2009-2010 AMCAS Questions Thread

[osumc2014]

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I separated each paragraph in my personal statement by a line...but is that going to be automatically removed when I submit my AMCAS? Does AMCAS remove all formatting once we submit?

The line separation will remain, everything else, such as indentation will go.

 

[redrower]

are you guys just writing "one" long paragraph for your PS or actually using up characters to make blank lines?
any thoughts on how one large paragraph would be viewed?

 

[witness23]

nah its an essay yo, spread it out

 

[G1SG2]

The line separation will remain, everything else, such as indentation will go.

Oh, okay. Same goes for the descriptions in the work/activities section, right? I used bullets for some of my descriptions, for example:

-My responsibilities were...

-I also did...etc

This will also remain, right? Thanks.

 

[witness23]

not sure. print your app and see

 

[flip26]

Oh, okay. Same goes for the descriptions in the work/activities section, right? I used bullets for some of my descriptions, for example:

-My responsibilities were...

-I also did...etc

This will also remain, right? Thanks.

Last year, people reported strange formatting results. I am still not sure that WYSIWYG is at work here, or in other words, that what you see on your PDF printout is exactly the same as what the med schools will receive.

I typed my PS directly into the app - did not import it from Word or Notepad or anything else - I asked AMCAS about it, and they said it is the only method they recommend.

I didn't use any contractions (with ') nor any other quote marks, or italics, or bolds, or special characters with the exception of commas, colons, and semi-colons.

 

[rockaction]

At my school, in the class # we also have the designation of the department. Like, if you take Bio 1134 it's "BI1134". (On my transcript it has a column for department, like "BI" and a column for course number, like "1134"). In the course number space which do I put..."BI1134" or just "1134"??

 

[G1SG2]

At my school, in the class # we also have the designation of the department. Like, if you take Bio 1134 it's "BI1134". (On my transcript it has a column for department, like "BI" and a column for course number, like "1134"). In the course number space which do I put..."BI1134" or just "1134"??

I put the letters and numbers in the "course number" space. For example, if I took an intro Bio class called BIO 101, I listed it as BIO 101 in the course number space. Not sure if this is correct though, since they do ask what department the course is classified under...

 

[Heffalump]

hey! sorry.. this is probably a stupid question.. but I'm confused.. because people are telling me different things

I'm not taking my MCAT until July (long story..).. so basically I wont have my results back until August

Does that mean.. that my primary app cant be considered "complete" until I enter in my MCAT score?
So does that basically mean I won't get my secondaries until August/Sept?

OR

Does that mean that my primary will be "complete" (so I can receive secondaries in July/Aug) .. and that i wont be able to turn in my secondaries until after I receive my MCAT score (in Aug)

if thats confusing.. i can clarify it again.. but can someone enlighten me?

thanks!!

 

[witness23]

both are wrong.

your primary is complete as long as you submit your primary, no matter of the MCAT. If your transcripts are already at AMCAS, and they verify your grades, your primary is complete.

You will start receiving secondaries after you submit the primary to school (after a certain date). You can fill those out immediately and hand them in. You are complete at schools when these things are in:
1. Primary 2. Secondary 3. Payment 4. LORs 5. MCAT score

 

[osumc2014]

both are wrong.

your primary is complete as long as you submit your primary, no matter of the MCAT. If your transcripts are already at AMCAS, and they verify your grades, your primary is complete.

You will start receiving secondaries after you submit the primary to school (after a certain date). You can fill those out immediately and hand them in. You are complete at schools when these things are in:
1. Primary 2. Secondary 3. Payment 4. LORs 5. MCAT score

Correct, and I'm not 100% on this but definitely some schools will not review your application without a MCAT, but if you get it in by August should be fine.

 

[gujuDoc]

Correct, and I'm not 100% on this but definitely some schools will not review your application without a MCAT, but if you get it in by August should be fine.

Yes and one should look in an MSAR if they want to see who is gonna screen them and who is going to give a secondary regardless of scores.

 

[G1SG2]

Do most people provide information about their parents/siblings in AMCAS? I can't decide whether or not I should provide that info.

 

[gujuDoc]

Do most people provide information about their parents/siblings in AMCAS? I can't decide whether or not I should provide that info.

I don't know about anyone else but I did.

