2013-2014 AMCAS Verification Thread

[BundleofHis]

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I'm in a very similar boat. 🙁 Submitted at 4:41 pm on the 10th, been under review since the 24th! So stupid...why would it possibly take more than one business day to be verified once you're under review???

Just an update (even though it doesn't really matter anymore) I called and they were anything but helpful. I was told some AAMC workers are slower at verifying than others and as long as my app is to med schools by their deadline, I'll be fine… HAHAHAH all you can do is laugh at that.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Dear Advisors,

The delivery of 2014 AMCAS data to medical schools has been delayed while we work with our IT counterparts to conduct additional testing and analysis to ensure the accuracy of the data. Data delivery will be delayed by a minimum of one week, so the earliest date medical schools will begin receiving data is Friday, July 5.

During this period, applicants may continue to complete and submit applications to AMCAS. We will also continue to accept Letters of Evaluation via the Letter Writer Application, VirtualEvals, Interfolio and U.S. mail. Our team of verifiers is working steadily to process applications, and their work remains uninterrupted. As of today, we have received close to 15,000 applications and over 3,000 of those have been verified. If you have questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or 202-828-0950.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this delay. We will provide an additional update early next week.

Thank you,
AMCAS Manager, Applications and Communications

This is interesting for many reasons.

1) Last year there were ~45000 applicants. Assuming a similar number this year (there will almost certainly be 500-2000 more though) that means that before the end of June 1/3rd of applicants have already submitted.

2) Of those applicants, at least 1/5th submitted on the first day (or really by day 5 due to the delay on AMCAS opening)

3) AAMC's average rate of verification is ~176 applications/day

4) With a 12,000 application backlog, that means that a person who submitted today is looking at a verification time of 68 days or 9 weeks.

It looks like it's time to rethink what qualifies an application as "early". Apparently the days of an early July submission still being early are history. It may be the case that from now on you're only early if you submit within the first week of applications opening, and you're late if you don't submit by week 2.

As an aside, god pity the poor soul who waits until July or later to submit their application. If we're already looking at 9 week verification times this early, it's not crazy to think that someone who submits mid-July is looking at 12+ weeks. It'll be interesting to see what happens if the remaining 2/3rds of applicants can't even get their apps in before most schools' deadlines pass. It may be the case that this year we're going to see a lot of deadline extensions.

edit 2: So to give a rough (read: faulty) estimate of when you can expect your application to be reviewed:

Taking an average of 12,000 applications submitted since the 10th (16 days since I'm sure AAMC wasn't including today in those figures they cited) that gives 750 applications received per day. 3000 applications were received on day 1, but since that was really equivalent to day 5 in past cycles, we'll say 3000 / 5 for an average of 600 applications received per day at the start. That roughly agrees with the first estimate, and you would expect more apps to be received each day than on any previous day (which is why this estimate is faulty). Thus, with AAMC's rate of verification combined with the rate they receive new applications at, each passing day adds 4 more days to verification time.

To calculate a crappy estimate of how long you have to wait (not applicable for people who submitted on the 10th), use this formula:

[ ( 705 * [days since AMCAS opened when you submitted] ) / 176 ] - [days since AAMC finished with June 10th applications] = amount of time left until verified

So since I submitted on 6/19 that means I can expect to be verified 38 days from whenever AAMC finally finishes up with the June 10th applications.

 

[nabilesmail]

This is interesting for many reasons.

1) Last year there were ~45000 applicants. Assuming a similar number this year (there will almost certainly be 500-2000 more though) that means that before the end of June 1/3rd of applicants have already submitted.

2) Of those applicants, at least 1/5th submitted on the first day (or really by day 5 due to the delay on AMCAS opening)

3) AAMC's average rate of verification is ~176 applications/day

4) With a 12,000 application backlog, that means that a person who submitted today is looking at a verification time of 68 days or 9 weeks.

