AACOMAS FAQ 2014-2015 Application Cycle

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UTmagic4 said:
My application has been verified and sent to schools - still not able to find a GPA. Any ideas? I'm able to view the same PDF file of my application as before but a GPA isn't listed
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I called and they said after thursday you will be able to see gpa that is when schools will get app
 
Hey is anyone aware on how to print/get a pdf of your Fee Waiver? I know that for most schools, in order to be eligible for the waiver for secondaries, you need to send a copy of your accepted fee waiver. I only know that I received the waiver because I received an email in my AACOMAS file that said I received it. There is nowhere that I can view the accepted waiver as a PDF or anything. Maybe I should contact them? Or maybe that option would become available once my application is verified and/or sent to the schools?
 
I graduated college and received a BS. I am now currently in pharmacy school but am applying to medical schools. I am not sure how to classify some pharmacy school classes. Some of my pharmacy school classes could be considered undergraduate like gross anatomy, applied A&P 1,2 biochemistry etc. Should I list these classes as undergraduate or should I list all as professional?

Course level -- Professional Courses

Professional courses include those taken at a professional school leading toward a certificate or license, or if you have taken course work at an institution which is not regionally accredited. Course work from a regionally accredited institution leading toward an associate, bachelor, master or Ph.D. degree should NOT be listed as professional. If you were enrolled in a professional degree program and were granted an accredited bachelor's degree after part of the program was completed, list courses taken directly toward the bachelor's degree as undergraduate. For example, if you were enrolled in a D.C. program and were granted an accredited bachelor's degree after the second academic year, separate the course work. Courses taken directly toward the bachelor's degree should be listed as undergraduate and will be included in your GPA calculations; the remaining courses taken toward the D.C. degree should be listed as professional and will not be included in your GPA.

Exception: If you earned a doctorate degree in Pharmacy but not a baccalaureate degree, do not list this course work taken toward your Pharmacy degree as professional. If you earned/will earn both a baccalaureate and doctoral degree in Pharmacy, list the baccalaureate courses as undergraduate and list doctoral courses as professional.

Professional school course work listed will be verified against official transcripts, but this course work is not included on the Applicant Profile, and will not be included in your GPA calculations.



 
I like how you asked a question, then quoted text that clearly provides the answer to your question.

If you earned a doctorate degree in Pharmacy but not a baccalaureate degree, do not list this course work taken toward your Pharmacy degree as professional.
 
polylux said:
I like how you asked a question, then quoted text that clearly provides the answer to your question.

If you earned a doctorate degree in Pharmacy but not a baccalaureate degree, do not list this course work taken toward your Pharmacy degree as professional.
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but i haven't earned a doctorate in pharmacy...

and the reason that i asked if i should list the classes in pharmacy school that can count as undergraduate is because med school admissions faculty told me that those classes should count towards my pre-med GPA.
 
Well, the next line is as follows:

If you earned/will earn both a baccalaureate and doctoral degree in Pharmacy, list the baccalaureate courses as undergraduate and list doctoral courses as professional.

So from that and the first sentence, you can infer that all your courses should not be listed as professional, meaning they would be classified as undergrad classes.
 
polylux said:
Well, the next line is as follows:

If you earned/will earn both a baccalaureate and doctoral degree in Pharmacy, list the baccalaureate courses as undergraduate and list doctoral courses as professional.

So from that and the first sentence, you can infer that all your courses should not be listed as professional, meaning they would be classified as undergrad classes.
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but my baccalaureate degree is not in pharmacy...

see my conundrum?
 
No, I don't...

Your BS/BA degree is not pharmacy. The doctoral degree you are currently working on is pharmacy. That puts you into the category of the first sentence. Which means you do not list your coursework as professional, meaning they will be classified as undergrad classes. Sure, the sentence doesn't explicitly say "earned/will earn" like the second sentence, but I'm sure AACOMAS figured you were smart enough to figure it out. If you're really confused, just call them.
 
Let's change the sentence to the future tense : If you will earn a doctorate degree in Pharmacy but not a baccalaureate degree, do not list this course work taken toward your Pharmacy degree as professional.

Now I take the phrase, "but not a baccalaureate degree," simply as you don't have a BS/BA at ALL unlike you are thinking about it--just not being related to pharmacy. There are 6 year pharmacy schools in which you don't receive any baccalaureate degree. This is what I think that AACOMAS is saying but am not sure.
 
polylux said:
No, I don't...

