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denali87 said:
Ok I have a few questions, if anyone could help that would be great!!

1. So I have a class on my transcript that is like a writing class and it says WVR (waiver) and I know that I am supposed to state that the class is "exempted" (as per instructions). But it keeps giving me an error saying I need a grade and credits. For which I DO NOT HAVE on my transcript. HOw do I go about this?

2. When shadowing doctors should I list the doctors separately on my EC/Volunteering section? Or should I group? I mean there are a couple for the same speciality which I was thinking I should group together but the others separately.

3. When you've only done an activity one time (say just 2 days or 1 day), what do you put for the 'average weekly hours"?

4. I took two classes at a CC, however I ONLY received credit through my primary institution. Do these still go into my calculated GPA? I really am confused about this one!

Thanks so much!!
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1. Do not include classes that you did not receive credit for and does not have a grade. However, note that although you may have been exempt from a writing/english class in undergrad, you will still need to meet the English requirement that some DO schools have (6 credits as far as I've seen).

2. Ultimately, you can enter it any way that you feel comfortable with. I would suggest creating separate entries for each shadowing experience, unless you really can't say much at all.

3. You can put the total hours you spent for that day or two. As long as you put that it was only for a day or two, there should be no confusion.

4. I assume you took the classes at the CC then transferred the credit to your undergrad. If so, you will be required to submit that CC's transcript, which should have your classes and their grades. Those grades will be calculated into your GPAs.
 
I have three questions:

1.) If i volunteered at a shelter my freshman yr of college for a semester (i really dont remember how many hours AT all...not over 20 though), then came a couple times during the next 2 years, and then picked it up continuously coming every week, how would i enter the start date/end date of it?

2.) Also, if i have been volunteering at a hospital since Januaray, but took time off off to study for my april mcat, then came back first week of may to volunteer again, how would i enter start/end dates for that as well?

3.) For the awards section, can i list an award that a team that i was on received? I was on the dance team at school and we competed at nationals and placed 4th. Does that count, or does it not count because its a "team" and it was not individual to me?
 
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Ari1584 said:
I have three questions:

1.) If i volunteered at a shelter my freshman yr of college for a semester (i really dont remember how many hours AT all...not over 20 though), then came a couple times during the next 2 years, and then picked it up continuously coming every week, how would i enter the start date/end date of it?

2.) Also, if i have been volunteering at a hospital since Januaray, but took time off off to study for my april mcat, then came back first week of may to volunteer again, how would i enter start/end dates for that as well?

3.) For the awards section, can i list an award that a team that i was on received? I was on the dance team at school and we competed at nationals and placed 4th. Does that count, or does it not count because its a "team" and it was not individual to me?
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1. Enter it from the first month you volunteered to the last, even if it's not consecutive. Explain in the description if you wish.

2. Look at 1.

3. I don't think that can be counted as an "honor" since it wasn't a personal achievement. However, you should definitely list it in your ECs and mention the competition if you want to.
 
Ok so I was just going through my aacomas app that i submitted and i realized that one of my activities dates is wrong. Instead of 2008 it says 2007 so it doesn't even make sense because the end date is before the start date. I am sure its not the end of the world, but anyone else find a small error after submission?

edit: also is there anything i can do about it? if not, i hope i didn't just **** the bed :x
 
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So the order of my extracurriculars were in chronological order on the summary application right before I submitted my it. Now they are not and it looks like a mess. I really don't want the schools to see it all out of order. I have contacted AACOMAS several times and e-mails and have been getting no where. Is anyone having this problem and how did they fix it?
 
doxycycline said:
Ok so I was just going through my aacomas app that i submitted and i realized that one of my activities dates is wrong. Instead of 2008 it says 2007 so it doesn't even make sense because the end date is before the start date. I am sure its not the end of the world, but anyone else find a small error after submission?

edit: also is there anything i can do about it? if not, i hope i didn't just **** the bed :x
Click to expand...


It says on their website that you can send changes in writing, but I am not sure if it'll make it on there before it is verified. The system is terrible and I am getting really annoyed by it. Are your items in chronological order to begin with?
 
this is my first time applying. i completed the 2009 application by accident instead of the 2010. is it possible for me to just transfer the info, or do i just have to type it all out again? thanks
 
doxycycline said:
Ok so I was just going through my aacomas app that i submitted and i realized that one of my activities dates is wrong. Instead of 2008 it says 2007 so it doesn't even make sense because the end date is before the start date. I am sure its not the end of the world, but anyone else find a small error after submission?

edit: also is there anything i can do about it? if not, i hope i didn't just **** the bed :x
Click to expand...

