Does anyone find AACOMAS to be unreasonable with their study abroad course work? AACOMAS wants me to get my transcript from the university where I studied abroad and to have to check by some company that wants 210$. In my opinion this is beyond absurd, I never had this problem with AAMC or any other graduate school application.
AACOMAS unreasonable with study abroad credits!!
- Thread starter jmike
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Seems reasonable, if you have to get transcripts for your other schools, why wouldn't you have to get it for study abroad? Just because it shows up as credit on your home institution, doesn't mean its official. They want it from the source.
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I don't think this is unreasonable at all. It's very expensive, but not unreasonable.
OP I agree with you, it's extremely unreasonable. An official transcript from the university should more than suffice. The third party verification stuff is BS. AACOMAS probably owns them and is pocketing the dough.
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OP, if you do intend to go through WES to get the transcripts verified, be SURE to follow up with AACOMAS daily until they have received it. My application was delayed for 3 weeks because they were having trouble receiving transcripts from WES.
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They might give you a waiver if you tell them it's impossible to get that transcript... At least that what they did for me last cycle, but they did talk to the school to make sure that I took these classes that I put in the AACOMAS application.
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Not looking forward to this part of my application at all. 
I agree with jmike, its complete bull****. The courses appear on the transcript from my home university. There is no need for this process, all it does it cause unnecessary stress and dissuade students from studying abroad.
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It's obviously not unreasonable to want the material from the university you studied at. Them asking you to pay a separate company to get it verified is ridiculous considering you're already paying hundreds of dollars to them just to send primaries in. I'm lucky that all my foreign credits are through my university in the U.S. and I don't have to worry about transferring credits or separate transcripts. If I were in your shoes I'd contact AACOMAS and do anything necessary to get that fee waived. Paying them 200 extra dollars is ridiculous, especially if you can just get the university abroad to send transcripts directly to schools you're applying to. My guess is most of the schools would accept them, especially if you explain the situation.
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I'm having the same issue with them. I studied abroad twice, and they accepted one set of coursework but not the other. I then sent in a verification letter from my school, and they conveniently "never received it." All of this has caused so much unnecessary stress! I'm still waiting to be verified despite submitting in July!
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Finally an upside to being too poor to afford study abroad.
Boohoo. It's a drop in the bucket of costs you'll have to pay on this journey. If they want you to get foreign transcripts, do it. They are not aware of the standards of every university in the world, and it is not unreasonable for them to want to have it verified.
A point in case is there are numerous schools in the world(Eurasia) where you can pay off for your transcripts, or other shady things.
A point in case is there are numerous schools in the world(Eurasia) where you can pay off for your transcripts, or other shady things.
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It's not the ordering of foreign transcripts that is the problem/why people are complaining. It's having to get the verified from outside source, despite being accepted by our home institutions/AMCAS. I've already had to order my foreign transcripts three times - that's not a big deal.
SFU please be quite unless you have had to go through this situation. Like other posters have said, it is more than just the costs. I studied abroad three years ago and cannot remember my student ID, because of this the host university is unable to pull up my transcripts. When I told AACOMAS this, they still did not agree to waive the transcript. Its a joke.
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It looked really annoying when I read about it in the manual. I was extremely grateful/fortunate that I did a MAUI/Utrecht exchange program directly through my university so the credits were approved and applied directly through my university.
Or maybe the person working the AACOMAS help desk decided it wasn't a big deal since they were P/F credits.
I have no idea. I just asked them and they gave me the okay.
Or maybe the person working the AACOMAS help desk decided it wasn't a big deal since they were P/F credits.
I have no idea. I just asked them and they gave me the okay.
What kind of university can't look pull up your transcript with your name? I call BS on that.
And I have had to do this in fact,it isn't that complicated or difficult at all. I attended a Canadian university(hence the name) and had it handled by WES just in case. I also did exchange and had to have that verified as well.
If its too much trouble for you, then stick with your AMCAS application and don't bother
Lucky mine are P/F too but still did not go through.