If you're really confused, just call them.
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thanks, i didn't know you actually could call them. i did and the lady told me to enter pharmacy ALL as professional. at least i know for sure now!
 
Awesome Sauceome said:
Hey is anyone aware on how to print/get a pdf of your Fee Waiver? I know that for most schools, in order to be eligible for the waiver for secondaries, you need to send a copy of your accepted fee waiver. I only know that I received the waiver because I received an email in my AACOMAS file that said I received it. There is nowhere that I can view the accepted waiver as a PDF or anything. Maybe I should contact them? Or maybe that option would become available once my application is verified and/or sent to the schools?
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I am interested in the answer to this, too. I was just going to wait until my app was sent to schools and see if they somehow find out electronically. Does anyone else who has applied using FAP know?
 
JuxGiant said:
So, I'm a Texas resident, and I applied via TMDSAS back in 2012. Well, I'm applying to schools again this year, but I'm definitely broadening my horizons. With that said, I definitely don't have much experience in AMCAS nor AACOMAS, so...questions! Quick note: I'm just finishing with TMDSAS currently, so I haven't started the AACOMAS app yet.

Is there a bad time to submit the AACOMAS app? Like "After insert month here '14/'15, you won't get any IIs?" I realize that most of the deadlines for schools not named TCOM have deadlines on their primaries after the new year, but still.

I'm fairly certain my family and I will qualify for the application fee waiver. For the waiver, exactly how much would an application be, afterwards? Without the waiver status, it's $195 for the first college application + $35 for each school after that, with it being $50 for each school after the application is already submitted. Where does the fee waiver come into effect? I tried searching for it online, and got helpful information, but no real numbers.
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-------

In regards to the fee waiver...if I were you I would apply ASAP. Alot of people apply, they are pretty selective (compared to AMCAS) and unless you apply early you may not get the waiver. (From my personal experience)..Hope this helps! Best of luck to you!
 
My application is now "undelivered" with the following message:
"Your application has been undelivered. You failed to include the course prefixes (i.e. CHEM 101) in your application."

What does this mean? I included the 'prefix and number' and the 'course name'.
For example "PM101" and "Introduction to public health".
Anyone know what else I need to include?

Edit: Do I just expand 'PM101' to 'Preventive Medicine 101'?
 
Last edited:
UCUCUC said:
My application is now "undelivered" with the following message:
"Your application has been undelivered. You failed to include the course prefixes (i.e. CHEM 101) in your application."

What does this mean? I included the 'prefix and number' and the 'course name'.
For example "PM101" and "Introduction to public health".
Anyone know what else I need to include?

Edit: Do I just expand 'PM101' to 'Preventive Medicine 101'?
Click to expand...

I just put it exactly as it appeared on my transcript, and did not have a problem with my application. The prefix may vary depending on school. For example, at one school I took a bio course that was BIO 103 while another school I took a bio course that was listed as BIOL 102.
 
UCUCUC said:
My application is now "undelivered" with the following message:
"Your application has been undelivered. You failed to include the course prefixes (i.e. CHEM 101) in your application."

What does this mean? I included the 'prefix and number' and the 'course name'.
For example "PM101" and "Introduction to public health".
Anyone know what else I need to include?

Edit: Do I just expand 'PM101' to 'Preventive Medicine 101'?
Click to expand...
Write it exactly how it is in your official transcript.
 
ALF85 said:
I just put it exactly as it appeared on my transcript, and did not have a problem with my application. The prefix may vary depending on school. For example, at one school I took a bio course that was BIO 103 while another school I took a bio course that was listed as BIOL 102.
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Awesome Sauceome said:
Write it exactly how it is in your official transcript.
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I did. No problem with AMCAS as it is already verified. I guess I'll shoot a message to AACOMAS.
 
Suzanna said:
Hello everyone,

Sorry if this question was asked already but I have an issue with putting the classes in coursework. On my transcripts my labs and lectures are listed separately and so lectures have 4.0 hours and 4 credits and labs have 0 hours and 0 credits (you have the take them together and so there is only one grade for both lab and lecture for each science class). How should I put it in AACOMAS? If I put 0 credits and 0.0 for the grade, isn't this going to lower my GPA on the application? Also, does the order of classes matter? I mean, they are all under correct semester but in slightly different order than on transcripts. Is that ok?
Thanks for your help!
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This is a great question. I would also like to know the answer to.
 