There is something you can do about it, and that is messaging AACOMAS through the Support link on top. Let them know that you need to change an error on the application and they will "undeliver" your application. At that point you can make the change and resubmit, but understand that this will restart the verification process from the beginning (at least to my understanding).

elftown said:
One of the colleges I went to doesn't give official transcripts to students. AACOMAS says to input your classes as they appear on your official transcripts.

Are unofficials usually the same as the officials in terms of course names and grades? How would I know what grade system they use (number/letter) and if the course title will match? I don't want to delay my app. even more than it's already going to be just because they'll need to correct things. :/

This school didn't use the minus system (A-, B-..) and thus my B+ on my unofficial transcript is really a 3.5 (instead of a 3.3). When I put B+ into AACOMAS it counts it as a 3.3 and lowers my GPA. Should I just enter the number grades since clearly this school is on a different scale than AACOMAS?
Click to expand...

The unofficial transcript from your school should be a good guide to what you should enter into AACOMAS, so I wouldn't worry about not being able to see your official transcript (I don't think many literally check their "official" one; I didn't). As for the GPA scale, I believe you can't really escape AACOMAS' scale, which means that your B+'s will be counted as 3.3 regardless of what your school's grading system was. You'll need to enter your grades as is found on your official transcript, and not the grade point numbers corresponding to them.

wishintobedoc said:
So the order of my extracurriculars were in chronological order on the summary application right before I submitted my it. Now they are not and it looks like a mess. I really don't want the schools to see it all out of order. I have contacted AACOMAS several times and e-mails and have been getting no where. Is anyone having this problem and how did they fix it?
Click to expand...

Plenty of people seem to be having this issue, so I would suggest submitting as is; you won't be penalized for this.

bange said:
this is my first time applying. i completed the 2009 application by accident instead of the 2010. is it possible for me to just transfer the info, or do i just have to type it all out again? thanks
Click to expand...

I believe there is a way to transfer the information, but I am not sure how; look at AACOMAS' FAQ or ask them.
 
Semicolon said:
There is something you can do about it, and that is messaging AACOMAS through the Support link on top. Let them know that you need to change an error on the application and they will "undeliver" your application. At that point you can make the change and resubmit, but understand that this will restart the verification process from the beginning (at least to my understanding).
Click to expand...

So I just called aacomas because i had already mailed my request to fix the error. They said it wouldn't restart the process and their wouldn't be a delay, but thanks for the info nonetheless.
 
I called some of the schools I am applying to and they said that having extracurriculars out of chronological order is NOT commonly seen. I have been trying to get aacomas to fix the issue. I finally had it looking good right before I submitted and after I submitted its back to being crazy out of order. What should I do????
 
Before I submitted my application all of the items in my extracurricular/volunteering section were in chronological order. After I submitted the application it is out of chronological order. I have been in contact with aacomas for almost 1 month now trying to get this fixed.

I also called some of the schools I am applying to and they said this is NOT a common error. It looks like a complete mess. What should I do? I feel bad to keep calling aacomas, but I feel like I cannot do anything about it since it is an IT issue. Any advice would be awesome!!
 
wishintobedoc said:
I called some of the schools I am applying to and they said that having extracurriculars out of chronological order is NOT commonly seen. I have been trying to get aacomas to fix the issue. I finally had it looking good right before I submitted and after I submitted its back to being crazy out of order. What should I do????
Click to expand...

Since everyone is having that issue I don't seeing it being a big deal...
 
doxycycline said:
Since everyone is having that issue I don't seeing it being a big deal...
Click to expand...

I don't think too many people are having this problem. My friend is applying too and there's looks great. The schools even said this is not commonly seen.
 
Should we manually put our activities in order, or will AACOMAS do it automatically like AMCAS does? If in order, should we put most recent first, or oldest first?
 
msd848 said:
Should we manually put our activities in order, or will AACOMAS do it automatically like AMCAS does? If in order, should we put most recent first, or oldest first?
Click to expand...

