2015 Nontrad Applicants' Progress Thread

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Glycereine said:
Unfortunately I don't have a good answer to that question. I have a similar dilemma though less tragic circumstances. I'll tell you what I did in case the situation helps.

I was in an accident in 2003 (halfway though undergrad) and had 6 surgeries over the following 6 years with the last one in 2009. In my personal statement I talked about how the time in the hospital and talking to doctors and nurses as well as looking into my own situation and that of patients around affected me. It "intensified" my desire to become a doctor.

I tried to sort of gloss over the hardship part of it without making it sound like I was making excuses for a poor GPA for a couple of semesters (but I was in a wheelchair or on crutches and on narcotics for 9 months...) but it was an important part of my decision to become a doctor...

In short, I don't know what to recommend for you, but personal reasons are personal reasons, and if they helped us get to where we are with respect to our desire, dedication, interest, whatever, I think they're important.
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Thank you, you were actually very helpful. I love the idea of putting it in there, but not making it into an excuses for anything, using it to show growth and intensification.
 
I have a personal statement question that I think is best here in the non-trad forum.

I started working in the healthcare field to prepare myself to get into PA school. My experience working in an ER and my success and enjoyment as a post-bacc student have lead me to apply to medical school instead.

Does anyone have any advice for how I should describe my path to where am now? I think it all fits in to the "why medicine" question but it sounds awkward to describe why I wanted to be a PA.
 
you may or may not want to include this in your essay, but answering the questions here might help you think it through:

1. Why did you want to be a PA originally vice an MD?
2. What changed?
3. How did your experiences change that?

I am assuming that you thought you wanted to be a PA or MD but didn't care which, and saw PA as being far less painful to attain (I've been there). Then something along the lines of, while working in the ER and on post-bac coursework, you realized that you both had the desire, and the ability to become a doctor. If that's the case, I think it's worth mentioning. You can say that although you completely respect PAs, your experience and observations made you more passionate and committed to becoming a doctor. Things along the way that strengthen our resolve are positives and important to the "why" question.
 
Glycereine said:
Just finished up entering all my course work and requesting my LOEs. Waiting on my 9 transcripts to come (Military and changing schools alot 🙁).

Good luck to all!
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The non trad struggle is real (re: transcripts!)

Just wanted to shout out to all the other non trads- happy to start the season with you all!
 
MedicalMomma81 said:
Thank you, you were actually very helpful. I love the idea of putting it in there, but not making it into an excuses for anything, using it to show growth and intensification.
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I'm very sorry to hear about your tragic events. Interesting how sometimes we lost perspective over what is actually important in our lives (I'm often guilty of this as well). However, keep in mind that this is what will make you successful physician one day soon 🙂

In regards to the PS, I think it's great to definitely add it in there as mentioned above- also something to think about: how can it help you better connect with your patients?
 
Any ideas on classifying course work. One of my majors was kind of obscure in that it's a mix of chemistry and physics and offered through the engineering school, but my major itself was in arts and sciences. In terms of the courses themselves, they really varied across the board between chemistry/physics/engineering.

Will I be delayed in processing because I am not consistently putting down one of the other? There's no space to explain why I think it should be one or the other either. What are people's overall recommendations with this because I don't want to be delayed because of this? My initial plan was to designate the based on which ones will give me the highest science GPA haha (kidding).
 
ConsultantMD said:
Any ideas on classifying course work. One of my majors was kind of obscure in that it's a mix of chemistry and physics and offered through the engineering school, but my major itself was in arts and sciences. In terms of the courses themselves, they really varied across the board between chemistry/physics/engineering.

Will I be delayed in processing because I am not consistently putting down one of the other? There's no space to explain why I think it should be one or the other either. What are people's overall recommendations with this because I don't want to be delayed because of this? My initial plan was to designate the based on which ones will give me the highest science GPA haha (kidding).
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Did you try to look in the instruction manual, page #42? I was able to get all mine figured out using that page as a resource.