 

[Appless]

Do most people provide information about their parents/siblings in AMCAS? I can't decide whether or not I should provide that info.

theres no reason not to unless you dont know them or something. youre not going to get discriminated against or something because of it. I didnt but my dad but thats because i dont even know if hes alive. I put my mom

 

[G1SG2]

theres no reason not to unless you dont know them or something. youre not going to get discriminated against or something because of it. I didnt but my dad but thats because i dont even know if hes alive. I put my mom

I don't know about anyone else but I did.

Okay, I think I will as well. When I chose the country for "Highest Education Level School Location" for my parents, the only "School" option in the drop down menu says "Other (Not Listed)". Beneath that, there is a "School" section that says "If this name is wrong, please correct it here:" and in the space it says "Foreign College Not Coded". This means I should replace "Foreign College Not Coded" with the proper name of the college that my parent attended in his/her country, right? Sorry if this is a dumb question with an obvious answer, but what's AMCAS without any paranoia 😀

 

[175961]

quick ?

for amcas can I submit if my LORs and MCAT havent been received yet?? everything else is done but I was under the impression that you could submit and those two things have to be in when you get the secondaries? maybe I was under the wrong impression. I just wanna wash my hands of this application and get it sent off and paid for and out of my life (for now)

 

[Appless]

quick ?

for amcas can I submit if my LORs and MCAT havent been received yet?? everything else is done but I was under the impression that you could submit and those two things have to be in when you get the secondaries? maybe I was under the wrong impression. I just wanna wash my hands of this application and get it sent off and paid for and out of my life (for now)

yes you can submit, as long as you noted that you are taking the mcat or took it and are awating scores.

 

[flip26]

Okay, I think I will as well. When I chose the country for "Highest Education Level School Location" for my parents, the only "School" option in the drop down menu says "Other (Not Listed)". Beneath that, there is a "School" section that says "If this name is wrong, please correct it here:" and in the space it says "Foreign College Not Coded". This means I should replace "Foreign College Not Coded" with the proper name of the college that my parent attended in his/her country, right? Sorry if this is a dumb question with an obvious answer, but what's AMCAS without any paranoia 😀

I didn't fill out any of the parent or sibling info...not required.

Besides, if med schools want to know this stuff, it will be asked for again in the secondaries.

 

[LAman10]

hey, so sorry for this question, but there seemed to be some confusion about the "is this from a school" question on the LOE section. What is it supposed to be?

All of my letters are being sent by my Career Center, but not all of my professors are actually at my university (e.g. research professors). Do I put "from my school" for all of them or just for the professors who are actually affiliated with my school?

 

[175961]

when marking a class as repeated do you mark both classes under the "repeat" category or just the entry for the class when it was repeated.

is that clear?? hows this.....does 1st and 2nd attempt get marked as repeat or just 2nd??

I only ask because on aacomas they make themselves clear that you have to mark both. its not so clear on amcas

 

[witness23]

hey, so sorry for this question, but there seemed to be some confusion about the "is this from a school" question on the LOE section. What is it supposed to be?

All of my letters are being sent by my Career Center, but not all of my professors are actually at my university (e.g. research professors). Do I put "from my school" for all of them or just for the professors who are actually affiliated with my school?

you just need to put the committee detail, ie your career center

 

[G1SG2]

When I clicked on "print application" to generate the PDF file of my application, in the LOE section where it says "Institution"-it says the name of my pre-health committee rather than the name of my university...but in my actual application, when I click on "details" for my assigned LOE, it says the name of my university next to "Institution"....isn't that weird? Should I delete the letter description and input the information again?

 

[premed21]

Q1) My parents are separated, but i know the information about them. I don't want to include any info about one of the parents even though I can. Should I skip this section entirely, or just include the one parent I want to include?

Q2) Also, for ethnicity, do I mark "Not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino/Latina" if I am only Asian Indian? Why do they even have an option for "Not blah blah?"

Q3) To request transcripts from my schools, all I have to do is print out the form, sign it, and send it to the schools? How do I pay for the transcript fees? Will the schools just read the letter and send the official transcripts free of charge?

Thanks

 

[gujuDoc]

Q1) My parents are separated, but i know the information about them. I don't want to include any info about one of the parents even though I can. Should I skip this section entirely, or just include the one parent I want to include?

Q2) Also, for ethnicity, do I mark "Not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino/Latina" if I am only Asian Indian? Why do they even have an option for "Not blah blah?"

Q3) To request transcripts from my schools, all I have to do is print out the form, sign it, and send it to the schools? How do I pay for the transcript fees? Will the schools just read the letter and send the official transcripts free of charge?

