2014-2015 University of Alabama Application Thread

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DejaVu42 said:
Finally received the secondary, and I hate it already. You basically have to regurgitate all of your AMCAS Activity Descriptions but in greater detail. Luckily I have essays from other schools ready to recycle, but filling out the activities will be a doozy...
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Good luck with it! Do you mind posting the prompts for those still waiting? 🙂
 
Finally just received mine. 2:30 CT. Are schools strict about the time frame secondaries needs to be turned in (2 weeks) or its just crap??
 
I got my secondary today at 3:12pm (OOS). Do they have a pre-screening process or does everyone receive a secondary?
 
so in the community service stuff do they expect us to write a whole lot more than what we already have on amcas? that's just stupid
 
Everyone receives a secondary. Sorry, on my phone, but I can post the prompts when I get to a computer!
 
Ok thats what I figured. Thanks for the quick reply!
 
These are not all of them, but these are the ones I copied off the site to be working on (all 1500 characters):
  • Briefly indicate how you would add diversity to our medical school class.
  • Non-Alabama residents: Describe any experiences you have had related to the state of Alabama or UAB Medical Center.
  • All Applicants: if the area you spent most of your life before college differs from where you currently consider your permanent address, please explain.
  • Where do you see yourself in your medical career fifteen to twenty years from now?
I believe there were also some separate questions for reapplicants.
 
Got my secondary today.... wow, this is going to take a while! Aside from a basic regurgitation of all of AMCAS and more we will also need to provide some serious amount of background information like our elementary school, # of years our parents lived in a certain state, etc...
 
My AMCAS info is pre-loading into the secondary. What's the consensus on stating your info differently versus just saving it as is? I don't know if they're looking for anything in particular or just being careful.
 
I'm primarily saving as is, with a few exceptions: I'm making sure to include the "most meaningful" essays (or at least as much as I can fit) as that's not part of what's imported, and I'm expanding upon entries that I had to clump together in AMCAS, like my shadowing experiences.

Their website is a little buggy for me. For example, it won't save the hours properly in the shadowing section. If you try to change an imported value for the hours, it reverts to the imported one once you hit save, and if you try to input hours on a new entry, it reverts to blank once you hit save.

This application seems to be designed by people who assume that you are only filling out one or two secondaries; the length makes no sense in a world where the average student is filling out 14-15.
 
I have a question about a certain essay question on the supplemental:

Including this application, how many times have you applied to UASOM? 0
Have you previously applied to another medical school? yes Select Value Yes No
Did you seek formal feedback from our Admissions Committee? no (but why would I, if I haven't applied to UASOM before?) Select Value Yes No
Responses to the next two essay questions are limited to 1500 characters.
If you are a reapplicant, describe how you have improved your overall credentials for the current application year, specifically addressing any concerns raised in feedback you received from the Admissions Committee.

Should I fill this out based on how I updated my app for another school I am reapplying to this year? Do I need to answer this question at all if I have not applied to UASOM before?

------------------------------------------
 
I think you have it correctly filled out, based on the situation you describe.
 
Legloom said:
I have a question about a certain essay question on the supplemental:

Including this application, how many times have you applied to UASOM? 0
Have you previously applied to another medical school? yes Select Value Yes No
Did you seek formal feedback from our Admissions Committee? no (but why would I, if I haven't applied to UASOM before?) Select Value Yes No
Responses to the next two essay questions are limited to 1500 characters.
If you are a reapplicant, describe how you have improved your overall credentials for the current application year, specifically addressing any concerns raised in feedback you received from the Admissions Committee.

Should I fill this out based on how I updated my app for another school I am reapplying to this year? Do I need to answer this question at all if I have not applied to UASOM before?

------------------------------------------
Click to expand...
First answer should be 1
 
Is everyone else seeing "secondary in process" after submitting?
 
I am having problems with entering the Letters of Recommendation for the Secondary Application. I am getting an error message.... "There are no corresponding letters in AMCAS with Letter ID 1. Have you assigned letters to our school in AMCAS? If not, please assign letters through AMCAS and allow 15 minutes for the data to transfer. Then resubmit." My letters have been in AMCAS for months. Does anyone have any suggestion? thank you!

NEVER MIND USER ERROR
 
Last edited:
SteveL7228 said:
I am having problems with entering the Letters of Recommendation for the Secondary Application. I am getting an error message.... "There are no corresponding letters in AMCAS with Letter ID 1. Have you assigned letters to our school in AMCAS? If not, please assign letters through AMCAS and allow 15 minutes for the data to transfer. Then resubmit." My letters have been in AMCAS for months. Does anyone have any suggestion? thank you!

NEVER MIND USER ERROR
Click to expand...


I am having this issue too. How did you resolve it?
 
Submitted, finally.

Blerg, this is the 16th secondary I've submitted. Anyone else experiencing burnout? I only have 11 more to go. :yawn:
 
I think I'm just gonna save my $80. Best of luck everyone.
 
I currently work as ER medical scribe. While I think it fits best under "Medically-Related Experience," it is not volunteer....so where does it go? Do you guys think I should put it under "Shadowing"?
 
dreamofmd said:
I currently work as ER medical scribe. While I think it fits best under "Medically-Related Experience," it is not volunteer....so where does it go? Do you guys think I should put it under "Shadowing"?
Click to expand...

Ugh that was premature...just realized you can click "paid position"...sorry
 
xoxx said:
Is everyone else seeing "secondary in process" after submitting?
Click to expand...

Your secondary status may have already changed, but if not, mine is "secondary in process" also - one day after submitting. They say to be patient waiting for the status change, so maybe they anticipated it taking a long time?

Side note: Anyone have any opinions on how many people have already submitted vs. how many more to go?
 
