2008-2009 AMCAS Questions Thread

[nikkiMD19]

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Thank you!

Last question (for now 😛):

If I took my first-year freshman courses, then took courses in the summer right after, does that count as the first part of my junior year or the last part of my freshman year? When does the new academic year start, in the fall or in the summer?

The summer semester is the start of a new academic year & AMCAS says to assign the upcoming status to summer session courses. So after your freshman year (fall & spring), the following summer courses should be listed as sophomore (for traditional 4 yr bachelor's) or junior (for 3 yr bachelor's).

 

[Begaster]

Great.

Thank you.

 

[calvinhobbes]

Bumping up my question.. if anyone could please help answer it, that would be great! Thank you. 🙂

Hey everyone, I have a question.
If you are a double major and state that on the AMCAS but for some reason you don't finish your double major, what happens if you are granted admission to medical school? Thanks!

 

[Poiu86]

Has anybody taken a medical terminology class? What would I classify this as... health sciences or other? Or..... biology 🙂??

 

[ChemGrad08]

The summer semester is the start of a new academic year & AMCAS says to assign the upcoming status to summer session courses. So after your freshman year (fall & spring), the following summer courses should be listed as sophomore (for traditional 4 yr bachelor's) or junior (for 3 yr bachelor's).

That's what the AMCAS manual says, but I accidentally did it the other way and AMCAS did not change it. So if for some GPA reason you want it the other way it will probably stick.

 

[ChemGrad08]

Bumping up my question.. if anyone could please help answer it, that would be great! Thank you. 🙂

I have no personal experience, but I doubt that they'll withdraw your acceptance. It just seems a bit dishonest if you are applying now and planning not to finish the second major to put it on your application. But on the level of dishonesty that likely happens on applications it's probably pretty far down the list.

 

[DrMattOglesby]

are classes designated "HEAL" for health sciences calculated into the BCPM GPA?
for instance, i just took two courses; Fitness assessment laboratory and Pharmacology. I definitely feel like pharmacology should be counted as science.

 

[Pink3045]

Hey everyone!

I'm debating whether I should classify being class president as a leadership-not listed else where activity or a extracurricular/hobby/avocation....what would you do?

Thank you for your help!

 

[chad5871]

Hey everyone 🙂

I was just wondering if it is standard practice to indent 5 spaces for indenting paragraphs on the personal statement section of the AMCAS app?

And are there any other things I should keep in mind when typing this into the box?

Thanks so much!!!

AMCAS won't let you indent the paragraphs. Even if you try, it will move the beginning line after a hard return (i.e. a new paragraph) flush left. Just put a space between each paragraph and you'll be good to go.

are classes designated "HEAL" for health sciences calculated into the BCPM GPA?
for instance, i just took two courses; Fitness assessment laboratory and Pharmacology. I definitely feel like pharmacology should be counted as science.

Nope. Only courses designated as BIOL, CHEM, MATH, or PHYS will be calculated into BCPM.

Hey everyone!

I'm debating whether I should classify being class president as a leadership-not listed else where activity or a extracurricular/hobby/avocation....what would you do?

Thank you for your help!

Put it into "Leadership-Not Listed Elsewhere." The "Extracurricular/Avocation/Hobby" category is more for stuff that are non-academic activities, like skiing or playing piano or playing chess.

 

[korndoctor]

question.....are u suppose to list down the number of hours u served for an organization in the descriptiosn of each activity?

 

[premed45]

Is the number of hours per week sufficient, or would it be better to list the total number of hours for an experience. Thanks for the help.

 

[raydar510]

Is the number of hours per week sufficient, or would it be better to list the total number of hours for an experience. Thanks for the help.

To this post and the one above...
On the application, there is a box above the "experience description" where it asks you to enter the "Average Hours per Week", so I would say to just answer that and there's no need to go into anything else about time in your description.

 

[premd]

Is this the standard message for people who have just submitted their applications? Both of my transcripts were already received by AMCAS.

"Applicant has certified and submitted application but AMCAS application is pending processing while AMCAS waits for transcripts."

 

[blondeshell15]

Sorry if this has been addressed - couldn't find it - AMCAS info book was dicey👎

If you retook a class, do you mark ONLY the second attempt with REPEAT? or do you mark both the first attempt and the second attempt as REPEAT?