What kind of university can't look pull up your transcript with your name? I call BS on that.
And I have had to do this in fact,it isn't that complicated or difficult at all. I attended a Canadian university(hence the name) and had it handled by WES just in case. I also did exchange and had to have that verified as well.
If its too much trouble for you, then stick with your AMCAS application and don't bother
You are free to call BS on it all you want, universities in the 3rd world may surprise you.
Nah, I think I will stick with it and eventually get the situation resolved, not everyone is accustomed to giving up so easily unlike yourself.
What kind of university can't look pull up your transcript with your name? I call BS on that.
And I have had to do this in fact,it isn't that complicated or difficult at all. I attended a Canadian university(hence the name) and had it handled by WES just in case. I also did exchange and had to have that verified as well.
If its too much trouble for you, then stick with your AMCAS application and don't bother
Dude PISS OFF, you have contributed nothing to this thread. Let me know what medical school you get accepted to, so I can stay away from them. Any school that accepts someone like you must have no standards.
I called AACOMAS and had a lengthy conversation with a staff member. They eventually agreed to waive the transcript.
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I am glad that they did that for you... I had a similar experience and after I explained them the situation, they granted me a waiver as well. You should not be too harsh on some posters in here who might not understand how difficult stuff can be when applying to med schools for people who took classes outside of the US.
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What kind of university can't look pull up your transcript with your name? I call BS on that.
And I have had to do this in fact,it isn't that complicated or difficult at all. I attended a Canadian university(hence the name) and had it handled by WES just in case. I also did exchange and had to have that verified as well.
If its too much trouble for you, then stick with your AMCAS application and don't bother
Not every country is like the US that you can order a transcript in the comfort of your home using a computer... Let me explain to you how hard it can be to get a transcript from a third world country as it was the case forme: I spent two years in college in a third world country (Not my homeland) and I called the school to order a transcript and they told me I would have to come in person, order the transcript and give it 10 business days for them to have it ready for me. I explained to them that I live in the US, it would be costly for me to do it that way... I told them I was willing to make the order on the phone and travel myself to pick up the transcript, but they refused to do it.... I hired a lawyer in that country to get the transcript for me but they have asked for so many things (original US passport, original birth certificate etc..), which has made it impossible for me to get that transcript... After wasting $250.00 on a lawyer to start the process, I finally gave up and explained the situation to AACOMAS, they contacted the school and finally granted my a waiver for that transcript. Things like that might be easy in the USA, but it NOT the case in many other countries...
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I thought I had it bad. Glad you worked it out.
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What kind of university can't look pull up your transcript with your name? I call BS on that.
And I have had to do this in fact,it isn't that complicated or difficult at all. I attended a Canadian university(hence the name) and had it handled by WES just in case. I also did exchange and had to have that verified as well.
If its too much trouble for you, then stick with your AMCAS application and don't bother
Your situation hardly applies to theirs. Canadian/US reciprocity is completely different than it is with other countries. Relax already.
Damn. Keep working at it.
Read: I also did exchange as well and had to do the same thing.
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Seems like everyone had a different encounter with AACOMAS staff. One or two of these stories start off just like mine but for some reason I was given a free pass on 3rd party verification.
As it turns out, I actually did try to pull down my transcripts from my exchange school just in case and never got a response. Were you also instructed to fly to the home country and make the request in person? Someone else said they were instructed to do this, and as much as I want to go back and visit, I wouldn't have been in any position to do that.
Either way, your demeanor itt leaves a little to be desired. Lot of patting yourself on the back, not enough solutions. If you don't think they're doing enough, tell them what you think they need to do based on what they're complaining about.
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AACOMAS never instructed me to fly to the home country... For me it was and it is still the only way to get that transcript since the school would not let me to do it any other way... However, I was glad that AACOMAS contacted the school and finally gave me a waiver.
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Yeah, that's what I meant. You'd have to have gotten the transcript in person because that's what your specific institution asked for.
So an experience at one foreign institution isn't translatable to an experience at another.