So if you have many short shadowing experiences like 4-10 hours...is it possible to group/list them like on amcas and then write an overall summary paragraph ? Is anyone doing this?
 
dreamofmd said:
So if you have many short shadowing experiences like 4-10 hours...is it possible to group/list them like on amcas and then write an overall summary paragraph ? Is anyone doing this?
Click to expand...

I had a couple that were only like 8 hours and I just listed them separately. You have a section dedicated to this and unlimited spaces, so why not use them? I basically used the same 2 sentence description for all of them though, so it's pretty redundant to read.


PurkinjeFibers said:
Your secondary status may have already changed, but if not, mine is "secondary in process" also - one day after submitting. They say to be patient waiting for the status change, so maybe they anticipated it taking a long time?

Side note: Anyone have any opinions on how many people have already submitted vs. how many more to go?
Click to expand...

I assume most people would have submitted this within a day or two, if not the day of. UAB is one of the latest, if not the latest, med school to release their secondary. A lot of people have been done with their other secondaries for a while now, and surely would've had to use a version of UAB's essays already, so it would've been a quick job to recycle. I am a really late applicant though so don't count me in that group. Luckily I got in UAB's the next day thanks to recycling, but I still have more secondaries to do; all of my friends have been done for over a month now... at least I'll have a fair shot at UAB and be one of the first to get reviewed, even if my window at all the other schools has pretty much closed by now (I'll probably be one of their last applications to get reviewed).
 
DejaVu42 said:
[...] even if my window at all the other schools has pretty much closed by now (I'll probably be one of their last applications to get reviewed).
Click to expand...
Erroneous, most people have submitted secondaries, but the window doesn't close til around november-december for pretty much all schools. Confidence is the name of the game when it comes to the application process!
 
Good Luck to everyone applying! Maybe the time will fly for you 🙂
 
Is there any particular reason they ask for SAT/ACT scores? Surely SAT/ACT scores aren't a better predictor of Step success than the MCAT or undergrad academic success?
 
It's usually just for statistical purposes. A few others schools ask for it as well.
 
If you have a repeated experience, and they automatically replicate it for you, should you elaborate on each time as if they are different experiences?
 
Just got my interview invite. But the only date offered is 10/9... may not be possible for me so I'm going to ask for another week.
 
I just got an email from the director of the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at UAB requesting that i complete my secondary and are eagerly anticipating it. I see this as a form of advertisement but a friend who is among the admission committee at TX A&M informed me that they send such emails to URMs who they think may be a good candidate for admission. Does anyone know if this is the case? I'll appreciate any response.
 
chemy said:
I just got an email from the director of the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at UAB requesting that i complete my secondary and are eagerly anticipating it. I see this as a form of advertisement but a friend who is among the admission committee at TX A&M informed me that they send such emails to URMs who they think may be a good candidate for admission. Does anyone know if this is the case? I'll appreciate any response.
Click to expand...
Ignoring the email, if you are URM you are a good candidate anywhere.
 
Hey guys! Been on SD for awhile, but first post here. Secondary submitted on 09/29. Received Interview Invite today. Scheduled for 10/23.
 
still secondary in progress, fee received 09/16/2014. should i be worried??
 
chemy said:
still secondary in progress, fee received 09/16/2014. should i be worried??
Click to expand...
On their website it says that interviews are given from mid-October to mid-March. Just get your secondary in as soon as you can.
 
LeeroyJenkins4 said:
On their website it says that interviews are given from mid-October to mid-March. Just get your secondary in as soon as you can.
Click to expand...

I mean i already turned in my application; but the status is still listed as secondary in progress. I know it will take a while to change but its taking really long now.
 
chemy said:
I mean i already turned in my application; but the status is still listed as secondary in progress. I know it will take a while to change but its taking really long now.
Click to expand...
My status didn't change from"in progress" to "under review" until the day after the last LOR that I has assigned to UAB was marked received on AMCAS. Not sure if that was coincidence. Fee Paid 9/16 and "Under Review" on 9/30.
 
Just to clear up some confusion. Fee paid 9/27. Secondary submitted and "In Progress" on 9/29. "Complete and Under Review" on 10/2. II on 10/6.
 
billybob bobo said:
My status didn't change from"in progress" to "under review" until the day after the last LOR that I has assigned to UAB was marked received on AMCAS. Not sure if that was coincidence. Fee Paid 9/16 and "Under Review" on 9/30.
Click to expand...

LeeroyJenkins4 said:
Just to clear up some confusion. Fee paid 9/27. Secondary submitted and "In Progress" on 9/29. "Complete and Under Review" on 10/2. II on 10/6.
Click to expand...

Thank you guys, i think i need to start panicking now lol. It says everything has been received.
 

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chemy said:
Thank you guys, i think i need to start panicking now lol. It says everything has been received.
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Well, just to clarify, the LOR that I was waiting on was one of the "personal" letters that I had assigned in AMCAS but not one that ever showed up in the "Required Items" list of the secondary app. FWIW, 33 mcat, 3.6 cGPA (engineering), non-trad.

I doubt it's time to panic, you've submitted on time and the explanation for the "in progress" does say "Due to the amount of applications we receive, you may stay in this status for an extended period of time."
 
billybob bobo said:
Well, just to clarify, the LOR that I was waiting on was one of the "personal" letters that I had assigned in AMCAS but not one that ever showed up in the "Required Items" list of the secondary app. FWIW, 33 mcat, 3.6 cGPA (engineering), non-trad.

I doubt it's time to panic, you've submitted on time and the explanation for the "in progress" does say "Due to the amount of applications we receive, you may stay in this status for an extended period of time."
Click to expand...

thanks again. i'm also a chemical engineering major but with lower mcat and cGPA. Doing my master at the moment.
 
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