It looks like it's time to rethink what qualifies an application as "early". Apparently the days of an early July submission still being early are history. It may be the case that from now on you're only early if you submit within the first week of applications opening, and you're late if you don't submit by week 2.

Yeah what the hell, how have they only verified 3k apps... that's ridiculous

 

[RocDiva4040]

This is interesting for many reasons.

1) Last year there were ~45000 applicants. Assuming a similar number this year (there will almost certainly be 500-2000 more though) that means that before the end of June 1/3rd of applicants have already submitted.

2) Of those applicants, at least 1/5th submitted on the first day (or really by day 5 due to the delay on AMCAS opening)

3) AAMC's average rate of verification is ~176 applications/day

4) With a 12,000 application backlog, that means that a person who submitted today is looking at a verification time of 68 days or 9 weeks.

It looks like it's time to rethink what qualifies an application as "early". Apparently the days of an early July submission still being early are history. It may be the case that from now on you're only early if you submit within the first week of applications opening, and you're late if you don't submit by week 2.

Damn. Well thank God I'm already verified.

 

[amweatherly]

Yeah what the hell, how have they only verified 3k apps... that's ridiculous

Pretty sure they're having technical problems and that's why they're slow. At least that's what the email made it seem like

 

[cyaneidae]

Just an update (even though it doesn't really matter anymore) I called and they were anything but helpful. I was told some AAMC workers are slower at verifying than others and as long as my app is to med schools by their deadline, I'll be fine… HAHAHAH all you can do is laugh at that.

Yeah I considered calling but decided not to because I figured I'd get a response like that. It does not take that long to compare courses entered to a transcript; their excuses are pitiful at best.

 

[NCKSD]

You must not be familiar with the concept of temporary or contract employees. In the real world when a company has an overflow of work to be done, they solicit the services of a temporary labor firm who supplies such employees for a specified amount of time.

I know what a temporary employee is. You still dont understand my point. Why spend the money and resources training 20 employees to verify all the apps in 1 weeks, and then have them nothing to do when you can just spend money/resources training 4 or 5 to verify all the apps in a few weeks. Searching for applicants, hiring them, and training them wastes time and other valuable resources. They dont care if some applicants wait 6 weeks to get verified, all they care about is verifying all the apps by a certain deadline in the fall.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

As an aside, god pity the poor soul who waits until July or later to submit their application. If we're already looking at 9 week verification times this early, it's not crazy to think that someone who submits mid-July is looking at 12+ weeks. It'll be interesting to see what happens if the remaining 2/3rds of applicants can't even get their apps in before most schools' deadlines pass. It may be the case that this year we're going to see a lot of deadline extensions.

The verification time starts to level out and go back down if you look at the data, it doesn't just keep going up. It just takes really long in the beginning because this is when the most apps are submitted. By the time they transmit all the first couple of days of submission should be verified, so you should all still be in the "1st batch" of apps sent to schools.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

The verification time starts to level out and go back down if you look at the data, it doesn't just keep going up. It just takes really long in the beginning because this is when the most apps are submitted. By the time they transmit all the first couple of days of submission should be verified, so you should all still be in the "1st batch" of apps sent to schools.

I was under the impression that verification times hits its peak around mid-July and then stays at that peak until September at which point it begins slowly declining. IIRC in past years July was the busiest month for primary submissions, with June being the runner up.

 

[DAPI]

I was under the impression that verification times hits its peak around mid-July and then stays at that peak until September at which point it begins slowly declining. IIRC in past years July was the busiest month for primary submissions, with June being the runner up.

Nope, June is the busiest month with 34% of apps coming in then last year with July only having 21%. But I still think your prediction holds given they have a backlog of 12k apps already and are only verifying ~214 apps/weekday...

 

[ruguy]

May God have mercy on our souls.

Soo.. considering my last transcript got there two days ago, they'll mark me as "ready" by July 4th. Am I done for? Lol.. Ridiculous. Start writing your secondaries..