It's ironic that you are asking this today...if you look a little further down, another poster had a comment where they put their ECs in order, but somehow or the other it became all jumbled and out of order.

Anyone else care to comment?
 
Ok so I am in the process of entering the info for honors awards and I've read a few things from this thread, but still am a bit confused. If anyone could just give yes or no answers to these questions that would be great.

1. Should I enter 'co-valedictorian' as an award/honor? I know this is high school but I still thought this might be significant.

2. Do you enter every time you've been on the Dean's list? Like as each separate entry?

3. What about the MEAP scholarship do you enter that?

Thank you!
 
So I submitted my primary and I'm waiting for my transcripts and MCAT to all come in (took the MCAT on May 28th, mailed transcript requests the day after). My question--when do secondaries start being sent out? Only after the transcripts are in, or just when the primary is submitted? Thanks >.>
 
Hey guys well this is going to be a weird one I bet. Here goes :scared:

I started college in DeVry University where I took my english courses, psychology, and some other courses. Then I transfered to somewhere close to home, a community college. When I finish up here, in the coming spring '10, I will move onto a 4 year University. Anybody have any clue how my GPA will be calculated with all this moving around.

I am regreting it that I did not stay in a 4 year college from the start. I might not be on until friday the 5th. So leave as much useful information as possible. I'm also worrying that it might come up on a interview you went from school to school, why?

Any advice will be appreciated, thanks in advance.
 
anybody have an idea of what to do for A+'s? I was thinking setting the AACOMAS grade to 4.0 but wanted to hear what others have been doing with that. Thanks!

[edit]
Also, I'm kind of confused as to how I should categorize two of my classes. Both are writing intensive (can be used to satisfy English req. for allopathic), with one discussing DNA and the other discussing Jerusalem's history. I'm not sure if I should place the bioengineering-focused writing class under science, other science, or English. (History/English for Jerusalem?) Thanks again 🙂
 
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I'm having the same out-of-order-EC's problem. The dates are all correct in the summary, just out of order. Hopefully it either gets resolved soon, or the schools wont care too much
 
If my gpa will go down significantly after updating AACOMAS with spring grades-can I submit without them and send them separately to schools? This way they will have them but my gpa will remain?

Is it required that I update AACOMAS in order to have spring grades be reflected? Thanks
 
UWBadger24 said:
I'm having the same out-of-order-EC's problem. The dates are all correct in the summary, just out of order. Hopefully it either gets resolved soon, or the schools wont care too much
Click to expand...

Thank you for confirming that others are having this problem. My friend has their EC's in perfect order so I was worried about mine. I am not so worried any more.
 
wishintobedoc said:
Thank you for confirming that others are having this problem. My friend has their EC's in perfect order so I was worried about mine. I am not so worried any more.
Click to expand...

Yeah mine are out of order as well..I'm not really worried about, but I will probably send aacomas an e-mail neway... they really need to get their system together, you think they would've fixed it considering i'm sure they've gotten hundreds of emails regarding it haha

Also, for anyone who was wondering about how long AACOMAS takes with receiving transcripts.. I submitted my transcript request to my college on May 18th and it was finally posted as received on the app page today (AACOMAS listed it as "transcript received 5/26").
 
On AACOMAS for the places we shadowed or did our EC's should we add telephone numbers or addresses? I was also wondering what all of you were saying in the space provided? Just expanding on each experience and what we did, correct. Thanks as always.
 
"Were you ever the recipient of any action for unacceptable academic performance, or were you ever the recipient of any action for conduct violations by any college or school?" Taken from AACOMAS

Do you think this includes Academic Probation (not suspension) for unsatisfactory grades?
 
When you all paste your PS into the box on AACOMAS does it then show up as just one huge paragraph when you click on the "View application summary"?
Im hoping this is not how it will look when they are looking at my application, kind of nasty looking. :scared:
 
MSUSpartan642 said:
When you all paste your PS into the box on AACOMAS does it then show up as just one huge paragraph when you click on the "View application summary"?
Im hoping this is not how it will look when they are looking at my application, kind of nasty looking. :scared:
Click to expand...

Unfortunately yes, but you can sacrifice characters in order to put line breaks in between each paragraph. This way all of the paragraphs are separated (which is what I did) and will look a bit neater than one HUGE paragraph. 🙂
 
I remember reading this in the forum, but should I post Presidential's Award for Educational Excellence in my awards section on AAMCOMAS? Or is this less significance since it is from high school?
 