😕

 

[bozz]

Same here man... I had gotten confirmation that both my transcripts were received a week ago

I just submitted AMCAS 2 seconds ago.

I also got "Submitted to AMCAS - Waiting for Transcripts | Applicant has certified and submitted application but AMCAS application is pending processing while AMCAS waits for transcripts. "

 

[copingmethods]

I submitted on Friday night, and the same happened to me, but since then, it's changed to:

"AMCAS has received a copy of all required transcripts and has placed the application in line to be reviewed by an AMCAS verifier."

so I expect that the same will happen for you guys!

 

[chad5871]

Sorry if this has been addressed - couldn't find it - AMCAS info book was dicey👎

If you retook a class, do you mark ONLY the second attempt with REPEAT? or do you mark both the first attempt and the second attempt as REPEAT?

😕

Only the second.

 

[Picklesali]

That's normal. Last year I submitted transcripts long before my app was submitted and that night it gave me the same message and the next day it had changed to reflect that I was now in line to be reviewed.

 

[raydar510]

At my school, Provost's Honors are listed on our transcripts for every quarter we get a GPA of 3.5 and above while taking 3 or more courses (not including pass/no pass ones). I got Provost Honors every quarter, except for the 3 that I took some courses not for a letter grade (and my GPA was still over 3.5). Is this something I should include in my activities section, or is it too standard or irrelevant?

Thanks

 

[chad5871]

At my school, Provost's Honors are listed on our transcripts for every quarter we get a GPA of 3.5 and above while taking 3 or more courses (not including pass/no pass ones). I got Provost Honors every quarter, except for the 3 that I took some courses not for a letter grade (and my GPA was still over 3.5). Is this something I should include in my activities section, or is it too standard or irrelevant?

Thanks

If you already have a category called "Awards and Honors" or something like that, you can throw it in there with other stuff. Otherwise, it's not worth wasting a slot for by itself, as probably 85% of other applicants would qualify for the same honor.

 

[pianola]

AAMC suggests assigning biochemistry as a chemistry course instead of a biology course -- however, the course I took more heavily emphasized biology.

What do you think? Can I assign it as biology?

Thoughts are appreciated.

pianola

 

[umermus]

I am a Texas resident and I am mainly applying through TMDSAS and not very familiar with AMCAS. So I just wondering what medical schools to apply to thru AMCAS as I am going to use that anyway to apply to Baylor. MSAR is not available to me and if I order it, I'll get that in 2 wks and I want to get done with it ASAP. Any advise is appreciated. THANKS

 

[phospho]

I am a Texas resident and I am mainly applying through TMDSAS and not very familiar with AMCAS. So I just wondering what medical schools to apply to thru AMCAS as I am going to use that anyway to apply to Baylor. MSAR is not available to me and if I order it, I'll get that in 2 wks and I want to get done with it ASAP. Any advise is appreciated. THANKS

I can't find the original thread this file was in, however, someone was kind enough to put everything together in an excel file. I hope this helps. Best of luck

 

[iA-MD2013]

Although this is posted in the wrong thread, give us your stats. It depends on your numbers...but there are a lot of schools friendly to OOS students.

 

[pingouin]

moving to pre-allo

 

[eellen3]

For those of you who have already gotten verified with your AMCAS application have you received an email from the background check people? I don't want something like that delaying my application

 

[DL611954]

I got my registrar's office to send out my transcript about 1.5 weeks ago, and AMCAS has continually been updating their server - but according to them, they still haven't recieved it.

How long does this usually take, and when should I start worrying if I should get it sent out again?

thanks

 

[waterlilly]

I have the same question

 

[polina]

Hey!
I was hoping someone could help me with this...

I took a class called Social Statistics in the Sociology department. Would this go under Behavioral Sciences (since it's soc) or under Math?
(There are other stat classes at my school that people can take in the math department.)

Thanks!

 

[chad5871]

Hey!
I was hoping someone could help me with this...

I took a class called Social Statistics in the Sociology department. Would this go under Behavioral Sciences (since it's soc) or under Math?
(There are other stat classes at my school that people can take in the math department.)

Thanks!

I would list it as Math. If AMCAS wants to change it, they will.