Awesome Sauceome said:
Look at page 2 on this thread and this stuff is discussed. I have a post with direct quotes from an AACOMAS representative.

The order of the classes does not matter.
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I am not talking about the order, but the way to categorize lab courses!

More specifically: On my transcripts my labs and lectures are listed separately and so lectures have 4.0 hours and 4 credits and labs have 0 hours and 0 credits (you have the take them together and so there is only one grade for both lab and lecture for each science class). How should I put it in AACOMAS? If I put 0 credits and 0.0 for the grade, isn't this going to lower my GPA on the application
 
@Awesome Sauceome

Looking back at page 2, you had the same issue regarding your lab courses listed as 0 credit and no grade (lecture grade includes both lab and lecture).

Did you get verified and how did you go about listing your course?

Mine appears like this:
Chem 101L: General Chemistry 4 credits A
Chem 101L9: Gen Chem Lab 0 credits (no grade on transcript)
 
I have not gotten verified yet. And I put it exactly how it is on my transcript, except for the grade I simply put "pass" for the labs worth 0 credit (since there is no grade). That is what the AACOMAS representative suggested that I do.

Unfortunately I have yet to hear a peep from AACOM on anything related to my application. I have transcripts from 4 different schools and I put all 10 of the schools that I am applying to on the original list (which I hear adds length to the verification process?). So I am really hoping that soon I will hear from them.
 
Awesome Sauceome said:
I have not gotten verified yet. And I put it exactly how it is on my transcript, except for the grade I simply put "pass" for the labs worth 0 credit (since there is no grade). That is what the AACOMAS representative suggested that I do.

Unfortunately I have yet to hear a peep from AACOM on anything related to my application. I have transcripts from 4 different schools and I put all 10 of the schools that I am applying to on the original list (which I hear adds length to the verification process?). So I am really hoping that soon I will hear from them.
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So you HAVE to put something down for grade? For AMCAS, I just left it blank because that's what it appears on my official transcript.

When did you submit your AACOMAS and how long does verification take?

Regardless, we are still early, right?
 
Yea, like if you try to input the course, it wont let you because the space is blank. Otherwise I would have just left it blank. That is why I ended up contacting them and going with "pass" instead.

I submitted my AACOMAS on I think June 6th. I am not terribly worried, since schools dont send out secondaries until July except CUSOM I know sends on 6/26. Some people magically have been verified in like 2-3 days, which I am skeptical of. I hear it takes most people at least a couple of weeks. I also have heard that it takes longer if you have more transcripts from more schools and if you have more schools that you are applying to on your original verification. But I am not sure if that is just rumor or something.

Regardless, we are still very, very early. Even if we got it in mid July and didnt push out secondaries until the end of July we would still be early. Most do not start interviewing until late August -early September. The earliest they start throwing acceptances out there is October for most schools.
 
Awesome Sauceome said:
Yea, like if you try to input the course, it wont let you because the space is blank. Otherwise I would have just left it blank. That is why I ended up contacting them and going with "pass" instead.

I submitted my AACOMAS on I think June 6th. I am not terribly worried, since schools dont send out secondaries until July except CUSOM I know sends on 6/26. Some people magically have been verified in like 2-3 days, which I am skeptical of. I hear it takes most people at least a couple of weeks. I also have heard that it takes longer if you have more transcripts from more schools and if you have more schools that you are applying to on your original verification. But I am not sure if that is just rumor or something.

Regardless, we are still very, very early. Even if we got it in mid July and didnt push out secondaries until the end of July we would still be early. Most do not start interviewing until late August -early September. The earliest they start throwing acceptances out there is October for most schools.
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Could you explain what you mean by that?
 
It is complete speculation as far as I am concerned, but I have heard on here that the number of schools that you have on your application during your original verification affects the time it takes to get verified. So for instance if you finish your app, then pick 3 schools to apply to and click pay and submit, it will take less time than if you have picked 15 schools. I am unsure why this would be seeing as it should not take any more work for AACOMAS to send your application to other schools, since everything is electronic, which is one reason for my skepticism. The major time constraint is caused from verifying your course work, not sending out the application. But I could be wrong.
 
Awesome Sauceome said:
It is complete speculation as far as I am concerned, but I have heard on here that the number of schools that you have on your application during your original verification affects the time it takes to get verified. So for instance if you finish your app, then pick 3 schools to apply to and click pay and submit, it will take less time than if you have picked 15 schools. I am unsure why this would be seeing as it should not take any more work for AACOMAS to send your application to other schools, since everything is electronic, which is one reason for my skepticism. The major time constraint is caused from verifying your course work, not sending out the application. But I could be wrong.
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Just out curiosity, did you also apply to MD schools?
 
