2019-2020 A.T. Still University (Mesa, Arizona) ATSU-SOMA

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PapaGuava

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Last edited:
Secondary Prompt:

1. Describe your activities during any gaps longer than 3 months in your college or postgraduate record.
(Please limit your response to 500 words or less. All information provided in this section must be the original work of the applicant and not from another author.)

2. Describe your experiences with osteopathic physicians. Have you ever shadowed a DO, if not explain why? Do you have a letter of recommendation from a DO, if not explain why?
(Please limit your response to 500 words or less. All information provided in this section must be the original work of the applicant and not from another author.)

3. Describe your experience with Community Health Centers or free clinics (500 words or less).

4. Describe your understanding of SOMA by answering one of the following questions:
  • What unique feature of SOMA appeals to you? What specific feature of SOMA concerns you?
  • What would be your strongest attribute as a SOMA student? What would be your weakest?
  • How do you plan to be involved with medically underserved populations in your medical career? How have your past volunteer experiences influenced your plans?
(Please limit your response to 500 words or less. All information provided in this section must be the original work of the applicant and not from another author.)

4. Please list any changes or updates to your AACOMAS application. This section may be left blank if your AACOMAS application is complete and accurate.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Secondary received 6/18
Verified 5/23

Same as last year:
1. Describe your activities during any gaps longer than 3 months in your college or postgraduate record.
(Please limit your response to 500 words or less. All information provided in this section must be the original work of the applicant and not from another author.)

2. Describe your experiences with osteopathic physicians. Have you ever shadowed a DO, if not explain why? Do you have a letter of recommendation from a DO, if not explain why?
(Please limit your response to 500 words or less. All information provided in this section must be the original work of the applicant and not from another author.)

3. Describe your understanding of SOMA by answering one of the following questions:
  • What unique feature of SOMA appeals to you? What specific feature of SOMA concerns you?
  • What would be your strongest attribute as a SOMA student? What would be your weakest?
  • How do you plan to be involved with medically underserved populations in your medical career? How have your past volunteer experiences influenced your plans?
(Please limit your response to 500 words or less. All information provided in this section must be the original work of the applicant and not from another author.)

4. Please list any changes or updates to your AACOMAS application. This section may be left blank if your AACOMAS application is complete and accurate.

@PapaGuava
 
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Secondary received and submitted
 
LALAlandDOC said:
There is 2.8 sGPA hard cutoff here btw
Click to expand...
From their website:

  1. The applicant must have achieved a minimum 2.8 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) and a minimum 2.8 science GPA on a 4.0 scale.
 
Have not gotten a secondary yet. Any chance they just haven't gotten around to sending them all out yet? I meet their cutoff requirement so I'm not really worried about being screened out
 
Concerning the first question about the gaps longer than three months: I don't have any gaps during my undergraduate career; however, I graduated in May 2018 and have just been working and continuing my EC's since. Do I write about my activities since my graduation until the present since I'm not in school? I'm just a little confused as to what the "gaps" mean, lol. Thanks y'all!
 
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PinPointed said:
Concerning the first question about the gaps longer than three months: I don't have any gaps during my undergraduate career; however, I graduated in May 2018 and have just been working and continuing my EC's since. Do I write about my activities since my graduation until the present since I'm not in school? I'm just a little confused as to what the "gaps" mean, lol. Thanks y'all!
Click to expand...
Yes.
 
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DOsoon_2Be said:
Have not gotten a secondary yet. Any chance they just haven't gotten around to sending them all out yet? I meet their cutoff requirement so I'm not really worried about being screened out
Click to expand...
From another thread from a different school someone said that AACOMAS is sending out applications slower this year and to check in with the specific school if you don't hear by the end of the week.
 
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Secondary received just now, verified 6/7.
 
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secondary received.

Does anyone have this as a secondary question?
Describe your experience with Community Health Centers or free clinics (500 words or less).
 
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ArizonaDoc said:
secondary received.

Does anyone have this as a secondary question?
Describe your experience with Community Health Centers or free clinics (500 words or less).
Click to expand...
Yes I have that question as well.
 
ArizonaDoc said:
secondary received.

Does anyone have this as a secondary question?
Describe your experience with Community Health Centers or free clinics (500 words or less).
Click to expand...

If I don’t have any of this experience, can I leave it blank? I have >500 hours working in a food pantry with no experience working in a free clinic as my school didn’t have one. I just feel awful having to leave that blank because I feel like I’m putting myself at a MAJOR disadvantage.
 
