Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM) Discussion Thread 2014 – 2015

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Thank you for the reply. I was getting worried about that. Fortunately I do have a few extras but I have no way of knowing which professors used a letterhead as they are all confidential! It would really suck if one of letters that was really helpful for me wasn't on a letterhead.


The upper level science recs will be fine; I called the school about this to verify and was able to successfully use those letters. They WILL, however, reject letters that aren't on an official letterhead. One of mine was not on a letterhead apparently and they emailed me to say it would not fulfill the requirement... I used it for all my other schools, unknowingly, and none of them have seemed to care. So just a heads up about that! Thankfully I had some extra letters.

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Thank you for the reply. I was getting worried about that. Fortunately I do have a few extras but I have no way of knowing which professors used a letterhead as they are all confidential! It would really suck if one of letters that was really helpful for me wasn't on a letterhead.

Yeah I know, there's really no way of telling unless you submit them and they let you know. You could also just request for the letter writer to resubmit it on an official letterhead (not that you didn't ask for it that way in the first place), but for me that wasn't really a great option since I knew this particular professor wouldn't have easy access to the school during the summer, and I didn't really want to trouble her if I had another option. They didn't mind when I just sent in a letter from a different prof to replace it though.

Regarding the physician letter, mine was able to write his on a letterhead, like one that he might use to correspond with other physicians/professionals/when necessary. A lot of private practice physicians probably have something similar. Just be sure to make clear what you're asking for, especially if they've never written anyone a LOR for med school before - mine hadn't!
 
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I'll just send it in and hope for the best. If any on them aren't on letterhead, I'll just have to go back to that professor or physician. Thank you for help.

Yeah I know, there's really no way of telling unless you submit them and they let you know. You could also just request for the letter writer to resubmit it on an official letterhead (not that you didn't ask for it that way in the first place), but for me that wasn't really a great option since I knew this particular professor wouldn't have easy access to the school during the summer, and I didn't really want to trouble her if I had another option. They didn't mind when I just sent in a letter from a different prof to replace it though.

Regarding the physician letter, mine was able to write his on a letterhead, like one that he might use to correspond with other physicians/professionals/when necessary. A lot of private practice physicians probably have something similar. Just be sure to make clear what you're asking for, especially if they've never written anyone a LOR for med school before - mine hadn't!
 
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I'll just send it in and hope for the best. If any on them aren't on letterhead, I'll just have to go back to that professor or physician. Thank you for help.

Sounds like the best possible plan! Good luck to you :)
 
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I didn't get a conformation email after completion of my secondary. Is that normal? I just submitted it.
 
I didn't get a conformation email after completion of my secondary. Is that normal? I just submitted it.
I didn't either. I think in the secondary invite email it indicates that it may be a few days. Also, it looks like a number of folks didn't hear anything for a long while after their submission. That was before they started sending out invites though, so maybe it won't be as long.
 
I didn't either. I think in the secondary invite email it indicates that it may be a few days. Also, it looks like a number of folks didn't hear anything for a long while after their submission. That was before they started sending out invites though, so maybe it won't be as long.

Thanks, I was worried. May I know when you submitted your secondary? Also in the email it states that "A third window will appear with instructions to upload your essays." After I paid the fee, a window appeared to upload documents. There were no instructions to follow for essay and it didn't specifically say to upload essays. It just said to upload documents..I just followed the instructions for essays in the email and uploaded the essay pdf. I hope thats how it was supposed to be. lol
 
Thanks, I was worried. May I know when you submitted your secondary? Also in the email it states that "A third window will appear with instructions to upload your essays." After I paid the fee, a window appeared to upload documents. There were no instructions to follow for essay and it didn't specifically say to upload essays. It just said to upload documents..I just followed the instructions for essays in the email and uploaded the essay pdf. I hope thats how it was supposed to be. lol
I submitted mine right around 2pm CST today. I sent letters quite a while back, so hopefully the matchup process will be quick. After that, who knows what is needed to go complete.
I did the same thing with the essays: saved them as a PDF, then uploaded that. Was able to view them after uploading too.
How's your process coming along? Any bites yet?
 
I rescheduled my interview to 10/3 if anyone wants my 9/5 spot.
 
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Application on hold. One LOR found to not have official letterhead. >.<

Congrats and good luck to all those with II's!

What do they do with doctors in small practices without their own letterhead? Let me guess: the doctors make up a LH in MS Word, and then they're happy.
 
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I submitted mine right around 2pm CST today. I sent letters quite a while back, so hopefully the matchup process will be quick. After that, who knows what is needed to go complete.
I did the same thing with the essays: saved them as a PDF, then uploaded that. Was able to view them after uploading too.
How's your process coming along? Any bites yet?

Everything is going pretty smooth. Just hoping to submit all secondaries by end of August. I received an email today from ACOM saying that my secondary application has been received. Fingers crossed for an II:thumbup:
 
The requirements for LOR are "We only accept letters from instructors of biology, chemistry or physics."

I went to a big university and usually all those 3 classes were taught in big lectures. Don't have any of them but I do have plenty of recs from the more advanced upper level science courses.

Anyone know if this is okay or has anyone succesfully used recs not by those professors.

I'm not sure if they just changed this requirement for this application cycle, but I applied last year with LORs from a physiology, anatomy, and physiotherapy profs. and got accepted. Good luck!
 
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Everything is going pretty smooth. Just hoping to submit all secondaries by end of August. I received an email today from ACOM saying that my secondary application has been received. Fingers crossed for an II:thumbup:
I got the same email a bit earlier as well. I've only got 3 secondaries (out of 15) to go, until hopefully TouroCOM-NY sends another. I should be able to finish those by Monday. Have yet to hear anything back, but i guess for now, no news is good news?
the wait gets easier, the more secondaries i get behind me, that's for sure.
 