 

[CanePreMed]

I know what a temporary employee is. You still dont understand my point. Why spend the money and resources training 20 employees to verify all the apps in 1 weeks, and then have them nothing to do when you can just spend money/resources training 4 or 5 to verify all the apps in a few weeks. Searching for applicants, hiring them, and training them wastes time and other valuable resources. They dont care if some applicants wait 6 weeks to get verified, all they care about is verifying all the apps by a certain deadline in the fall.

Now you are making a completely different point other than just having a bunch of extra employees sitting around once the rush dies down. If it is your real point, that Amcas doesn't give a damn how long anyone waits, then make that point. And you must not know about temporary employees because when the rush dies off, you let them go. That is the very definition of "temporary employee". Also, Amcas doesn't have to spend any time hiring anyone. There are any number of staffing firms with scores of highly intelligent people looking for any kind of work. Seriously, how much training is involved with teaching a handful of extra people how to compare a transcript to a computer screen? Any discrepancies or apps that need clarification can be moved to a full-time reviewer for more expert review. This isn't rocket science, it's basic customer service. There is a legitimate benefit to applying early and Amcas's poor customer service is essentially erasing it.

By extending the initial submit date, they gave more people time to get in the first rush, by extending the release date, they now extend the benefit to those who are not the earliest submitters. This isn't a game. This is our future. They need to get their act together.

 

[telomer22]

I am finally "under review" and have been for the past two days. I really thought it would be a quick 2 hour verification but now i am thinking otherwise.

 

[Pandaeac]

This is interesting for many reasons.

1) Last year there were ~45000 applicants. Assuming a similar number this year (there will almost certainly be 500-2000 more though) that means that before the end of June 1/3rd of applicants have already submitted.

2) Of those applicants, at least 1/5th submitted on the first day (or really by day 5 due to the delay on AMCAS opening)

3) AAMC's average rate of verification is ~176 applications/day

4) With a 12,000 application backlog, that means that a person who submitted today is looking at a verification time of 68 days or 9 weeks.

It looks like it's time to rethink what qualifies an application as "early". Apparently the days of an early July submission still being early are history. It may be the case that from now on you're only early if you submit within the first week of applications opening, and you're late if you don't submit by week 2.

As an aside, god pity the poor soul who waits until July or later to submit their application. If we're already looking at 9 week verification times this early, it's not crazy to think that someone who submits mid-July is looking at 12+ weeks. It'll be interesting to see what happens if the remaining 2/3rds of applicants can't even get their apps in before most schools' deadlines pass. It may be the case that this year we're going to see a lot of deadline extensions.

edit 2: So to give a rough (read: faulty) estimate of when you can expect your application to be reviewed:

Taking an average of 12,000 applications submitted since the 10th (16 days since I'm sure AAMC wasn't including today in those figures they cited) that gives 750 applications received per day. 3000 applications were received on day 1, but since that was really equivalent to day 5 in past cycles, we'll say 3000 / 5 for an average of 600 applications received per day at the start. That roughly agrees with the first estimate, and you would expect more apps to be received each day than on any previous day (which is why this estimate is faulty). Thus, with AAMC's rate of verification combined with the rate they receive new applications at, each passing day adds 4 more days to verification time.

To calculate a crappy estimate of how long you have to wait (not applicable for people who submitted on the 10th), use this formula:

[ ( 750 * [days since AMCAS opened when you submitted] ) / 176 ] - [days since you submitted] = amount of time left until verified

So since I submitted on 6/19 that means I can expect to be verified 30 days from now.

Oh my god, I really hope you're wrong. If this prediction is right, it would mean that my schools failure to send my transcript when they were supposed to means I'm verified two f***ing months after it would have been?!