I got my registrar's office to send out my transcript about 1.5 weeks ago, and AMCAS has continually been updating their server - but according to them, they still haven't recieved it.

How long does this usually take, and when should I start worrying if I should get it sent out again?

thanks

There's a thread here dedicated to that subject. You can see how long it took for some our posters' transcripts to be received after the requests were sent.

AAMC suggests assigning biochemistry as a chemistry course instead of a biology course -- however, the course I took more heavily emphasized biology.

What do you think? Can I assign it as biology?

Thoughts are appreciated.

pianola

You can assign it as either. Either way, it's calculated into your BCPM GPA so it really doesn't make a difference.

 

[runningdoc]

Does AMCAS specify that 2 copies of transcripts need to be sent or is this just a trend among applicants?

 

[LikeClockWork]

Alright, so the search function is not being my friend.

I'm going to take a summer course at an institution different from the one I graduated from. Thus, the only class I will have for this university is designated "future/current." Does AMCAS need a transcript from them since future/current coursework isn't verified? I figure not, since they'd only be able to get one in August when the course is done, but I figured I should ask.

 

[chad5871]

Does AMCAS specify that 2 copies of transcripts need to be sent or is this just a trend among applicants?

You only need to send one. Some send two because they're afraid the registrar will not send one of them, or it might get lost in the mail, etc. As long as AMCAS has one copy of a transcript from each institution you attended, you'll be fine.

Alright, so the search function is not being my friend.

I'm going to take a summer course at an institution different from the one I graduated from. Thus, the only class I will have for this university is designated "future/current." Does AMCAS need a transcript from them since future/current coursework isn't verified? I figure not, since they'd only be able to get one in August when the course is done, but I figured I should ask.

You need to put the institution information in "Schools Attended." When AMCAS asks you whether a transcript is necessary, say "No." It will then give you some message about making sure no transcript is needed - just ignore it and hit "Continue." Then add the course under "Course Work" and mark it as "Current/Future." Leave the grade section blank.

AMCAS will not need a copy of this transcript (ever), but the school you end up matriculating to will.

 

[premd]

Okay, thanks! Yes, the message has now changed to:

AMCAS has received a copy of all required transcripts and has placed the application in line to be reviewed by an AMCAS verifier.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

For those of you who have already gotten verified with your AMCAS application have you received an email from the background check people? I don't want something like that delaying my application

HI, haven't done this year's yet, from last year the process was totally seamless and did not add any time to the application cycle.

One strange thing I recall about this I believe was from Iowa? The school required filling out a form authorizing a background check after acceptance (not to be complete until Aug or so of the entry year), the school did not consider an application complete and ready to be reviewed until they had this form in their file.

 

[korndoctor]

whats the purpose of filing out the courses and grades ourselves if we have our school submit an official transcript to the amcas?

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

I'd suggest getting an old MSAR, they're at most libraries I'd think the last one is pretty much the same as the current one.

There are I believe 129 schools as of this year all over the country. I made a list of the most important things to me, looked at the stats of all schools, and matched the two to see which schools came out. Possibilities for selection:

1) large city (diversity, lots to do, expensive housing, better chance of staying in same area for residency) versus mid sized versus small. I'd pulled public data to put together a spreadsheet, & divided schools into "less than 500K residents in the metro area", "up to 3Million" and "over 3Million" for example.

2) public versus private? Check interview stats on msar, some public schools aka Hawaii only accept instate or those with ties to the state, per MSAR, similar for NDakota etc.

3) Climate? Sounds silly, would Vermont winters be OK or would Florida summers be acceptable?

4) Statistics - the excel file above lists % of matriculants by gpa/mcat, if your numbers are way out of range, probably it's a reach school.

5) Research versus primary care? I'd bet all schools teach toward both to some extent, some are very focused on one or the other, why apply to a top-notch primary care school (tough to get into) if you're interested in research?

6) placement success? Probably this is a later priority, how good is the school's match rate for residency? If you're leaning toward a specialty, which schools have the best match rate in that area?

 

[nikkiMD19]

Has anybody taken a medical terminology class? What would I classify this as... health sciences or other? Or..... biology 🙂??