Hello Everyone. I am interviewing on the fifth of September and was wondering if anyone wanted to get dinner on the Thursday before? Feel free to contact me on this thread or send me a message, if you would be interested. I am looking forward to meet you all!
 
Hello Everyone. I am interviewing on the fifth of September and was wondering if anyone wanted to get dinner on the Thursday before? Feel free to contact me on this thread or send me a message, if you would be interested. I am looking forward to meet you all!

I'm interviewing on the 5th as well. I probably won't get to my hotel until around 7 but I'm up for meeting up with anyone else who wants to grab dinner.
 
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Marked complete today and got the interview invite. I am hoping it wasn't a "fake" one. I just emailed support to get my credentials.
 
Received interview invite this afternoon.
cGPA 3.14 sGPA 3.39 MCAT 32 (8V/10B/14P)
TX resident
 
I too was marked complete today and got the II today. These guys have a fast turn around.
 
Do you guys have your login creds?
no, but looks like this has been a bit of an issue for some of the other folks. i did my supp application in one sitting (after doing essays prior), and so didn't ever set up an account. i sent an email to the address included in the email, and am waiting to hear back. looks like that worked for someone else earlier in the thread. if i hear something back soon, i'll let you know.
congrats by the way. i also just got complete email this morning. was very surprised to already hear back.
 
Yes, they were in my spam folder after I registered for the secondary. There were 3 emails in the spam folder. One had the link, one had the login ID, and one had the password.
 
no, but looks like this has been a bit of an issue for some of the other folks. i did my supp application in one sitting (after doing essays prior), and so didn't ever set up an account. i sent an email to the address included in the email, and am waiting to hear back. looks like that worked for someone else earlier in the thread. if i hear something back soon, i'll let you know.
congrats by the way. i also just got complete email this morning. was very surprised to already hear back.
Congrats right back at you. Kind of makes you wonder why most schools use secondaries.... Eh they most likely reviewed it well before the complete email. Perhaps they think complete mean " Well we have reviewed everything so we are done thanks."
 
They were sent from "postmaster" and titled "UNDELIVERABLE myACOM Credentials."
 
First II! I ended up calling IT just in time before closing to get my login creds. October 3rd here I come!
 
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II

now the question is how the hell do I get there
 
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I've attached directions to the campus. If you need any more help, let me know. I live about 20 mins away.


I meant more like how am I supposed to get here from where I am. Everything 10/3 is legit 700-900 bucks.

I think I found the best option: Fly into Montgomery and rent a car for a day.
 
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Where are you from? From last years cycle, if you were from the region most people drove to the interview. If you were outside of the region most people flew into Atlanta and then rented a car and drove the 3.5-4 hours south west.
 
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Where are you from? From last years cycle, if you were from the region most people drove to the interview. If you were outside of the region most people flew into Atlanta and then rented a car and drove the 3.5-4 hours south west.
I'm scheduled for 10/10, but flying into Atlanta knocked $5-600 off of flight cost, plus, makes it easier to get out of town on Friday, one less night of hotel cost. Car rental can be pretty inexpensive, especially if another SDNer is into splitting cost of gas/car.
 
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Yeah definitely speak with fellow SDNers who are on your interview date and plan out possibly splitting cost of vehicle and the total cost of the interview wont be too bad.
 
Is flying to Atlanta generally cheaper than flying to Birmingham? I'm making this interview coincide with my KCOM interview (2 free days in between) since flying from California to this part of the country is expensive, and this way, I'd only have to do it once.
 
Is flying to Atlanta generally cheaper than flying to Birmingham? I'm making this interview coincide with my KCOM interview (2 free days in between) since flying from California to this part of the country is expensive, and this way, I'd only have to do it once.
From what I've looked at, it's a difference of about $100, and drive time looks about the same.
 
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For those of you who got interview invites, I need help.
I got the email around 5 yesterday about the invite but I cant schedule it. I don't have a log in. I never made an account when I filled out the secondary. I wish just given a link that I used to fill out all my stuff and then submitted it. I emailed the school but still no response and it is the weekend. I was hoping someone could help me out.
 
SAME HERE!lol
Read the previous posts in this thread. There are two or three emails with the title "undeliverable" that you should have received from Alabama that contain your login credentials.
 
Yeah, I just went back and read those and checked my email. I have nothing. I even called them but they're closed so I guess I have to wait until Monday.
 
Where are you from? From last years cycle, if you were from the region most people drove to the interview. If you were outside of the region most people flew into Atlanta and then rented a car and drove the 3.5-4 hours south west.

Would you not recommend flying into Montgomery though?
 
Are there no flights that go to Tallahassee? That's where I would go if I wasn't driving.
 
Yeah, I just went back and read those and checked my email. I have nothing. I even called them but they're closed so I guess I have to wait until Monday.
I sent an email Friday afternoon around 445pm. I got a response that night around 8 or 9pm. I'd go ahead and send an email to the address that's in the email about the invite. This looks like a pretty common problem that they readily resolve for you. Apparently, the IT department has pretty flexible hours, so you may get something back before Monday.
 
Would you not recommend flying into Montgomery though?
I think Montgomery is another regional airport, and so you don't get quite as low a price as you do through Atlanta (maybe > $100 less?). I think the difference in driving time is about an hour.
 
I think Montgomery is another regional airport, and so you don't get quite as low a price as you do through Atlanta (maybe > $100 less?). I think the difference in driving time is about an hour.

3 hours difference lol
 
3 hours difference lol
All the routes I've compared have Montgomery around a 2 hour drive to Dothan, while Atlanta is around 3 hours. I'm sure around Atlanta there will be some added time due to traffic, and I don't really know the area at all, so maybe the difference is more than I've figured.
 
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