by we'd night.
 
I finished the semester last Friday (24 credits - all science - should be all A's!!!!!!) and I am graduating 20yrs late this Friday!

I opened my app yesterday and its about half done. I'm taking the MCAT in July. I have about 8 weeks to study full time - not doing anything else - and I'm excited.
 
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Wow... I'm only preparing the 3 schools right now and with the help of emontina, I went to AAMC's MSAR and been helpful in trying to choose the next 12 as a career changer school. Is there a way to have a hardcopy of the list of schools? I just find it easy if I can hold it, I can bring it anywhere and think about these list of schools. There are career changer schools for which I am not really attracted to. However, it looks like I have to choose the 12 among these. If it is not attractive, especially if the state is where I don't know anyone and be isolated, I'm not sure, I would go for it. I want to pick schools with good linkage to med schools. Are there any post-bacc career changer here?

68PGunner: 30 MD schools. Then another 15 for DO? Are you a post-back or going to med-school now?

Do you have a pre-med or have you completed the post-bacc?

My 1st draft PS right now is 1500 words. Thus, I need to cut down by 60%. These PS are normally the same across all the schools right? 68Pgunner said that it has to be short and direct. However, how to write a convincing essay with 600 words. It is only about 5 paragraphs with 4-5 sentences. I will combine all the 3 similar stories into one and highlight the one that can make the most impact.

My question is: if I there is something in me that affected me personally say my organ is receiving benefit with the help of medical science for which led me to more profound interest in medicine compared to only wanting for my reason of seeing how my passion can help others or how much I can give more, would this be detrimental to the reviewers. Will they think that this is a weakness rather than a strength having something to care rather than someone who does not have any issues with an organ?

Just a thought of which parts to remove. This is the most personal one. While the rest are about my relatives who passed away at an early stage without medical treatment. The other one is a homeless I met on the street last year who has a clinical issue and touched my heart and rethink about understanding people we haven't met.
 
I'm active duty.

As for PS, I went through multiple drafts. Here is my approach to PS:

1) List three things that define you. For me, they were an active military member, a father of a sick child, and an immigrant who works his way up.

2) Reflect on how these factors lead you to medicine.
 
@smilefromwest

You need some serious cutting in your PS.

AMCAS allows 5300 characters including spaces, which is about 900 - 1000 words.

If you are applying DO, AACOMAS allows only 4500 characters with spaces.
 
Yup, my MD PS is 840-850 words, taking up about 4,900 characters with space.
 
@smilefromwest AAMC used to sell hard copies of the msar on their website. I'm not sure if they still do.
 
@smilefromwest I believe you are able to purchase a printed copy...OR if you arent going to read it all at once (in case you are a fast reader), if you go to a public library they usually allow around 100 pages of printing per week for free....you can always print the rest via a copy/printer place or if you have one at home.

Also @smilefromwest , I know most students apply to a bunch of schools though I heard the average is around 17 schools. However, the list of schools to apply is such a personal list that will vary in length depending on your circumstance and stats. If you are aiming to get into [ANY] medical school this year then apply large and wide. If factors such as region come into play, then your list will be much shorter than those applying with a broader geographical mindset. If you have more limitations (ie. immigration status), then the list dwindles down more. Then you have to look into other preferential factors like "Is there a particular [set of] school that I want to attend so much that I am willing to reapply?" or "would I settle (or be happy at, do well, etc) for a safety school?"

I have a small list of must schools (for personal, academic, and preferential reasons) that I would be willing to reapply for. I also don't mind taking a year to improve my resume in order to go to one of these schools over a "safety" school (mostly because I can't see myself enjoying the next 4 years of medical school in those safety schools out there). I have a preference for doing this journey in a manner that is congruent with my person/life rather than fast (not that either way is better than the other btw!).

I would definitely look into your life circumstances and what suits you. Financially, it may be wise to have a smaller list with more safety schools than dream schools if you want to guarantee getting in and not spend a bunch of money...especially around interview time!
 
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I have 31 schools on my list (slightly heavier DO than MD) due to my abysmally low cumulative GPA. I figure someone somewhere might hopefully notice that my last 130+ hours are 3.9 and be happy with that, but I can't take many chances. I'm just lucky that of my two jobs one is relatively well-paying, and I started saving with this in mind years ago.

PS is out to my editors after a bit of an overhaul today. Very pleased with the new version, hopefully it just needs a few adjustments and it'll be done.

Waiting on one final transcript problem -- registrar made an error and recorded a B for my physics class last fall (my actual grade was an A) and the Dean says nothing will change until the professor tells her it should have been an A...and he's not answering emails, sigh. If I have to I'll just apply with the B but it kind of sucks. I bled for that A!

Everything else is done. Submitting to AACOMAS soon as I figure out what to do about this damn physics grade, and will be ready for AMCAS. Having quite a few anxiety dreams these days!
 
@smilefromwest I believe you are able to purchase a printed copy...OR if you arent going to read it all at once (in case you are a fast reader), if you go to a public library they usually allow around 100 pages of printing per week for free....you can always print the rest via a copy/printer place or if you have one at home.