When trying to save my Essay portion of the Secondary, it keeps saying “validation error”, that my texts are too long or wrong date input. Any advice?
 
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Complete 6/06, Secondary Received 6/20.

My MCAT scores aren't even in yet, it seems odd that I got a secondary already...
 
AdductorMagnus said:
Complete 6/06, Secondary Received 6/20.

My MCAT scores aren't even in yet, it seems odd that I got a secondary already...
Click to expand...
I’m in the same position. Some schools just don’t prescreen for their secondaries.
 
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ArizonaDoc said:
secondary received.

Does anyone have this as a secondary question?
Describe your experience with Community Health Centers or free clinics (500 words or less).
Click to expand...
And i oop. Yuh that question is on the secondary and I completely missed it while typing in here.

@PapaGuava
 
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andruw9786 said:
If I don’t have any of this experience, can I leave it blank? I have >500 hours working in a food pantry with no experience working in a free clinic as my school didn’t have one. I just feel awful having to leave that blank because I feel like I’m putting myself at a MAJOR disadvantage.
Click to expand...

+1

That is an oddly specific essay... Are there really that many people that have free clinic experience?
 
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I volunteered at a free clinic, but even I wouldn't imagine that >30% of DO applicants have done this.
 
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With the free clinic question, I wanted to just write about how all healthcare is free here in Canada, so technically I did volunteer at a free service... but I really am thinking that this is not what they are looking for. Maybe I should just talk about my volunteering at the hospital?

Another problem with being Canadian is that the list asking for how many hours you volunteered has a few exclusively American program, but I think my problem is that my non-clinical volunteering is not about any of those things.
 
I'm confused about the Clinical Experience section of this secondary. Are they looking for volunteer health experience only, or can I include my employment as a med technician since it was healthcare experience?
 
samosamosa said:
I'm confused about the Clinical Experience section of this secondary. Are they looking for volunteer health experience only, or can I include my employment as a med technician since it was healthcare experience?
Click to expand...
I was confused by the wording too! I’m leaning toward putting down both volunteer and paid clinical though.
 
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Anyone have problems saving and continuing after writing the free health center question? The question allows for 500 words or less, but I realized the application portal only allows 244. If you submit with more than that it will redirect you to a page that says "
Validation Error
There is something wrong with the data you entered.

Common causes for this problem include:
Long text in a short answer field
Incorrectly formatted date or number field

Go back to the previous page"

I figured this out with a little trial and error. My essay is about 380 words so I am hoping to call and get this fixed, not wanting to cut down a third of my response...
 
I'm getting the same thing. I'm sitting at about 375 words and was feeling good about my response. If you get ahold of them let us know!
 
^i had the same issue and It only let me do up to 250 I think. Had to cut down from 400
 
andruw9786 said:
If I don’t have any of this experience, can I leave it blank? I have >500 hours working in a food pantry with no experience working in a free clinic as my school didn’t have one. I just feel awful having to leave that blank because I feel like I’m putting myself at a MAJOR disadvantage.
Click to expand...
I recommend you email admissions and ask. Luckily, I volunteered at a free clinic during the previous cycle.
 
Secondary submitted! My first one! :)
 
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Secondary received around midnight PST today, submitted this evening.
 
andruw9786 said:
If I don’t have any of this experience, can I leave it blank? I have >500 hours working in a food pantry with no experience working in a free clinic as my school didn’t have one. I just feel awful having to leave that blank because I feel like I’m putting myself at a MAJOR disadvantage.
Click to expand...
I have the same issue- I think I was just going to redirect the question towards my experience working with underserved, vulnerable, and low-income populations, since I don't have any experience working in free clinics
 
Is there anyone that is trying to get a hometown scholars endorsement? It seems a little confusing but I could just be overthinking the process
 
Got an email that my application is ready for review this morning. Submitted secondary on 6/20.
 
PSA, there's a new MSAR-akin tool for DO schools now that's free to use. Figured I should share! Good luck everyone this cycle!

Become an Osteopathic Medical Doctor

Want to know more about why you should consider a career in osteopathic medicine? Start here.
choosedo.org choosedo.org
 
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ArizonaDoc said:
I recommend you email admissions and ask. Luckily, I volunteered at a free clinic during the previous cycle.
Click to expand...
Does anyone have any more input on this? I don't have any experience with a free clinic or community health.
 
Received secondary 6/20, submitted 6/25. Good luck everyone!
 
For the question,
  • What unique feature of SOMA appeals to you? What specific feature of SOMA concerns you?
Would it be a problem to address multiple features that appeal to me? since it says feature (singular) or does it not matter?
 
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