 

[ddc150]

Now you are making a completely different point other than just having a bunch of extra employees sitting around once the rush dies down. If it is your real point, that Amcas doesn't give a damn how long anyone waits, then make that point. And you must not know about temporary employees because when the rush dies off, you let them go. That is the very definition of "temporary employee". Also, Amcas doesn't have to spend any time hiring anyone. There are any number of staffing firms with scores of highly intelligent people looking for any kind of work. Seriously, how much training is involved with teaching a handful of extra people how to compare a transcript to a computer screen? Any discrepancies or apps that need clarification can be moved to a full-time reviewer for more expert review. This isn't rocket science, it's basic customer service. There is a legitimate benefit to applying early and Amcas's poor customer service is essentially erasing it.

By extending the initial submit date, they gave more people time to get in the first rush, by extending the release date, they now extend the benefit to those who are not the earliest submitters. This isn't a game. This is our future. They need to get their act together.

I agree, I feel like my effort was discounted submitting at 9:39am on the first day of 6/10. Oh well, I hope the adcom's internally process the initial batch by the processing timestamp.

 

[Pandaeac]

May God have mercy on our souls.

Soo.. considering my last transcript got there two days ago, they'll mark me as "ready" by July 4th. Am I done for? Lol.. Ridiculous. Start writing your secondaries..

Was your last transcript marked as received two days ago? If so, it should say you're ready for review already... or do you just mean you think it should have arrived there around two days ago?

 

[circulus vitios]

AAMC being worthless and inefficient? Well, I never.

 

[ace12345]

Was your last transcript marked as received two days ago? If so, it should say you're ready for review already... or do you just mean you think it should have arrived there around two days ago?

I really don't think one week each time is going to make that much of a difference with applying early. Maybe a very, very small advantage has been erased, but I doubt it's significant.

 

[ruguy]

Was your last transcript marked as received two days ago? If so, it should say you're ready for review already... or do you just mean you think it should have arrived there around two days ago?

It was sent out from the school last Wednesday, and since I live in NJ I assume NJ to DC should take no more than 5-6 days..

So it probably arrived there two days ago. Transcripts seem to be getting marked as received within a week, so I'm hoping by next Friday it will be done.

Any idea of what that means in terms of verification? By last years standards, I should be verified by mid august at most.. but this year..

 

[Toss]

stuff

Keep in mind that AMCAS doesn't verify over weekends.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Keep in mind that AMCAS doesn't verify over weekends.

Doesn't matter, time still passes on weekends. You'd get the same results if you calculated the average over only weekdays, since you'd then have to remember to add in number of weekends during the time you calculated. The only thing that changes is that AAMC's rate doesn't look as terrible, although it is still terrible.

 

[Govols13]

So what do you guys think this means for the people taking the MCAT on July 2nd? (Assuming we are already verified, and pre-writing secondaries), Does this mean we're not as "late" as the people who have taken July MCATs in previous cycles?

 

[Thegirlfromfenweh]

So what do you guys think this means for the people taking the MCAT on July 2nd? (Assuming we are already verified, and pre-writing secondaries), Does this mean we're not as "late" as the people who have taken July MCATs in previous cycles?

Ooo that's a good point!!

👍 I hope so!

 

[HopefulReapp]

May God have mercy on our souls.

Soo.. considering my last transcript got there two days ago, they'll mark me as "ready" by July 4th. Am I done for? Lol.. Ridiculous. Start writing your secondaries..

I spoke with an AMCAS person a few days ago and asked that question. She told me that even though my transcripts got there on 6/18, because I submitted on 6/12 I would be in the queue for 6/12. I looked at my application and while it used to have "submitted on 6/18 at ...", it's now changed back to "submitted on 6/12."

Has anyone gotten a different response?

 

[ruguy]

I spoke with an AMCAS person a few days ago and asked that question. She told me that even though my transcripts got there on 6/18, because I submitted on 6/12 I would be in the queue for 6/12. I looked at my application and while it used to have "submitted on 6/18 at ...", it's now changed back to "submitted on 6/12."

Has anyone gotten a different response?

WONDERFUL news.