Also @smilefromwest , I know most students apply to a bunch of schools though I heard the average is around 17 schools. However, the list of schools to apply is such a personal list that will vary in length depending on your circumstance and stats. If you are aiming to get into [ANY] medical school this year then apply large and wide. If factors such as region come into play, then your list will be much shorter than those applying with a broader geographical mindset. If you have more limitations (ie. immigration status), then the list dwindles down more. Then you have to look into other preferential factors like "Is there a particular [set of] school that I want to attend so much that I am willing to reapply?" or "would I settle (or be happy at, do well, etc) for a safety school?"

I have a small list of must schools (for personal, academic, and preferential reasons) that I would be willing to reapply for. I also don't mind taking a year to improve my resume in order to go to one of these schools over a "safety" school (mostly because I can't see myself enjoying the next 4 years of medical school in those safety schools out there). I have a preference for doing this journey in a manner that is congruent with my person/life rather than fast (not that either way is better than the other btw!).

I would definitely look into your life circumstances and what suits you. Financially, it may be wise to have a smaller list with more safety schools than dream schools if you want to guarantee getting in and not spend a bunch of money...especially around interview time!

Thanks Charlie. I agree. I am changing my career to a better one and profound one. However, I don't also want to go into something just for the sake. Professionally, my life is pretty comfortable but if I try my effort a little harder and if it work out for the selected schools, great. Otherwise, then it's an opportunity to think that I did my part and see what I can do at that point. I don't want to go to apost bacc pre-med school and waste my hard-earned money and burn my eyebrows in a place that would not give me a self-satisfaction that I like the environment and I would really grow and be intellectually nourished medically with the course. Though must-haves and nice-to-haves are important. It varies from person to person.
 
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@jddoc2015 I wrote about having kids in my PS. I didn't mention having kids anywhere else on my application though. I felt it had to be addressed because becoming a mom WAS the reason that led me to pursue medicine. I want to be an OB/GYN so I mentioned my personal experiences.

If being a parent doesn't fit into your PS theme, I'd definitely put it in somewhere else. I like to think being a parent to two kids, working full-time, and taking post-bacc classes, volunteering, doing research, scribing, etc will help me stand out. I'm also fairly young, so most people are shocked when I say I have 2 kids.

I'll let you know in a few weeks how my PS statement works out...I already applied TMDSAS and should hear back soon.
 
@jddoc2015 I wrote about having kids in my PS. I didn't mention having kids anywhere else on my application though. I felt it had to be addressed because becoming a mom WAS the reason that led me to pursue medicine. I want to be an OB/GYN so I mentioned my personal experiences.

If being a parent doesn't fit into your PS theme, I'd definitely put it in somewhere else. I like to think being a parent to two kids, working full-time, and taking post-bacc classes, volunteering, doing research, scribing, etc will help me stand out. I'm also fairly young, so most people are shocked when I say I have 2 kids.

I'll let you know in a few weeks how my PS statement works out...I already applied TMDSAS and should hear back soon.

Thanks. Yeah I ended up slipping it in there in one sentence just to explain why I couldn't quit my job to do a formal full time post bac and took three years to get all the classes. I want to do OB/GYN too :)
 
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Thanks Charlie. I agree. I am changing my career to a better one and profound one. However, I don't also want to go into something just for the sake. Professionally, my life is pretty comfortable but if I try my effort a little harder and if it work out for the selected schools, great. Otherwise, then it's an opportunity to think that I did my part and see what I can do at that point. I don't want to go to apost bacc pre-med school and waste my hard-earned money and burn my eyebrows in a place that would not give me a self-satisfaction that I like the environment and I would really grow and be intellectually nourished medically with the course. Though must-haves and nice-to-haves are important. It varies from person to person.

that's what I was referring to. At one point I felt very obligated to have a huge list of schools since everyone thought my list was crazy. But, I've realized my circumstances are other. I do not need to start medical school this year, and I am not at the point where I'm willing to go to just any school that takes me and relocate my whole life, though if I have to reapply once or twice to my selective group, then my circumstances may change to just apply anywhere! haha
 
@jddoc2015 how old are your kids? It's nice to see another mom on here :) Do you have a background in law?
 
Just submitted to 17 DO schools. Cost is $570. Will work on my MD application next week.
 
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Congratulations!

You have successfully e-submitted your online application to AACOMAS.

Before your application can be placed in line for verification, your application must have a status of ”Complete” and be assigned a Complete Date. In order to become “Complete” AACOMAS requires the following:

  1. Application is e-submitted and payment has been received.
  2. All required transcripts and/or any required foreign transcript evaluation(s) have been received.
  3. All required evaluations have been completed.
Once your application becomes complete, it can take up to four weeks for it to be processed and made available to your programs during our peak periods. All materials should arrive at AACOMAS at least four weeks prior to your earliest deadline to allow for timely processing.

Remember: It is your responsibility to monitor the status of your application and follow up with AACOMAS on any missing items or incomplete or undelivered statuses. You can track your status via the “Program Status” area of your application.

Now that your application has been e-submitted, take some time to review the AACOMAS FAQ, which answers many common questions about your application after it has been submitted.

Finally, please note that AACOMAS does not determine if an applicant has met the minimum requirements or is eligible for admission to any AACOMAS program. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all program requirements have been met.

Best of Luck!

AACOMAS Customer Service
 
Can anyone get this squared away? Are we not getting any secondary until after all required evaluations have been submitted? I don't think that this is right.
 
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