2009-2010 AMCAS Questions Thread

[buckeye25]

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I'm really confused by this whole thing. Is it 100% required to submit LORs with your primary? Or can you just wait and submit them all with your secondaries?

 

[mvenus929]

I'm really confused by this whole thing. Is it 100% required to submit LORs with your primary? Or can you just wait and submit them all with your secondaries?

No, it is not required that you submit your LORs at the same time as your primary. However, for the vast majority of schools, you WILL submit them through AMCAS, which is why there is a specific section there for LOEs. If you try to send them to individual schools that participate in the service, your application will be delayed. To be complete in this section when you submit, you just have to read the paragraph and hit 'continue'.

 

[SteinUmStein]

I had a somewhat unique question about which AP credits to put on the AMCAS. I came in to college with a lot of credits, which immediately put me in to upper level tuition. I dropped a majority of the useless credits (ie History, Psych, Polysci) to get me back down to lower level tuition. On my transcript, it lists all of these credits I dropped, but says that I got 0 credits for it. Am I still allowed to list these on my AMCAS? Does it make a difference?

I asked my school's career center and they didn't know. I also emailed AMCAS, and still haven't received a response.

Could you just list the courses and click the "Exempt" box for each? That way no credit or grade is listed for each, but the courses show up on your AMCAS list. I did that for my AP Physics course, since I took a full year of college physics that overrode my original AP credit. I think that's what the Exempt box is for, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[ksmi117]

Could you just list the courses and click the "Exempt" box for each? That way no credit or grade is listed for each, but the courses show up on your AMCAS list. I did that for my AP Physics course, since I took a full year of college physics that overrode my original AP credit. I think that's what the Exempt box is for, correct me if I'm wrong.

That's right. 👍

 

[swamprat]

I am sure this was asked before but the search feature in this thread is pretty bad and I don't know how to group to words together and search for a phrase (quotes didn't do it). Anyway, when filling out work/activities, how should I list a single day event (as far as start/end date). Thanks in advance.

 

[sdotsom]

Just to make sure of something - if I tell AMCAS I'm taking the September MCAT, they'll release that to my schools automatically right? Even after I submitted my app?

This must have been answered already, so I apologize. Couldn't figure out what to search..:😳:

 

[LAman10]

I'm aiming to submit my app by end of this week. However, my transcripts have not arrived yet at AMCAS. I'm assuming it would be useless to submit my app before my transcripts get there, right? I might as well just continue fine-tuning it until then. Or does it still matter if you submit early, regardless of if your transcripts have arrived?

 

[mvenus929]

I am sure this was asked before but the search feature in this thread is pretty bad and I don't know how to group to words together and search for a phrase (quotes didn't do it). Anyway, when filling out work/activities, how should I list a single day event (as far as start/end date). Thanks in advance.

Group it together with similar activities. List the month you participated in one, and go into detail about the others in the comments. I hope you did more for that one event than things that just lasted that one day, though...

Just to make sure of something - if I tell AMCAS I'm taking the September MCAT, they'll release that to my schools automatically right? Even after I submitted my app?

This must have been answered already, so I apologize. Couldn't figure out what to search..:😳:

Yes.

I'm aiming to submit my app by end of this week. However, my transcripts have not arrived yet at AMCAS. I'm assuming it would be useless to submit my app before my transcripts get there, right? I might as well just continue fine-tuning it until then. Or does it still matter if you submit early, regardless of if your transcripts have arrived?

Your application won't go into the pile until your transcripts have arrived, so it doesn't matter.

 

[desibhai]

Sorry if this has been answered before but I have a couple questions.

1. If I indicate on my AMCAS that I took the May 28th '09 MCAT, will medical schools wait to review my application until my new scores are out or will they look at my application using my old score first and then look at it again after my new scores are out?

2. On the AMCAS login page it says Medical schools will begin receiving applications on June 24, 2009. What if I submit my application June 25th, will it take medical schools about a month to get my application from AMCAS?

thanks for all your help! 😀

 

[SteinUmStein]

If I have lab courses entered separately from the lecture course that are worth 0 credit hours (credit is lumped with the lecture course at my school), what should I put in the grade column? Is it P/F, or would it be Exempt?