 

[CanePreMed]

I spoke with an AMCAS person a few days ago and asked that question. She told me that even though my transcripts got there on 6/18, because I submitted on 6/12 I would be in the queue for 6/12. I looked at my application and while it used to have "submitted on 6/18 at ...", it's now changed back to "submitted on 6/12."

Has anyone gotten a different response?

That would be awesome if it is true! I submitted at 11:41 on the 10th but my last transcript arrived on 6/14 and I assumed that is where I am in the queue.

 

[HopefulReapp]

WONDERFUL news.

You're telling me. Unless, you know, the representative was misinformed. Someone else should also call to find out. Or not, because even if it was the other way around calling wouldn't impact how quickly it gets done.

 

[phantomcello]

Submitted on the 10th, but my transcripts arrived afterwards (mid-June). You're placed on the queue depending on when your transcripts were received. Otherwise, our apps would have been verified by this point...

 

[ruguy]

So how does this alter Adcom's processes? Sure, AMCAS is delaying it.. but it seems like the adcom's will get a HUGE amount of apps later in the game. They'd probably have enough to grant 150 seats in the first round, at this point.

 

[Soulstice]

I spoke with an AMCAS person a few days ago and asked that question. She told me that even though my transcripts got there on 6/18, because I submitted on 6/12 I would be in the queue for 6/12. I looked at my application and while it used to have "submitted on 6/18 at ...", it's now changed back to "submitted on 6/12."

Has anyone gotten a different response?

AMCAS' twitter says otherwise - plus, I submitted at 09:31 on 6/10 and had my transcripts in by 6/12 and still haven't been verified ..

 

[Soulstice]

So how does this alter Adcom's processes? Sure, AMCAS is delaying it.. but it seems like the adcom's will get a HUGE amount of apps later in the game. They'd probably have enough to grant 150 seats in the first round, at this point.

But they won't ...

 

[Pandaeac]

I spoke with an AMCAS person a few days ago and asked that question. She told me that even though my transcripts got there on 6/18, because I submitted on 6/12 I would be in the queue for 6/12. I looked at my application and while it used to have "submitted on 6/18 at ...", it's now changed back to "submitted on 6/12."

Has anyone gotten a different response?

Holy wow i hope this is true. It might mean that you're placed in line for that day still just like at the very end of it? I have no idea and it seems like no one really does to be honest hah.

 

[dkpremed]

This is interesting for many reasons.

1) Last year there were ~45000 applicants. Assuming a similar number this year (there will almost certainly be 500-2000 more though) that means that before the end of June 1/3rd of applicants have already submitted.

2) Of those applicants, at least 1/5th submitted on the first day (or really by day 5 due to the delay on AMCAS opening)

3) AAMC's average rate of verification is ~176 applications/day

4) With a 12,000 application backlog, that means that a person who submitted today is looking at a verification time of 68 days or 9 weeks.

It looks like it's time to rethink what qualifies an application as "early". Apparently the days of an early July submission still being early are history. It may be the case that from now on you're only early if you submit within the first week of applications opening, and you're late if you don't submit by week 2.

As an aside, god pity the poor soul who waits until July or later to submit their application. If we're already looking at 9 week verification times this early, it's not crazy to think that someone who submits mid-July is looking at 12+ weeks. It'll be interesting to see what happens if the remaining 2/3rds of applicants can't even get their apps in before most schools' deadlines pass. It may be the case that this year we're going to see a lot of deadline extensions.

edit 2: So to give a rough (read: faulty) estimate of when you can expect your application to be reviewed:

Taking an average of 12,000 applications submitted since the 10th (16 days since I'm sure AAMC wasn't including today in those figures they cited) that gives 750 applications received per day. 3000 applications were received on day 1, but since that was really equivalent to day 5 in past cycles, we'll say 3000 / 5 for an average of 600 applications received per day at the start. That roughly agrees with the first estimate, and you would expect more apps to be received each day than on any previous day (which is why this estimate is faulty). Thus, with AAMC's rate of verification combined with the rate they receive new applications at, each passing day adds 4 more days to verification time.