This kind of is a related question to my older post - if you only shadowed for one day do you still have to write something in the "Average weekly hours" section or can I leave that blank? It just seems more proper to leave it blank since it wasn't a weekly thing but a day event.

Thanks so much!
 
msd848 said:
I remember reading this in the forum, but should I post Presidential's Award for Educational Excellence in my awards section on AAMCOMAS? Or is this less significance since it is from high school?
Click to expand...

You shouldn't put that down. It's not relevant, being it was a high school award. In general, only put high school awards if it was in the form of a scholarship used for college.
 
denali87 said:
This kind of is a related question to my older post - if you only shadowed for one day do you still have to write something in the "Average weekly hours" section or can I leave that blank? It just seems more proper to leave it blank since it wasn't a weekly thing but a day event.

Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

If you only shadowed for one day than I would just leave the average weekly hours blank and just put the totals. Not that it would hurt you either way. For my shadowing entries on AACOMAS, I left the average weekly hours slot blank and just put the total. I too felt it not necassary given that my shadowing was never more than 5 or 6 days. Hope this helps. 👍
 
1/ I released my MCAT score (electronically) to AACOMAS yesterday but it's not in yet. Do I need to wait until it's in to submit my app. ?

2/ Do I need to forward LoRs to AACOMAS before submitting the primary app. ?
 
This is my first time applying. Since the 2010 application was not up when I started it at the beginning of May, I did the 2009 one. When the option first came up to start a 2010 application, I clicked it, and it was blank. Nothing copied over. I went and filled it all out again. Something is not working correctly. My 2010 application is completed, except that my transcripts hve not been recieved (it's been two weeks so I have had my University send them again). The home page when I log in says that 0 of 11 steps are complete, and there is a blank for my AACOMAS ID number. When I click the "View Application Summary" button, though, everything is there and complete. Moreover, I paid $400 yesterday to submit my application. The payment was accepted. Did it actually go through? Thanks for the assistance.
 
i tried to call them, and they were sassy. so i emailed them and finally got a response today that they have forwarded it to technical support. is there some real simple step in the transfer process that i am missing? thanks
 
Not quite sure wha tis going on, but if you filled out an application last year and then this year, you have to start over. Applications do not carry over from year to year.
 
Mine did that, I had a 2009 and notging carried over to 2010.
Same blank issue, etc...

It seemed to work itself out over three weeks as when my first transcript was recieved; my new id appeared and the steps complete appeared too.
 
Having applied via AMCAS in the past I know that you can enter your activities in any order and it will resort them chronologically. Does AACOMAS also do this? I have 12 activities/comm service/extracurricular/ items I want to list, but they range widely in type of experience, importance, and date involved. What is the best way to list them? In order of importance to me, in chronological order, group similar activities together, etc. I can't decide the best way because they vary so much. I am afraid that if I list them chronologically, really important experiences might get less notice if they happened longer ago and are listed near the end, but then if I list them in order of what I consider to be more important, this is difficult. Should shadowing or medical volunteering be listed before research involvements or other non-medically related community service or extracurricular that I had a high level of participation. Please help!
 
doxycycline said:
Didn't resolve, but submitted anyway. I don't think its the end of the world.
Click to expand...

So I finally got through to aacomas about EC's being out of order. They said that it is NOT normal and the problem was sent to the IT department. Maybe if more people e-mail letting them know its a problem, it'll get looked into faster. Just a thought!!
 
is shadowing something you list on the primary? i didn't, i didn't feel it was really an ec or anything like that. what has everyone else done? i figured i would cover it in secondaries and only briefly mentioned it (a sentence) in my ps. thanks all.
 
wishintobedoc said:
So I finally got through to aacomas about EC's being out of order. They said that it is NOT normal and the problem was sent to the IT department. Maybe if more people e-mail letting them know its a problem, it'll get looked into faster. Just a thought!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.. that's good to know that the order problem is not normal lol. I act just emailed them last night, so hopefully they will fix it in the next week or two. I also have a friend who was having the same EC order problem so i'll def tell them to e-mail AACOMAS!

It's actually funny though, because my work experience section is in order, just not my EC/Volunteer Section.
 
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