 

[mvenus929]

Sorry if this has been answered before but I have a couple questions.

1. If I indicate on my AMCAS that I took the May 28th '09 MCAT, will medical schools wait to review my application until my new scores are out or will they look at my application using my old score first and then look at it again after my new scores are out?

2. On the AMCAS login page it says Medical schools will begin receiving applications on June 24, 2009. What if I submit my application June 25th, will it take medical schools about a month to get my application from AMCAS?

thanks for all your help! 😀

Maybe. Some will probably send out secondaries before you get your score. But, since schools won't start getting applications til June 24th, it won't make much difference because that'll only be a handful of days before your scores come back.

No, they'll get it as soon as you're verified. Then again, if you submit on the 25th, it may take them a month to verify you. Hard to say.

 

[alibai3ah]

Not sure if this has been asked before. But if I studied abroad and worked at a clinic there. In terms of EC's, should I write as the activity study abroad. And under it talk about the clinic and other experiences there. Or should I have two separate categories, with the clinic in one and the studying abroad in another?

 

[gujuDoc]

Not sure if this has been asked before. But if I studied abroad and worked at a clinic there. In terms of EC's, should I write as the activity study abroad. And under it talk about the clinic and other experiences there. Or should I have two separate categories, with the clinic in one and the studying abroad in another?

You can do either or. I'd personally separate it out so I could put emphasis on the different activities and draw the adcom's attn to such. But you could do it either way really from what I can see.

 

[gujuDoc]

If I have lab courses entered separately from the lecture course that are worth 0 credit hours (credit is lumped with the lecture course at my school), what should I put in the grade column? Is it P/F, or would it be Exempt?

On amcas there is an option for courses which have lab and lecture combined box. You have to check that and not list a course separately if it is included in the grade of the lecture.

For instance, anatomy and physio 1 and 2 would be 2093C and 2094C. Each are worth 4 credits. so if I were to list them. I would not list the lab portion separately because it shows up on my transcript as a lump sum grade. Therefore I'd list it as it shows up on my transcript as 2093C, check off the box that says lab+lecture combined course, enter the credit hours, and enter the grade earned. not list the lab as one thing and lecture as another thing. put it on your amcas exactly as it is on your transcript.

 

[desibhai]

Maybe. Some will probably send out secondaries before you get your score. But, since schools won't start getting applications til June 24th, it won't make much difference because that'll only be a handful of days before your scores come back.

No, they'll get it as soon as you're verified. Then again, if you submit on the 25th, it may take them a month to verify you. Hard to say.

Would it be a good idea for me to apply say within a week so that my application gets verified sooner and I will be a few steps ahead on the secondaries or should I wait to get my scores back and then apply?

thanks again!

 

[robrobbberts]

.

 

[gujuDoc]

I am a non-traditional student, and since some of my science courses were so old, I had to repeat them recently. Do I check off 'Repeat' on the newer courses, or the older ones? I took the newer courses at a different institution, if that matters.

On the newer one I suppose. I wonder if you have to hit the repeat key if it is done at a different institution. Might want to give amcas people a call and ask about that one.

 

[alibai3ah]

You can do either or. I'd personally separate it out so I could put emphasis on the different activities and draw the adcom's attn to such. But you could do it either way really from what I can see.

Thank you, you are so helpful everytime!

 

[mvenus929]

Not sure if this has been asked before. But if I studied abroad and worked at a clinic there. In terms of EC's, should I write as the activity study abroad. And under it talk about the clinic and other experiences there. Or should I have two separate categories, with the clinic in one and the studying abroad in another?

You should have studying abroad listed as a part of your transcripts, so there shouldn't be any need to list it as a EC.

 

[robrobbberts]

On the newer one I suppose. I wonder if you have to hit the repeat key if it is done at a different institution. Might want to give amcas people a call and ask about that one.

I guess I'll give them a call. Thanks for the reply. 🙂


Oh.. another question....

Future courses.. do I fill out courses I will be planning on taking this coming Fall/Spring ?