I took medical terminology and listed it as health sciences because thats how it was classified at my school. I definitely wouldn't list it as bio. I already submitted my AMCAS and it's currently under review, so I'll let you know if they changed/corrected it on my application as soon as its verified. 🙂

 

[dwc929]

Would it be better to submit the AMCAS for verification for a few schools if the only thing holding me back right now is completing my list of schools? You can add them later on, correct?

 

[AMCAS]

are classes designated "HEAL" for health sciences calculated into the BCPM GPA?
for instance, i just took two courses; Fitness assessment laboratory and Pharmacology. I definitely feel like pharmacology should be counted as science.

Classes designated "HEAL" will not be part of the BCPM calculated by AMCAS. The courses counted as part of the BCPM will be courses classified as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math.

 

[AMCAS]

Would it be better to submit the AMCAS for verification for a few schools if the only thing holding me back right now is completing my list of schools? You can add them later on, correct?

You can add medical schools at any time pre or post submission as long as the deadline for the medical school has not passed.

 

[justapremed]

I sent in a "packet of letters" from Interfolio to AMCAS on 5/29 via "same day electronic delivery."

No news from AMCAS on its arrival... I know that transcripts are flooding in and they are the main priority for what's required for verifications of primaries, but.... it's supposed to be a same day -electronic- delivery and it's been more than 10 days. I doubt it's lost or anything, but is this something I should call about? I just want to make sure that it is still on their radar and make sure I don't have to worry about this part of the application anymore...

Has anyone else sent in their Interfolio letters and have gotten a note on its arrival already? How long did it take? 😕

 

[TupacalipseT96]

So here I am frantically trying to get my PS done so I can submit my AMCAS... but then I remembered I just had my transcripts sent like June 3rd, and AMCAS still says "Transcripts Not Received".

So is there any point to even submitting before Transcripts are received anyway? Should I just use this as an excuse to take more time on the PS?

Or should I still rush to get the PS done and submit AMCAS without my transcripts received?

 

[copperfrog09]

They can't vErify your transcripts (which is what you are waiting for them to do once you submit) if they don't have them yet, so submitting is of no use until they have the transcripts.

 

[Phoenix.]

I sent in a "packet of letters" from Interfolio to AMCAS on 5/29 via "same day electronic delivery."

No news from AMCAS on its arrival... I know that transcripts are flooding in and they are the main priority for what's required for verifications of primaries, but.... it's supposed to be a same day -electronic- delivery and it's been more than 10 days. I doubt it's lost or anything, but is this something I should call about? I just want to make sure that it is still on their radar and make sure I don't have to worry about this part of the application anymore...

Has anyone else sent in their Interfolio letters and have gotten a note on its arrival already? How long did it take? 😕

Ummm, did something dramatic change with AMCAS? Last year, AMCAS did not collect LORs, or distribute them to the schools you applied to. Rather, the LOR requirement is completely separate from your AMCAS primary. After your primary is verified and sent to schools, you will receive secondary invitations. At that point, you will direct your committee or virtualevals to directly send the collection of your LORs directly to each school. AMCAS is not involved.

I'm merging this with the AMCAS question thread for others to weigh in.

 

[raydar510]

2 questions...

1. Am I supposed to enter my high school AP courses? They show up on my college transcript and count for classes that I skipped in college. If so, does that mean I need to send my high school transcript too?

2. When entering each course, there are boxes to check for special course types. What does "exempt" mean? I took a course at another college that was not included in my college GPA cuz it was a semester system and I'm on a quarter system. Is that what exempt is?

Thanks

 

[AMCAS]

2 questions...

1. Am I supposed to enter my high school AP courses? They show up on my college transcript and count for classes that I skipped in college. If so, does that mean I need to send my high school transcript too?

2. When entering each course, there are boxes to check for special course types. What does "exempt" mean? I took a course at another college that was not included in my college GPA cuz it was a semester system and I'm on a quarter system. Is that what exempt is?

Thanks

Yes, you need to list AP courses that were accepted by your university. You list them under the college that accepted the credit in your first semester of your freshman year. You should also check AP for the special coursetype. You do not send your high school transcript.