Sean Lee said:
Just out curiosity, did you also apply to MD schools?
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Nope, I am sitting at a 3.6 gpa (3.2 AMCAS) and a 28 MCAT. I just figured, why blow all my money to scratch at an existence at a bottom tier MD school, likely in somewhere that I dont want to live, when I am perfectly fine being a DO and would be able to have more choice in the school that I go to.

I will likely end up in FM or peds or something and thats totally cool with me. I have a family started, and while I want to be an excellent physician in no matter what field I end up in, I have no grand aspirations of being the next biggest neurosurgeon or something heh. Just give me a nice office in the Appalachian mountains where I can help people, and I am happy.

Right now my top picks are PCOM, VCOM-VA, and Rowan. Whichever one gives me the acceptance is where I will be attending haha.
 
Awesome Sauceome said:
It is complete speculation as far as I am concerned, but I have heard on here that the number of schools that you have on your application during your original verification affects the time it takes to get verified. So for instance if you finish your app, then pick 3 schools to apply to and click pay and submit, it will take less time than if you have picked 15 schools. I am unsure why this would be seeing as it should not take any more work for AACOMAS to send your application to other schools, since everything is electronic, which is one reason for my skepticism. The major time constraint is caused from verifying your course work, not sending out the application. But I could be wrong.
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Actually, there is a part where AACOMAS matches your courses to the schools course requirements. Apparently, once our primary applications are fully released, we will be able to see next to each school a page that shows us our GPA breakdown as well as course requirements met or unmet. So that I think is what causes the extra time.

Also, for whatever reason, MSUCOM has already sent out some secondaries and a few of us have already completed them and sent them in. But as far as I can tell, not everyone has gotten the secondary yet and no other school has sent out secondaries or is even supposed to until the end of June.

Oh, and also, if you just check the "verification thread" a number of us were verified within a few days, including myself. I suspect that is because we were so early with submission. They say 2-3 weeks for submission so that, later on in the season when more people are submitting, they don't get bothered too much for taking longer to verify everyone.
 
Ahhh well there you go. Good to finally get a source and some reasoning behind what seemed to me was a rumor. Good to know!

So yea, hopefully I will get verified in the next week or two. I dont have my committee letter yet either, so I am in no major rush.
 
Awesome Sauceome said:
Yea, like if you try to input the course, it wont let you because the space is blank. Otherwise I would have just left it blank. That is why I ended up contacting them and going with "pass" instead.

I submitted my AACOMAS on I think June 6th. I am not terribly worried, since schools dont send out secondaries until July except CUSOM I know sends on 6/26. Some people magically have been verified in like 2-3 days, which I am skeptical of. I hear it takes most people at least a couple of weeks. I also have heard that it takes longer if you have more transcripts from more schools and if you have more schools that you are applying to on your original verification. But I am not sure if that is just rumor or something.

Regardless, we are still very, very early. Even if we got it in mid July and didnt push out secondaries until the end of July we would still be early. Most do not start interviewing until late August -early September. The earliest they start throwing acceptances out there is October for most schools.
Click to expand...

When AACOMAS verifies your application, it'll know that the "pass" is only used as a place-holder, right?

And when med schools see this "pass", will they understand that it is a place-holder to satisfy AACOMAs' format peculiarities? I am afraid that med schools might think that you actually DID get a "P" grade for your labs.
 
On the 14th i randomly checked my acomas page and it said "sent on 6/14/14", but now its back to "submitted to AACOMAS".... kinda weird. Anyone else have this problem?
 
Ugh found out today that I somehow don't qualify for a fee waiver. I thought for sure I would: I made under $20000 last year and am already struggling to pay bills. I qualified for the FAP so I thought this would have been the same.

I really wanted to apply to Touro NY but now that I have to penny pinch I can't reason paying that ridiculous $200 secondary.

Sorry for the rant, I'm just pretty bummed.
 
How bad is it if I edit my primary after submitting? (Not verified yet) Can adcoms see the edits? I need to add something to one of my EC.
 
When making changes to aacomas application, is the timeline from last year still correct?

Any changes to the app made before Tuesday are updated and released to schools on Thursday of the same week?
 