 

[mvenus929]

I guess I'll give them a call. Thanks for the reply. 🙂


Oh.. another question....

Future courses.. do I fill out courses I will be planning on taking this coming Fall/Spring ?

You can if you want. It's not required, but if your science load is light from previous years, it might help you.

 

[SteinUmStein]

On amcas there is an option for courses which have lab and lecture combined box. You have to check that and not list a course separately if it is included in the grade of the lecture.

For instance, anatomy and physio 1 and 2 would be 2093C and 2094C. Each are worth 4 credits. so if I were to list them. I would not list the lab portion separately because it shows up on my transcript as a lump sum grade. Therefore I'd list it as it shows up on my transcript as 2093C, check off the box that says lab+lecture combined course, enter the credit hours, and enter the grade earned. not list the lab as one thing and lecture as another thing. put it on your amcas exactly as it is on your transcript.

I definitely like this way of doing it, although that's not how it is on my transcript. My transcript is like this:

BI 311 01Mammalian Anatomy & Physiology I - A







BI 311 02 LMammalian Anat & Phys Lab2 - NG




The grade for 311 01 is a composite of lab and lecture, but the lab is listed separately with a NG for 'No Grade'. Do you still advise listing them as one combined unit? I'll go with whatever people on this forum think, I trust you guys over my undergraduate advisor.

 

[mvenus929]

I definitely like this way of doing it, although that's not how it is on my transcript. My transcript is like this:

BI 311 01Mammalian Anatomy & Physiology I - A







BI 311 02 LMammalian Anat & Phys Lab2 - NG




The grade for 311 01 is a composite of lab and lecture, but the lab is listed separately with a NG for 'No Grade'. Do you still advise listing them as one combined unit? I'll go with whatever people on this forum think, I trust you guys over my undergraduate advisor.

They're the same course ID, just with different section numbers. You can probably get away with listing it once as a lecture+lab.

 

[SteinUmStein]

Did any of you describe your shadowing experiences in the Work/Activities section, or did you just list dates and names, etc?

 

[robrobbberts]

Did any of you describe your shadowing experiences in the Work/Activities section, or did you just list dates and names, etc?

I shadowed several different doctors, so I just combined them all into one thing and described a bit about what they did and what I observed.

 

[bonoz]

Question: I take the MCAT on June 18 and will not get my result for another month after that. Should I still submit my AMCAS ASAP or do I have some flexibility?

 

[gujuDoc]

Did any of you describe your shadowing experiences in the Work/Activities section, or did you just list dates and names, etc?

I just listed the types cuz there was not enough space to list and describe everything. As it is I've put some shadowing experiences, albeit high school ones, in my personal statement. So I don't feel there's much need to expand too much. If you have space you can but otherwise just list the types of docs and where or when..

 

[gila]

A similar question was asked earlier in the thread by someone else, but I don't think anyone answered it:

For LORs, can one of the 2 science professors be a research professor? I took a 2 unit course from the bio dept and got credit (letter grade).

Thanks!

 

[gujuDoc]

I definitely like this way of doing it, although that's not how it is on my transcript. My transcript is like this:

BI 311 01Mammalian Anatomy & Physiology I - A







BI 311 02 LMammalian Anat & Phys Lab2 - NG




The grade for 311 01 is a composite of lab and lecture, but the lab is listed separately with a NG for 'No Grade'. Do you still advise listing them as one combined unit? I'll go with whatever people on this forum think, I trust you guys over my undergraduate advisor.

That's odd. I'd call the AAMC office for AMCAS in DC and ask them what to do. This is definitely a strange one. I've never seen any school I know of do that so that's def. new to me. Call tomorrow morning when the AMCAS office opens to find out what they think.

 

[LAman10]

two questions:

1) what date should be entered when you're listing awards or shadowing or something?

2) I wrote my Work/Activities descriptions in a Word document and copied & pasted into the description portion on AMCAS. Now I see that they advise AGAINST doing that. However, when i'm reading my app, it all looks fine to me. Maybe there's some formatting error that I can't see? Is there a way to see like a summary page with all your activities listed out and all the descriptions, just as the adcoms would see?