Thanks

free of charge?!?!?!?!?!?!? YAH RIGHT!!!!!! LOL. In all seriousness, there will be nothing free of charge from this point onwards. Just bankrupting students with the ridiculous fees for everything. You print out the request form on amcas, sign and fill it out, then take it to the registrar's office. Pay the fees they charge for transcripts and fill out the form where they ask for the address which is the AMCAS address. They send it to amcas with the form you printed from amcas and the form you filled for them.

You will have to provide one transcript for each school you attended post secondary to amcas.

 

[gujuDoc]

Q1) My parents are separated, but i know the information about them. I don't want to include any info about one of the parents even though I can. Should I skip this section entirely, or just include the one parent I want to include?

Q2) Also, for ethnicity, do I mark "Not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino/Latina" if I am only Asian Indian? Why do they even have an option for "Not blah blah?"

Q3) To request transcripts from my schools, all I have to do is print out the form, sign it, and send it to the schools? How do I pay for the transcript fees? Will the schools just read the letter and send the official transcripts free of charge?

Thanks

Yes to the answer to Q2. Skip the section if it is not required to put your parents info and you don't want to put it. Its not required.

 

[LAman10]

Q2) Also, for ethnicity, do I mark "Not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino/Latina" if I am only Asian Indian? Why do they even have an option for "Not blah blah?"

why do you care? that's the question; just answer it.

 

[gujuDoc]

why do you care? that's the question; just answer it.

So true. its there cuz most of the western hempisphere is latino in truth and once half of america's land mass was part of spain and then part of mexico.

 

[apoptotic]

Hi, I'm a Canadian student, so I'm still a little confused on how the whole rolling admissions thing work.

I know I should apply to rolling schools early to have a better chance, but is there a reason why I should submit early to non-rolling schools early as well? There are a few things that I haven't decided yet, so I'm thinking of applying first to all the rolling schools that I want, then to all the non-rolling ones later (July or something). Does that sound like a logical plan? Also if I add more schools later and re-submit, AMCAS won't charge that $160 base fee again right?

 

[G1SG2]

Anyone have any advice regarding my weird LOE description (post # 1825)???

 

[mvenus929]

Read my post above. I had this exact same situation, and I asked AMCAS. It may turn out OK for you, but according to what AMCAS told me, you did it the wrong way...if you haven't submitted yet, you might want to call AMCAS and verify what I did, noted in the post above...the classes you took in high school must show up on AMCAS as having been taken in high school - there is a separate category for them on the AMCAS grade report...doing it the way you have done it will obscure that fact.

You classify your classes individually, not according to institution. The same way you classify your classes according to year in school.

free of charge?!?!?!?!?!?!? YAH RIGHT!!!!!! LOL. In all seriousness, there will be nothing free of charge from this point onwards. Just bankrupting students with the ridiculous fees for everything. You print out the request form on amcas, sign and fill it out, then take it to the registrar's office. Pay the fees they charge for transcripts and fill out the form where they ask for the address which is the AMCAS address. They send it to amcas with the form you printed from amcas and the form you filled for them.

You will have to provide one transcript for each school you attended post secondary to amcas.

Some schools don't make you pay for transcripts. None of the three I had to send transcripts from charged me.

Hi, I'm a Canadian student, so I'm still a little confused on how the whole rolling admissions thing work.

I know I should apply to rolling schools early to have a better chance, but is there a reason why I should submit early to non-rolling schools early as well? There are a few things that I haven't decided yet, so I'm thinking of applying first to all the rolling schools that I want, then to all the non-rolling ones later (July or something). Does that sound like a logical plan? Also if I add more schools later and re-submit, AMCAS won't charge that $160 base fee again right?

Applying in July isn't going to make much of a difference either way. And no, you won't be charged the base fee again.

 

[thermodynamic]

hey, so sorry for this question, but there seemed to be some confusion about the "is this from a school" question on the LOE section. What is it supposed to be?

All of my letters are being sent by my Career Center, but not all of my professors are actually at my university (e.g. research professors). Do I put "from my school" for all of them or just for the professors who are actually affiliated with my school?

The ones that are actually affiliated with your school(s), put then down as "from a school".

For the ones that aren't, even if they're being sent from your Career Center, put them as "not from a school".

 

[snitchseeker88]

For "current/future" courses, I put a couple courses I was planning on taking next year. If I have to change my schedule around and end up switching one of the courses for something else, do I actually have to notify the medical schools/AMCAS? Especially if its something as simple as switching one psych elective or another? Thanks in advance.