Goonsquad21 said:
On the 14th i randomly checked my acomas page and it said "sent on 6/14/14", but now its back to "submitted to AACOMAS".... kinda weird. Anyone else have this problem?
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Mine says the same
 
CharmanderMD said:
Ugh found out today that I somehow don't qualify for a fee waiver. I thought for sure I would: I made under $20000 last year and am already struggling to pay bills. I qualified for the FAP so I thought this would have been the same.

I really wanted to apply to Touro NY but now that I have to penny pinch I can't reason paying that ridiculous $200 secondary.

Sorry for the rant, I'm just pretty bummed.
Click to expand...

So I got FAP but you need to know that it's on a rolling basis. I got mine done and approved the first week of May. Maybe all the spots are taken by now? :s
 
serenade said:
It was likely an error on their part. They'll send stuff out next week most likely and we will start getting secondaries in July.
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My friend actually called and they said it will be updated this week
 
Submitted 6/3, transcripts received 6/4, verified 6/13. If I add another school now, will my application have to be re-verified?
 
sundancing said:
Submitted 6/3, transcripts received 6/4, verified 6/13. If I add another school now, will my application have to be re-verified?
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You can add as many as you like once it is verified it does not change
 
Some schools give you a choice as to who your letter writers can be, some of whom, such as Michigan State, make you really select from your letter writers (only 2). I have letters from 2 science professors, 1 non-science professor, 1 MD, and 1 DO. My questions are as follows:

- Assuming all of my letter writers wrote equally strong recommendations, is there a preference that admission committees give to one set of individuals over another (i.e. physician>science>non-science), or do they base it entirely on the letter's quality?
- If it's based entirely on quality, would it be looked down upon to use my 2 physician letters and no academic letters to schools like Michigan State?


I apologize if I posted this in the wrong thread.
 
FSU PreMed said:
Some schools give you a choice as to who your letter writers can be, some of whom, such as Michigan State, make you really select from your letter writers (only 2). I have letters from 2 science professors, 1 non-science professor, 1 MD, and 1 DO. My questions are as follows:

- Assuming all of my letter writers wrote equally strong recommendations, is there a preference that admission committees give to one set of individuals over another (i.e. physician>science>non-science), or do they base it entirely on the letter's quality?
- If it's based entirely on quality, would it be looked down upon to use my 2 physician letters and no academic letters to schools like Michigan State?


I apologize if I posted this in the wrong thread.
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Theirs 3 letters for MSU, not 2.
 
Goonsquad21 said:
Theirs 3 letters for MSU, not 2.
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I was referencing the AACOMAS handbook, so I guess they changed it for this year. My questions still remain the same. I work in a hospital, so I'd be able to get a 3rd physician's recommendation if it's more advantageous.
 
FSU PreMed said:
I was referencing the AACOMAS handbook, so I guess they changed it for this year. My questions still remain the same. I work in a hospital, so I'd be able to get a 3rd physician's recommendation if it's more advantageous.
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Most schools will want at least one academic letter. For MSU, I listed my committee letter, one academic letter, and one DO letter. However, they'll still get my entire package of one committee letter, two academic letter, one research professor letter, one DO letter, and one MD letter. They just may only look at the three I listed. But that's just how it works for me because I have my premed committee handling all my LoRs.
 
polylux said:
Most schools will want at least one academic letter. For MSU, I listed my committee letter, one academic letter, and one DO letter. However, they'll still get my entire package of one committee letter, two academic letter, one research professor letter, one DO letter, and one MD letter. They just may only look at the three I listed. But that's just how it works for me because I have my premed committee handling all my LoRs.
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Gothca, thanks.

One more question. If between my 2 science letters, 1 I'm counting on will be less personable, but emphasize my success in the class (#2 out of ~140 students), while my other will entail more of a personal relationship and relatively weaker success (A- & B+ in his two courses), is there one that schools usually appreciate more? I'd assume it would be the more well-rounded letter, but I just want to ensure I have a firm, educated decision on which letters I submit.
 
CharmanderMD said:
Ugh found out today that I somehow don't qualify for a fee waiver. I thought for sure I would: I made under $20000 last year and am already struggling to pay bills. I qualified for the FAP so I thought this would have been the same.

I really wanted to apply to Touro NY but now that I have to penny pinch I can't reason paying that ridiculous $200 secondary.

Sorry for the rant, I'm just pretty bummed.
Click to expand...
---------------------

Yes... the DO fee waiver qualification is alot harder to receive in comparison to FAP for MD. Same thing happened to me.
 
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