To calculate a crappy estimate of how long you have to wait (not applicable for people who submitted on the 10th), use this formula:

[ ( 750 * [days since AMCAS opened when you submitted] ) / 176 ] - [days since you submitted] = amount of time left until verified

So since I submitted on 6/19 that means I can expect to be verified 30 days from now.

thanks for this, but when i do the math it says I should have been verified about two days ago? maybe I shouldnt include weekend days? Even though Im pretty sure the 176apps/day includes weekends. oh well its just an approx.! it will be soon anyways! yaayyyy

 

[NCKSD]

Now you are making a completely different point other than just having a bunch of extra employees sitting around once the rush dies down. If it is your real point, that Amcas doesn't give a damn how long anyone waits, then make that point. And you must not know about temporary employees because when the rush dies off, you let them go. That is the very definition of "temporary employee". Also, Amcas doesn't have to spend any time hiring anyone. There are any number of staffing firms with scores of highly intelligent people looking for any kind of work. Seriously, how much training is involved with teaching a handful of extra people how to compare a transcript to a computer screen? Any discrepancies or apps that need clarification can be moved to a full-time reviewer for more expert review. This isn't rocket science, it's basic customer service. There is a legitimate benefit to applying early and Amcas's poor customer service is essentially erasing it.

By extending the initial submit date, they gave more people time to get in the first rush, by extending the release date, they now extend the benefit to those who are not the earliest submitters. This isn't a game. This is our future. They need to get their act together.

You really think that the AMCAS delays will drastically change your medical school future? Lol. Just wait another week, why is it a big deal. You'll be in the first batch. It does not make much of a difference, yeah it might take away a BIT of the advantage of applying early but in the end it probably wont matter for most of the applicants in the same situation.

 

[dkpremed]

Yeah, processing an average of just over 200 apps a day is substandard, and quite frankly, very upsetting. It should be double or triple that. We are paying a crap ton of money for an application service that cannot get their act together. Its not like they didn't know they were going to get 15,000 apps in such a short period and the fact that they are having these problems shows poor organization and planning on their part.

👍

 

[dkpremed]

I am finally "under review" and have been for the past two days. I really thought it would be a quick 2 hour verification but now i am thinking otherwise.

it looks like its been taking up to 7-10 days for people in past posts 👎

 

[Arbor Vitae]

Here's some date from SDN to keep you busy:

This is from 2012:

 

[CanePreMed]

You really think that the AMCAS delays will drastically change your medical school future? Lol. Just wait another week, why is it a big deal. You'll be in the first batch. It does not make much of a difference, yeah it might take away a BIT of the advantage of applying early but in the end it probably wont matter for most of the applicants in the same situation.

One week, ok, no big deal. Two weeks now? Yeah I have a problem with that. AACOMAS has been rolling smooth as silk and I have submitted several secondary applications. Every week they delay increases the volume of applications schools are going to have deal with and sort through when AMCAS gets their crap together. When schools take longer to process the increased initial rush, it will give slackers even more time to catch up. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out.

Do you not understand the benefit of early submission? Its pretty well talked about on the forums here.

 

[Harpsx]

One week, ok, no big deal. Two weeks now? Yeah I have a problem with that. AACOMAS has been rolling smooth as silk and I have submitted several secondary applications. Every week they delay increases the volume of applications schools are going to have deal with and sort through when AMCAS gets their crap together. When schools take longer to process the increased initial rush, it will give slackers even more time to catch up. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out.

Do you not understand the benefit of early submission? Its pretty well talked about on the forums here.

Not necessarily. Those who submit late will be delayed too. They're being delayed because the people who submit first are being delayed. Like someone else said, when everyone is delayed, we're on time.