 

[gujuDoc]

You should have studying abroad listed as a part of your transcripts, so there shouldn't be any need to list it as a EC.

People would say the same for research classes but yet people list the research as an EC. I would think study abroad is no different if they wanted to discuss certain aspects of it that cannot be seen from a transcript. so I respectfully disagree with you on this one.

 

[gujuDoc]

two questions:

1) what date should be entered when you're listing awards or shadowing or something?

2) I wrote my Work/Activities descriptions in a Word document and copied & pasted into the description portion on AMCAS. Now I see that they advise AGAINST doing that. However, when i'm reading my app, it all looks fine to me. Maybe there's some formatting error that I can't see? Is there a way to see like a summary page with all your activities listed out and all the descriptions, just as the adcoms would see?

If there is no visible formating problem you should be ok.

date received for the award. Dates you shadowed for shadowing.

 

[gujuDoc]

A similar question was asked earlier in the thread by someone else, but I don't think anyone answered it:

For LORs, can one of the 2 science professors be a research professor? I took a 2 unit course from the bio dept and got credit (letter grade).

Thanks!

You should use lecture based professors for science professor letters. At least that's what I've heard as far as things go from admissions directors and advisors in my home state.

I think research letters are not looked at highly because they want a letter from a professor that knows you but that is a lecture based, test based class type i.e. prereq professors.

But you can use this research letter as an additional lecture for a character reference. that's what I would do in your place.

 

[bonoz]

Question: I take the MCAT on June 18 and will not get my result for another month after that. Should I still submit my AMCAS ASAP or do I have some flexibility?

Because if my MCAT scores are not going to be available for a while, do I still have time? because I've been studying for the MCAT and haven't gotten a chance to work on my AMCAS.

 

[gujuDoc]

Question: I take the MCAT on June 18 and will not get my result for another month after that. Should I still submit my AMCAS ASAP or do I have some flexibility?

Because if my MCAT scores are not going to be available for a while, do I still have time? because I've been studying for the MCAT and haven't gotten a chance to work on my AMCAS.

I would send it out still to get it verified. Maybe add more schools after you've seen the scores.

But if you wait you will be behind with secondaries. But then again, I know people who finished secondaries in September and October and still got interviews so perhaps you could wait. I'm not sure I would though if I had a good idea of my possible score range based on practice tests and they showed that I was scoring within a good range. I would risk it and submit it to get it verified so that all you'd have to do later on is wait for the score.

 

[acha241]

Hi everyone! Sorry if these questions have been asked before but:

1. How do you know if AMCAS has received you're transcripts? Do you need to call them up or will it be displayed online?

2. I'm still waiting for 2 people to write my LORs. If I submit my application on June 2 and then receive the new LORs after that, how will AMCAS send these out to the designated schools/ Is it automatically done?

thanks

 

[futuredoctor10]

How do you know when the AMCAS applications website is actually open for submission?
It says on or around June 2, 2009. Will it be updated on the website?

 

[GloryVA]

Hi everyone!

I'm a bit confused about how to enter a world language waiver on my application.

It shows up on my transcript as WL: World Language Waiver 0.00

According to the AMCAS help guide on the app, it definitely says to notate the AP box even though it's not technically an AP. However, I was wondering, what am I supposed to do about the grade since I don't have one?

Do I just write "Tested Out" or P or what?

 

[BlueElmo]

Hi everyone!

I'm a bit confused about how to enter a world language waiver on my application.

It shows up on my transcript as WL: World Language Waiver 0.00

According to the AMCAS help guide on the app, it definitely says to notate the AP box even though it's not technically an AP. However, I was wondering, what am I supposed to do about the grade since I don't have one?

Do I just write "Tested Out" or P or what?

Leave the grade area blank.

 

[jiggahova]

For everyone who is taking the MCAT on June 18th when are you submitting your AMCAS? It is kind of pointless to fill it out now and send it in so Med. schools receive it on June 24 right?

 

[LAman10]

If there is no visible formating problem you should be ok.

date received for the award. Dates you shadowed for shadowing.

oops i'm dumb haha I meant, if you have several awards or several shadowing experiences and you're lumping them together in one activity, what date do you use?