 

[G1SG2]

At my school, in the class # we also have the designation of the department. Like, if you take Bio 1134 it's "BI1134". (On my transcript it has a column for department, like "BI" and a column for course number, like "1134"). In the course number space which do I put..."BI1134" or just "1134"??

rockation-I just spoke to AMCAS about this and they said it's okay to input the department and course number in the "Course Number" section (it's okay to enter BI1134).

 

[mdmonkey123]

hey guys....does anyone know how to list research/TA classes that appear multiple times in your transcript bc the projects were ongoing? are these also "repeated" courses even if it's not the same as doing poorly in a class and retaking it for a better grade?

much thanks!

 

[JJMrK]

For "current/future" courses, I put a couple courses I was planning on taking next year. If I have to change my schedule around and end up switching one of the courses for something else, do I actually have to notify the medical schools/AMCAS? Especially if its something as simple as switching one psych elective or another? Thanks in advance.

No. It says this right on the application.

 

[Appless]

Anyone have any advice regarding my weird LOE description (post # 1825)???

well i never had a pre health committee so maybe what is happeneing to you is normal. Its kind of odd so i would think asking amcas directly would be the easiet thing to do. sorry 🙁

 

[LaCasta]

I had my school's letter service collect all my LORs. When they sent out each professor's letter, they included a cover sheet alongside the AMCAS letter request form. The cover sheet basically just says that all my letters were collected by the school and that it was a closed file, I didn't see the letters etc...

Does anyone know if AMCAS scans these cover letters as well and includes it with each LOR?

 

[thedoctor8706]

Ok so here's my question... I am considering Early Decision Program because I am an SDA and I know I want to attend to Loma Linda. I have a very good GPA (3.9) and strong extra-curriculars, but I'm still waiting to take the MCAT on the 18th. Should I submit my AMCAS before the MCAT with Loma Linda marked as EDP even though I'm unsure how competitive my MCAT score would be? Or should I submit the AMCAS with all four schools I could attend? Will it let me change that option back to EDP if I decide to continue with that option after I receive my MCAT scores? Or should I just wait to submit unitl after I receive my scores on July 21? Is that too late?

 

[CdnHopeful]

If my professor is one that taught me or one that supervised me for research, do i still put it as from an institution even though he is the one that is writing it for me on the school's letterhead?

 

[Abdullaah]

If you're referring to the "is this [LOR] from a school?" radio button then yes, that's precisely what the button refers to.

 

[Raindrop423]

I know this has probably been answered before (actually, I think I remember reading about it) but just to check, because I called AMCAS and the person who answered there didn't seem sure...

Regarding class standing. By the time I finished first semester of freshman year, I had 33 credits (including 2 credits earned in summer programs and 11 AP credits). I listed the 2 summer program credits as HS, the 11 AP credits as FR, and the other 20 normal first-semester credits as FR. AMCAS says your freshman year should consist of 32 credits, so... do my 2nd semester freshman year courses start counting as sophomore?

I'm sorry to ask a repeat question, but in the instruction book, it seems like it should go by credit numbers... but then the lady at AMCAS said not to change class standing within a year... but maybe she got confused and actually meant don't switch within a semester?

Does anyone know for sure?

 

[rockthecasbah]

I have a question about joint enrollment. I joint enrolled at a University while I was a senior in high school (2005-2006), and because I did that, I didn't have to apply again. I just continued at the university once I graduated. So when the application asks for my start date at the university, should I put my senior year of high school (when I took my first class at the Univ., Fall 2005) or the year that I first became a full time student (Fall 2006)? Also, if I took a class the summer after graduation (in June), should I put that as my start date rather than August (Fall)?

One more question about expected graduation date: I'm expecting to graduate a semester early in December 2009 (rather than May 2010), but I haven't definitely decided. So should I put my graduation date as Dec. 2009 (which is more likely) or should I just stick to May 2010? I'm not sure if it really matters, but I just don't want to get into any kind of problems if I put Dec. 2009 and then end up having to graduate in May 2010.

Thanks!

 

[gujuDoc]

I know this has probably been answered before (actually, I think I remember reading about it) but just to check, because I called AMCAS and the person who answered there didn't seem sure...

Regarding class standing. By the time I finished first semester of freshman year, I had 33 credits (including 2 credits earned in summer programs and 11 AP credits). I listed the 2 summer program credits as HS, the 11 AP credits as FR, and the other 20 normal first-semester credits as FR. AMCAS says your freshman year should consist of 32 credits, so... do my 2nd semester freshman year courses start counting as sophomore?