It is concerning that AAMC is processing so slowly though. It just drags out application season longer.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

thanks for this, but when i do the math it says I should have been verified about two days ago? maybe I shouldnt include weekend days? Even though Im pretty sure the 176apps/day includes weekends. oh well its just an approx.! it will be soon anyways! yaayyyy

haha, yeah, it doesn't return remotely reasonable results. I see the problem too, it doesn't take into account the fact that AAMC has been stuck on day 1 for 17 days and that the 12000 apps they have in their backlog are almost all from after June 10th. Also, I made a typo. It should be 705 not 750.

So a revised formula:

[ ( 705 * [days since AMCAS opened when you submitted] ) / 176 ] - [days since AAMC finished with June 10th applications] = amount of time left until verified

So the formula only works once AAMC is finished with June 10th. So if we assume that's tomorrow, then all you need to do is add one day to the result.

One week, ok, no big deal. Two weeks now? Yeah I have a problem with that. AACOMAS has been rolling smooth as silk and I have submitted several secondary applications. Every week they delay increases the volume of applications schools are going to have deal with and sort through when AMCAS gets their crap together. When schools take longer to process the increased initial rush, it will give slackers even more time to catch up. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out.

Do you not understand the benefit of early submission? Its pretty well talked about on the forums here.

It hasn't affected anything. Right now the benefit of submitting early is much greater than in past years. AAMC is getting through far fewer apps than normal, meaning that initial pool of applicants is (would have been) much smaller than in past years. All this delay does is bring that number more in line with past years.

 

[CanePreMed]

Not necessarily. Those who submit late will be delayed too. They're being delayed because the people who submit first are being delayed. Like someone else said, when everyone is delayed, we're on time.

It is concerning that AAMC is processing so slowly though. It just drags out application season longer.

I agree with you that we will have to wait and see the real effect. Even my feelings are pure speculation. The bottom line is that these delays are unacceptable to me and Amcas has some serious problems that could have been avoided with better preparation. Someone is not doing their job over there and I didn't drop a grand to get crappy service.

 

[Ambitionista]

I spoke with an AMCAS person a few days ago and asked that question. She told me that even though my transcripts got there on 6/18, because I submitted on 6/12 I would be in the queue for 6/12. I looked at my application and while it used to have "submitted on 6/18 at ...", it's now changed back to "submitted on 6/12."

Has anyone gotten a different response?

I'm in the same boat. I called AMCAS on two separate occasions and was told the same thing. The day my transcript was received my submission date and time changed but has since changed back to my original date and time.

I suppose we'll see how this turns out.

 

[Pandaeac]

I'm in the same boat. I called AMCAS on two separate occasions and was told the same thing. The day my transcript was received my submission date and time changed but has since changed back to my original date and time.

I suppose we'll see how this turns out.

That's so weird. I also had my transcript arrive after I submitted and my submission date never changed from the original date I submitted. Is that a bad sign?

 

[tarsar]

So when do y'all think secondaries will start rolling out with this delay?

 

[Ambitionista]

That's so weird. I also had my transcript arrive after I submitted and my submission date never changed from the original date I submitted. Is that a bad sign?

Let's just hope that's a good sign haha

 

[Soulstice]

So when do y'all think secondaries will start rolling out with this delay?

Wouldn't it logically be ~1wk after they were last year for most schools?

 

[Redpancreas]

This is interesting for many reasons.

1) Last year there were ~45000 applicants. Assuming a similar number this year (there will almost certainly be 500-2000 more though) that means that before the end of June 1/3rd of applicants have already submitted.

2) Of those applicants, at least 1/5th submitted on the first day (or really by day 5 due to the delay on AMCAS opening)

3) AAMC's average rate of verification is ~176 applications/day

4) With a 12,000 application backlog, that means that a person who submitted today is looking at a verification time of 68 days or 9 weeks.

It looks like it's time to rethink what qualifies an application as "early". Apparently the days of an early July submission still being early are history. It may be the case that from now on you're only early if you submit within the first week of applications opening, and you're late if you don't submit by week 2.