Please read the following for exempt courses:

[FONT=Verdana+Bold0]Exempt.
Do NOT assign Exempt to courses for which credit was awarded. No
credit hours or AMCAS grade will be assigned. If the institution has
granted credits, use Advanced Placement (AP) or CLEP. Any course
that you were not required taking because you had:​



Previously completed courses

 ​

​

Employment experience

 ​

​

Passed a departmental exam

​

 

[chad5871]

whats the purpose of filing out the courses and grades ourselves if we have our school submit an official transcript to the amcas?

How long did it take you to fill out your Coursework section? Probably 1-2 hours. How long does it take to visually check and make sure everything matches your transcript? Maybe 10-15 minutes. If AMCAS spent 1-2 hours inputting 30,000+ students' transcripts, they would never ever get them all verified in time. AAs an applicant, it's just another hoop we have to jump through, no matter how asinine or annoying the task may seem, we still all have to go through it.

Would it be better to submit the AMCAS for verification for a few schools if the only thing holding me back right now is completing my list of schools? You can add them later on, correct?

Yes - go ahead and submit when your app is done (just make sure it's the best it can be). Once you get verified you can add schools whenever you want until the deadline and your app will be available to them immediately.

I sent in a "packet of letters" from Interfolio to AMCAS on 5/29 via "same day electronic delivery."

No news from AMCAS on its arrival... I know that transcripts are flooding in and they are the main priority for what's required for verifications of primaries, but.... it's supposed to be a same day -electronic- delivery and it's been more than 10 days. I doubt it's lost or anything, but is this something I should call about? I just want to make sure that it is still on their radar and make sure I don't have to worry about this part of the application anymore...

Has anyone else sent in their Interfolio letters and have gotten a note on its arrival already? How long did it take? 😕

I have heard from several other people that using same day delivery service does NOT mean AMCAS will mark it as received the same day. They will actually get it that day electronically, but I'm assuming it's going to take them a while to get them "received" into the system and attached with your AMCAS ID. This is probably because they've become so inundated with transcripts. I'd wait a week or two, and then call AMCAS to see what the hold-up is.

Ummm, did something dramatic change with AMCAS? Last year, AMCAS did not collect LORs, or distribute them to the schools you applied to. Rather, the LOR requirement is completely separate from your AMCAS primary. After your primary is verified and sent to schools, you will receive secondary invitations. At that point, you will direct your committee or virtualevals to directly send the collection of your LORs directly to each school. AMCAS is not involved.

I'm merging this with the AMCAS question thread for others to weigh in.

Yes, AMCAS is piloting a new Letter of Recommendation service this cycle. Approximately 20 schools are participating. More information can be found in the Official AMCAS LOE thread.

2 questions...

1. Am I supposed to enter my high school AP courses? They show up on my college transcript and count for classes that I skipped in college. If so, does that mean I need to send my high school transcript too?

2. When entering each course, there are boxes to check for special course types. What does "exempt" mean? I took a course at another college that was not included in my college GPA cuz it was a semester system and I'm on a quarter system. Is that what exempt is?

Thanks

1. If it appears on your college transcript it needs to be entered. Enter them with your freshman year classes, mark them as AP, and enter "AP" for the grade. You do not need to send your HS transcripts.

2. What you described is not "exempt." All courses, no matter what institution or system used, will be calculated into the AMCAS GPA. Additionally, AMCAS will need a transcript from each of the post-secondary institutions you attended.

 

[AMCAS]

Thanks[/quote]

AAMC suggests assigning biochemistry as a chemistry course instead of a biology course -- however, the course I took more heavily emphasized biology.

What do you think? Can I assign it as biology?

Thoughts are appreciated.

pianola

Course classification is based on the primary content of the course. That being said, AMCAS reserves the right to make a change to the course classification if it best fits another catagory. If AMCAS makes a change during verification and based on the course description it should fit in another catagory you can submit an Academic Change Request online within the AMCAS application on the right hand side to have the course reviewed again.

 

[BDNF]

Thanks

Course classification is based on the primary content of the course. That being said, AMCAS reserves the right to make a change to the course classification if it best fits another catagory. If AMCAS makes a change during verification and based on the course description it should fit in another catagory you can submit an Academic Change Request online within the AMCAS application on the right hand side to have the course reviewed again.[/QUOTE]

If AMCAS makes a category change, does it in anyway delay the application?