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/182162/data/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf
 
Got an e-mail. AMCAS has received 1 transcript out of 4, which was submitted electronically. Small victories!
1 coming via snail mail because I attended the university prior to 2000. So I'm thinking that will be a while.
1 more coming via snail mail because I had to fax a request to the community college I took courses at while I was in high school. At least this one's free.
The last is the master's program I'm in now. I asked for them to send it when my degree is awarded in June (graduation is actually August for summer but hopefully it doesn't hold me up too much).

None of my LORs are in, so I'm going to e-mail my recommenders with friendly reminders.
 
Got the email too, they have my one and only transcript. Things are on track for a 6/3 submission.
 
Glycereine said:
Do you recommend not submitting if transcripts aren't all in?


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You can submit but they won't verify anything until after all transcripts are in. And the later transcripts are sent in the longer they take to connect them with your app. My last set of transcripts got in by mail June 10 last year but weren't marked received until the 20th.

So basically you want them in as soon as possible.
 
I already mailed all the requests but I'm stationed overseas so I know there will be a delay :-/. Also with 9 schools at least one is bound to drag feet


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Glycereine said:
I already mailed all the requests but I'm stationed overseas so I know there will be a delay :-/. Also with 9 schools at least one is bound to drag feet


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As long as you sent the requests that's all you can do
 
Glycereine said:
I already mailed all the requests but I'm stationed overseas so I know there will be a delay :-/. Also with 9 schools at least one is bound to drag feet


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hopefully you're using APO/FPO but i'm assuming so! I'm stateside but I just sent my requests to the schools online without the AMCAS or AACOMAS cover sheet. All my transcripts got mailed in and received already (except one that i haven't requested yet).
 
MedicalMomma81 said:
Did you try to look in the instruction manual, page #42? I was able to get all mine figured out using that page as a resource.

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/182162/data/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf
Click to expand...
Sorry if this wasn't clear before, but yes, I've tried to be proactive and avoid delays by reaching out to AMCAS with this exact question and they pointed me to the same document. The courses themselves have works like "chemical" or "physical", but the way they're listed in the transcript is abbreviated, so I'm just really anxious to know how they're going to view my designations with so little information. I feel like there should be a spot on there to explain your rationale ahead of time in order to avoid delays. I guess I will just have to go for it and try to be consistent, but I do not want this to delay the process.

Thank you for trying to help! I guess I'll have to wait and see.
 
What's frustrating is the transcripts I had to order from schools I took one class with... I took NCPace courses on 3 deployments and as a result they show on my Joint Service Transcript. Since they show there I don't have the option of not reporting them. All 3 are low level classes I got A's in, but it means 3 more transcripts to deal with. 6 sounds way better than 9 haha!
 
I realized today I probably won't be able to submit on June 3 because my transcripts are going to be late. I had two PDF and of course those are received and two snail mail. One of the snail mail ones, I had to send a snail mail request. Seriously people? It's modern times here, right? Oh well. I don't see the point in submitting if my transcripts aren't received.

Meanwhile, I'm still in personal statement hell.
 
This isn't coming from experience so take it with a grain of salt, but you could submit so that they can start verifying immediately when the transcript is in. As long as you have everything else done anyways that is.
 
Glycereine said:
This isn't coming from experience so take it with a grain of salt, but you could submit so that they can start verifying immediately when the transcript is in. As long as you have everything else done anyways that is.
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Oh does submitting put me into a queue? I thought it was more like submitting + transcripts put you in the queue. KWIM?
 
I think it is both puts you in the queue, but that way its automatically in as soon as the transcript is received, not waiting for you to log in to do it. Probably negligible difference
 
ConsultantMD said:
My initial plan was to designate the based on which ones will give me the highest science GPA haha (kidding).
Click to expand...

It's actually a good idea to do that; I did, and one of my classes that I didn't think would get classified as a science class, ended up being classified as such (which I got an A in). If they don't like it, they will let you know, and worst case scenario is you have to change it - best case scenario is you get another A. It's a trade-off definitely worth taking.
 