I'm sorry to ask a repeat question, but in the instruction book, it seems like it should go by credit numbers... but then the lady at AMCAS said not to change class standing within a year... but maybe she got confused and actually meant don't switch within a semester?

Does anyone know for sure?

I am not sure but one way or another, the amcas verifiers will correct it if the classification is wrong so put it in as you think it should be classified. If it needs changing they will change it when they verify it.

 

[Auriga]

Do Medical Schools ALSO receive copies of your transcript AFTER they have been submitted and verified by AMCAS? Or does the AMCAS verification take care of that for them, and they don't ask for them?

I'm asking only because my particular University's transcript is ugly, hard to read and not well organized in my opinion, and my "stats" look better when displayed in the AMCAS format than if you just read the transcripts. Does that make sense?

I didn't see the answer to this even with the search thread feature but if I
missed it, I'm sorry for re-asking! >_<

 

[gujuDoc]

Do Medical Schools ALSO receive copies of your transcript AFTER they have been submitted and verified by AMCAS? Or does the AMCAS verification take care of that for them, and they don't ask for them?

I'm asking only because my particular University's transcript is ugly, hard to read and not well organized in my opinion, and my "stats" look better when displayed in the AMCAS format than if you just read the transcripts. Does that make sense?

I didn't see the answer to this even with the search thread feature but if I
missed it, I'm sorry for re-asking! >_<

No your transcripts are not given to the individual medical schools until you decide which medical school you are going to post acceptance and they ask for a final transcript with your senior year grades.

The reason AMCAS exists is so that they have a universal application which has all your GPA calculations done for the medical schools and the trends and GPAs and individual grades for classes are all on the verified amcas so there is no need for a transcript. Now if you wanted to update with grades that didn't get to AMCAS, then that would be worth it to send unofficial transcripts or grade sheets from your version of what is called ISIS or OASIS.

 

[pOrtEnt]

Hi, I'm a Canadian student, so I'm still a little confused on how the whole rolling admissions thing work.

I know I should apply to rolling schools early to have a better chance, but is there a reason why I should submit early to non-rolling schools early as well? There are a few things that I haven't decided yet, so I'm thinking of applying first to all the rolling schools that I want, then to all the non-rolling ones later (July or something). Does that sound like a logical plan? Also if I add more schools later and re-submit, AMCAS won't charge that $160 base fee again right?

Hi apoptotic,
You should absolutely apply early to all schools, regardless of whether they are rolling or non-rolling.

The reason why you should apply early is that schools give out interviews on a rolling basis, even if their admissions is non-rolling. For example, according to UChicago, during the early months of the application process, they will grant an interview to every 6th to 8th application they read. In January, they are reviewing ~1000 applications for 30 interview spots (this is from UChicago's free admissions podcasts, which you can get on Itunes).

Since you will not be admitted without an interview, you give yourself the best chance of admission by applying early, even if admissions are "non-rolling." Non-rolling admissions essentially means that they decide who to accept for their class all at once; interview offers are always made on a rolling basis.

Hope that helps.

 

[osumc2014]

No your transcripts are not given to the individual medical schools until you decide which medical school you are going to post acceptance and they ask for a final transcript with your senior year grades.

The reason AMCAS exists is so that they have a universal application which has all your GPA calculations done for the medical schools and the trends and GPAs and individual grades for classes are all on the verified amcas so there is no need for a transcript. Now if you wanted to update with grades that didn't get to AMCAS, then that would be worth it to send unofficial transcripts or grade sheets from your version of what is called ISIS or OASIS.

When you say trends, does it matter if my most recent quarter has a slight downward trend? Or they'll just shrug it off because my 5 quarters before have been very consistent?

 

[gujuDoc]

Does anyone know exactly what AMCAS verifies? I am under the impression they are just comparing your the grades you entered to the transcripts they receive.

They verify that grades, courses etc. are entered in properly and calculate your GPA for BCPM, AO, and overal cummulative.

Furthermore, they will verify that you've listed the classification of FR, SO, JR, SR right and that you've listed the classification of the course properly.

If you list one thing as a natural science and it is biological science for instance, they'll change it to biological science. And if you list something as a science course cuz its given by the bio dept say but not really a true science course i.e. research, they'll verify that its not a science course.

 

[witness23]

When you say trends, does it matter if my most recent quarter has a slight downward trend? Or they'll just shrug it off because my 5 quarters before have been very consistent?

if you have a 3.93 (i dont know how much of a downward trend you can have there), they won't really check for much but that you have taken the pre-reqs