As an aside, god pity the poor soul who waits until July or later to submit their application. If we're already looking at 9 week verification times this early, it's not crazy to think that someone who submits mid-July is looking at 12+ weeks. It'll be interesting to see what happens if the remaining 2/3rds of applicants can't even get their apps in before most schools' deadlines pass. It may be the case that this year we're going to see a lot of deadline extensions.

edit 2: So to give a rough (read: faulty) estimate of when you can expect your application to be reviewed:

Taking an average of 12,000 applications submitted since the 10th (16 days since I'm sure AAMC wasn't including today in those figures they cited) that gives 750 applications received per day. 3000 applications were received on day 1, but since that was really equivalent to day 5 in past cycles, we'll say 3000 / 5 for an average of 600 applications received per day at the start. That roughly agrees with the first estimate, and you would expect more apps to be received each day than on any previous day (which is why this estimate is faulty). Thus, with AAMC's rate of verification combined with the rate they receive new applications at, each passing day adds 4 more days to verification time.

To calculate a crappy estimate of how long you have to wait (not applicable for people who submitted on the 10th), use this formula:

[ ( 705 * [days since AMCAS opened when you submitted] ) / 176 ] - [days since AAMC finished with June 10th applications] = amount of time left until verified

So since I submitted on 6/19 that means I can expect to be verified 38 days from whenever AAMC finally finishes up with the June 10th applications.

Anyone else want to comment on this, not discounting your validity OCD but surely they'll get faster, right?

 

[chenzt]

One week, ok, no big deal. Two weeks now? Yeah I have a problem with that. AACOMAS has been rolling smooth as silk and I have submitted several secondary applications. Every week they delay increases the volume of applications schools are going to have deal with and sort through when AMCAS gets their crap together. When schools take longer to process the increased initial rush, it will give slackers even more time to catch up. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out.

Do you not understand the benefit of early submission? Its pretty well talked about on the forums here.

Doesn't matter, I am currently ~9000th in line. AMCAS can take all the time they want, even until December, I will still be the ~9000th applicant the med school will see, ahead of ~80% of all applicants, solidly in the "early" pile. I'll have a problem when people somehow jump over me to get verified, which is not the case except the few in EDP.

 

[NCKSD]

One week, ok, no big deal. Two weeks now? Yeah I have a problem with that. AACOMAS has been rolling smooth as silk and I have submitted several secondary applications. Every week they delay increases the volume of applications schools are going to have deal with and sort through when AMCAS gets their crap together. When schools take longer to process the increased initial rush, it will give slackers even more time to catch up. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out.

Do you not understand the benefit of early submission? Its pretty well talked about on the forums here.

I know the benefit of early submission, im just saying in the end it probably wont make a difference. If you really think it will, then thats your opinion. But honestly, I think that another 1 week delay most likely wont change how your cycle turns out.

 

[tonesofheresy]

I really hope someone has had a similar issue as this because I'm thoroughly confused and quite upset...I submitted my application on day one, within the first hour. At the time, AMCAS was still awaiting my transcripts so my status was "Waiting for transcripts." I received emails confirming the arrival of both of my transcripts (I went to two colleges) and eventually, my status changed to "Ready for review." I checked it again today, and suddenly it's back to "Waiting for transcripts"! I called AMCAS and after numerous tries, I finally got to speak with somebody. They said that the transcripts they received were filed under 2013 rather than 2014 and that I need to send new ones. I did apply last year, but I printed out my transcript request forms directly from this year's application. Not only that, but why the hell would they even think I wanted to add transcripts to an application that has been closed for 7 months?! I rush-ordered the new transcripts just to be safe, but AMCAS' performance this year is deplorable and I'm scared my application won't even be reviewed for another two weeks. I did everything wrong last year and wanted to make sure I was on top of it this year but now AMCAS is f***ing me. Has anyone out there dealt with this issue who might be able to provide some insight? I'd greatly appreciate it!