ConsultantMD said:
Any ideas on classifying course work. One of my majors was kind of obscure in that it's a mix of chemistry and physics and offered through the engineering school, but my major itself was in arts and sciences. In terms of the courses themselves, they really varied across the board between chemistry/physics/engineering.

Will I be delayed in processing because I am not consistently putting down one of the other? There's no space to explain why I think it should be one or the other either. What are people's overall recommendations with this because I don't want to be delayed because of this? My initial plan was to designate the based on which ones will give me the highest science GPA haha (kidding).
Click to expand...
Put what category you think they best fit. That's what I did and they disagreed with some of my judgements but it's not a big deal. My radiation physics was counted as a non science and my patient care class was counted as science :shrug:
 
QuantumJ said:
Put what category you think they best fit. That's what I did and they disagreed with some of my judgements but it's not a big deal. My radiation physics was counted as a non science and my patient care class was counted as science :shrug:
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@Primum_non_nocere

So in terms of a delay, did these changes require you to personally go in and change it on your application? Or did it just mean that maybe it took a couple days longer to do (which you weren't really aware of the difference anyway)?

I guess I will go that route if it won't be considered a "major issue", and then that way maybe it'll work out for the best? I have over 100 grades for them to pour over, so maybe that approach will work out.
 
ConsultantMD said:
@Primum_non_nocere

So in terms of a delay, did these changes require you to personally go in and change it on your application? Or did it just mean that maybe it took a couple days longer to do (which you weren't really aware of the difference anyway)?

I guess I will go that route if it won't be considered a "major issue", and then that way maybe it'll work out for the best? I have over 100 grades for them to pour over, so maybe that approach will work out.
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The changes are done by AMCAS personnel, you don't have to do anything. There is a column on the final application sent to the medical school indicating wether the grade had to be corrected.
 
ConsultantMD said:
@Primum_non_nocere

So in terms of a delay, did these changes require you to personally go in and change it on your application? Or did it just mean that maybe it took a couple days longer to do (which you weren't really aware of the difference anyway)?

I guess I will go that route if it won't be considered a "major issue", and then that way maybe it'll work out for the best? I have over 100 grades for them to pour over, so maybe that approach will work out.
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I think that was to someone else, mine did not get delayed as they agreed with my classification. I agree with what you are saying though, I'm not sure what the delay is, but I'm assuming it's minor. It's worth erring on the side of getting the A into your science GPA vs. submitting your app a week earlier.
 
ConsultantMD said:
@Primum_non_nocere

So in terms of a delay, did these changes require you to personally go in and change it on your application? Or did it just mean that maybe it took a couple days longer to do (which you weren't really aware of the difference anyway)?

I guess I will go that route if it won't be considered a "major issue", and then that way maybe it'll work out for the best? I have over 100 grades for them to pour over, so maybe that approach will work out.
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No you don't have to do anything.
 
Sweet, thanks all for the input, we're just going to go down that path and they can try and figure it all out!

Last transcript received today 🙂
 
I'm doing the same thing with some of my courses- specifically research that should be categorized under my bcpm gpa. AMCAS told me that if I was doing this for research, I could use an entry in my work and activities to describe it and they will decide what categorization was appropriate. Luckily, I already have entries for all my research, so it works out well!

Actually, was hoping for some input on one of my classes. I know that oceanography is not considered under bcpm, but this was a Physical Oceanography course with a large basis in physics. I attached a description below-- what do you guys think?

Math and Physics are prerequisites.

Covers thermohaline and wind-driven circulation and surface-ocean boundary-layer dynamics. Mathematical expressions for describing conservation of momentum, mass, and heat in a fluid are used to explain the ocean’s responses to wind and buoyancy forcing.
 
Glycereine said:
I would call that a physical acience


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Thanks for the response! By physical science, you mean under natural and physical sciences, yes? If so, that's sort of what I thought as well initially, I was hoping that the math and physics that the course was based in would make up for that though lol 😛. Perhaps I'll try it anyway and see what happens.