 

[gujuDoc]

oops i'm dumb haha I meant, if you have several awards or several shadowing experiences and you're lumping them together in one activity, what date do you use?

Ok so here's what I did. I put the date ranges of when I shadowed overall rather then at one place.

So say you volunteered from 2002-2003 with one doctor and from 2003-2004 with another doctor. Let us assume this as a simple example. In this case you could put 2002-2004 but then explain and split it in the description space for which doctor was which. Or alternatively leave the dates blank if they let you do such and explain it down below in the description section.

Approach awards in the same way.

 

[gujuDoc]

How do you know when the AMCAS applications website is actually open for submission?
It says on or around June 2, 2009. Will it be updated on the website?

I'm sure it will be but if they said June 2nd then I'm sure it will be tomorrow for sure. 🙂

 

[emno]

I also have one question:

I entered so AP courses without grade and some future/current courses without the grades. I am getting teh mesage as given below:

"You have entered one or more courses without grades and/or credit hours. Although these fields are not marked with red asterisks, you may be required to enter this information. Please review the application help and your course work to determine if additional data entry is required. Failure to include required grades and credit hours may result in missed deadlines and lost application fees. Please contact an AMCAS Applicant Relations specialist if you have any questions: (202) 828-0600, [email protected]."


Any suggestions?

 

[TRU85]

Could someone correct me if I'm not doing this right, but here is the situation:

1) My community college gave me credit for AP Calculus- I entered it as it appears on my transcript and selected the Advanced Placement box underneath the 'Special Course Types' subheading. However, because my score was only a 3, the credit would not transfer to my 4 year school. Soo..I retook Calc I at the community college, and when I entered it I selected the 'Repeat' box. Is this correct?

2) I CLEP'ed out of English 100 at the community college (Entered as appears on transcript, selected CLEP), but my score was a hair shy for credit at the 4 year school. So I had to take English 100 when I transferred. Should I classify this course as repeat as well?

 

[Steeler7588]

well since this is a new system, schools will just have to get used to it. I think a lot of undergrad universitites will be sending it out like this, so eventually adcoms will realize what's going on and will be forgiving

Hopefully. I realized it might not be as much as a burden on schools as I initially thought. When I was first asking for letters, I was going by the 2 science / 1 non-science rule. So I asked two Biology professors, and an English professor. I didn't realize til later that South Carolina requires a shadowing / volunteering letter and UNC requires a letter from your major (for me, anthropology). So those letters bump me up to 5, and several of my schools have max limits: UNC (3), Duke (4), and Emory (3 is recommended).

However, if I just have the doctor who's writing me a shadowing letter send it directly to AMCAS, I'd probably only use it for my two state schools. That would mean my packet would contain 4 letters, which puts me over only UNC's hard limit and Emory's weak limit. My real concern is that my anthro letter is going to be a little late (my fault), and I don't want to really wait on it and delay me at other schools if only UNC really needs it. My school sending them individually instead of as one packet would solve this.

 

[bonoz]

For everyone who is taking the MCAT on June 18th when are you submitting your AMCAS? It is kind of pointless to fill it out now and send it in so Med. schools receive it on June 24 right?

I'm not sure as well. It's hard to study + fill out application. I will try my best to fill out the application as soon as possible.

 

[alibai3ah]

I entered in my AP Credit for coursework the way it is listed on SDN. However, I had to take calculus (the whole year) over again in college and just received credit for AP Exam. Now when I entered it, it just looks funny with Calculus listed at my undergrad institution AND Calculus AB for Fall of 2004? Will this confuse them or can they figure it out.

 

[MichaelG17]

Should we enter our senior year classes on AMCAS and just leave the grade blank?

 

[notnatalie]

I was on the rowing team at one of the universities I attended. We trained like a varsity team (2 and a half hours at the crack of dawn 6 days a week) and competed at regattas but due to funding we were only considered a "club sport" by the university. My question is whether I can categorize this under the "intercollegiate athletics" section on AMCAS or if it should go under "extracurricular/hobby".