Do schools frown upon incorrect classification of classes? They can see when this is altered by AMCAS, so will that influence them at all?
 
I wouldn't think they'd frown on something described that way but probably would if you put your history classes in as. Chemistry. What's the course code? And yeah natural and physical


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So...regarding transcripts, considering that most of us have more than one transcript, thought I would through this out there.

If we are taking courses now or in the future (prior to matriculation), are we supposed to send transcripts directly to the school? Or do we transmit to AMCAS and they retransmit back to schools?

The former would break bank at $10 per transcripts at some of these institutions....
 
Glycereine said:
I wouldn't think they'd frown on something described that way but probably would if you put your history classes in as. Chemistry. What's the course code? And yeah natural and physical


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Course code is under Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, so yup- probably natural and physical sciences. Was attempting to go off of the content and place it with physics, but I think I will be keeping it under the original categorization. Thanks for the input!
 
investmentdoc said:
So...regarding transcripts, considering that most of us have more than one transcript, thought I would through this out there.

If we are taking courses now or in the future (prior to matriculation), are we supposed to send transcripts directly to the school? Or do we transmit to AMCAS and they retransmit back to schools?

The former would break bank at $10 per transcripts at some of these institutions....
Click to expand...

I asked AMCAS this and they said to send to them, however if you're down to 1 or 2 schools it might speed it up to send to the school. You can ask them directly at that point (I'm assuming you'll be in secondary apps/interviews).
 
What are you guys doing for school specific class requirements? I do not want to take all these random classes to fulfill each school until maybe I get an interview or something. Do you have to put "in progress" or just have to take it by time of matriculation
 
Inygma said:
What are you guys doing for school specific class requirements? I do not want to take all these random classes to fulfill each school until maybe I get an interview or something. Do you have to put "in progress" or just have to take it by time of matriculation
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In general, you have to take them by time of matriculation. There may be some exception but I cannot think of any school being stricter. From what I have heard, most of the schools will work with you on making sure that you meet their pre-reqs. It is also worth calling and asking the school. One of the schools I was applying to last year required a class on genetics. It would have been a major problem to take anything like that at my undergraduate institution (restricted to bio majors only due to number of students, etc) but it turned out that they are willing to accept the portion of intro bio which deals with genetics. So it never hurts to ask.

As for myself, I took biochem this year, finishing statistics in few weeks and as a physics major have more math than a med school can even think of. 😀 I expect that plus the typical pre-reqs to have me covered just about anywhere.
 
milski said:
In general, you have to take them by time of matriculation. There may be some exception but I cannot think of any school being stricter. From what I have heard, most of the schools will work with you on making sure that you meet their pre-reqs. It is also worth calling and asking the school. One of the schools I was applying to last year required a class on genetics. It would have been a major problem to take anything like that at my undergraduate institution (restricted to bio majors only due to number of students, etc) but it turned out that they are willing to accept the portion of intro bio which deals with genetics. So it never hurts to ask.

As for myself, I took biochem this year, finishing statistics in few weeks and as a physics major have more math than a med school can even think of. 😀 I expect that plus the typical pre-reqs to have me covered just about anywhere.
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Ya, I was a philosophy major haha... I am already clear at some of the schools down here, but need to take Stats/Calc for some schools and Biochem for some others and upper div bio for UCI lol...
 
I listed my missing required course at some of my schools as a future course to take on AMCAS. They tell you that you're not held to taking this class, but can indicate that you plan on doing so before matriculation. Not sure if that exactly answers your question, but I hope it helps!
 
kjw1024 said:
I listed my missing required course at some of my schools as a future course to take on AMCAS. They tell you that you're not held to taking this class, but can indicate that you plan on doing so before matriculation. Not sure if that exactly answers your question, but I hope it helps!
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How do you enter a future course?
 
MedicalMomma81 said:
How do you enter a future course?
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By checking the "current/future" box - you get one per each class you enter. 😉
amcasgrade.png
 
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