2009-2010 AMCAS Questions Thread

[CdnHopeful]

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If I group multiple activities and describe them in my description, should I list hrs/week and contact person for each of the grouped activities?????

 

[Crisoneogenesis]

Hey I have a question for anyone who wants to answer😀..okay so Im finishing up my AMCAS app and once i pay and everything it submits it too all the school immediately? Or do they have to do processing stuff and then its sent out like 2 weeks later?...Also how will we be informed by medical school that they would like us to fill out a secondary app?😕 by mail/email?..And if you get an interview how do they contact you about that? Email/mail/phone??.....Thanks guys i know this is alot of info and best of luck to all of you in the future.

 

[bonoz]

What kind of jobs or things should I not mention on the application?

What about things like me working at Toys R Us as a sales associate? or a work study position where I worked in a video studio?

 

[JJMrK]

If I group multiple activities and describe them in my description, should I list hrs/week and contact person for each of the grouped activities?????

I would.

 

[JJMrK]

Hey I have a question for anyone who wants to answer😀..okay so Im finishing up my AMCAS app and once i pay and everything it submits it too all the school immediately? Or do they have to do processing stuff and then its sent out like 2 weeks later?...Also how will we be informed by medical school that they would like us to fill out a secondary app?😕 by mail/email?..And if you get an interview how do they contact you about that? Email/mail/phone??.....Thanks guys i know this is alot of info and best of luck to all of you in the future.

The grades you entered in AMCAS will be verified against your transcripts once you submit. If you submit now it will probably take around 3 weeks.

Most secondaries are email, some are mailed.

Not sure about interviews; most are probably email.

 

[JJMrK]

What kind of jobs or things should I not mention on the application?

What about things like me working at Toys R Us as a sales associate? or a work study position where I worked in a video studio?

If you spent a significant amount of time on these things I would list them.

 

[JJMrK]

I'm sure this has been asked already, so my apologies. How long does AMCAS typically take to verify your app? 1-2 weeks?

At this point probably 3 weeks, maybe 2 if you're lucky. In mid-July, maybe more like 4-6 weeks.

 

[JJMrK]

only things you can do are add schools or make an academic change request.

You can also add letters, assign letters, and change your contact info.

 

[JJMrK]

I'm sorry if thishas been answered.. I've used the search function and have read several pgs of this thread and haven't found the answer I'm looking for..

When we submit our app to be verified.. This is after they've received the transcripts and I have completed the whole app? I took the june 18 mcat and scores won't be out until july 21.. However I'm missing a couple LORs that will be in by next week and 1 transcript that should be in sometime soon.. Can I submit for verification without having finished my personal statement and - 2 LORs? Just to get that verified asap? And I can't really get a good gauge of the time its taking for verification at the moment from the verification thread.. How long is it running now?

If I submit next week for verification.. Will I be verified by the time my scores come out?

Your personal statement needs to be in before you can click submit. Your transcripts need to be in before you will be put in line for verification. Your LOR have nothing to do with verification. If you submit next week I think you have a good chance of being verified by the 21st. It will probably take about 3 weeks.

 

[JJMrK]

I have always heard that shadowing is an informal way to state your experience, when working with a doctor. Does anyone know how I should list that experience in my activities?

I'm not sure that I understand your question.

 

[JJMrK]

My Committee Letter supposedly contains my individual letters of recommendation. Do I also have to list each separate letter, or will selecting Committee Letter be enough?

You should probably just make one entry.

 

[premedmind]

I see that they give you about 1300 characters worth of space to describe your activities.

What exactly should you put in the description, besides a description of what you did? It seems like a LOT of space for just that, for example I filled up only 500 characters worth of space.....should you add something like how it benefited you/etc?

And, what should we put under "experience name" if we shadowed a doctor? Should I just say "Shadowing"??

 

[dancingdoc1]

My school has the following grading system:

A = 4.0
B+ = 3.5
B = 3.0
C+ = 2.5
C = 2.0

When AMCAS calculates my GPA, will they take into account that there were no minuses at my school, or will a B+ be calculated as a 3.33? If so, that is a. unfair, and b. really bad for my GPA!!!

Apologies if this question has already been asked (as I'm sure it has) - I just couldn't find the answer in a quick search and don't have the patience to dig! Thanks for your help.

 

[gujuDoc]

My school has the following grading system:

A = 4.0
B+ = 3.5
B = 3.0
C+ = 2.5
C = 2.0

When AMCAS calculates my GPA, will they take into account that there were no minuses at my school, or will a B+ be calculated as a 3.33? If so, that is a. unfair, and b. really bad for my GPA!!!

Apologies if this question has already been asked (as I'm sure it has) - I just couldn't find the answer in a quick search and don't have the patience to dig! Thanks for your help.

Actually it is fair the way AMCAS does things because it standardizes things for all students to judge them fairly and equally.

3.3 = B+ not 3.33 by AMCAS standards.
3.7 not 3.67 = A-
2.3 not 2.33 = C+
2.7 not 2.67 = B-
1.7 = C-
A+ and A = 4.0

And so forth.

 

[gujuDoc]

I see that they give you about 1300 characters worth of space to describe your activities.

What exactly should you put in the description, besides a description of what you did? It seems like a LOT of space for just that, for example I filled up only 500 characters worth of space.....should you add something like how it benefited you/etc?

And, what should we put under "experience name" if we shadowed a doctor? Should I just say "Shadowing"??

To the bolded......only if you feel necessary. But no not everyone does this and they still get in. Only tell what you need to to sell yourself to the best of your capability. Don't write more cuz you feel obligated.

And yes categorize as Other and name it shadowing.

 

[dancingdoc1]

Thanks for the reply gujuDoc.

Actually it is fair the way AMCAS does things because it standardizes things for all students to judge them fairly and equally.

I meant that since it wasn't possible for me to get an A-, my B+ might have been like an A- somewhere else. For example, a B+ in many departments is cut off at 93%, which might have been an A- at another school. But oh well, I'm sure I'm not the only applicant in this boat. Thanks again.

 

[jenandhansun]

So.... I submitted my AMCAS, and was verified the next day (early June). I had already assigned my LOR's to the med schools.

When filling out secondaries, and they ask for LOR's I feel like I have to do something extra to "send" the LORs.

Since my letters are already assigned, there's no need to resubmit the AMCAS, right?

 

[gujuDoc]

Thanks for the reply gujuDoc.



I meant that since it wasn't possible for me to get an A-, my B+ might have been like an A- somewhere else. For example, a B+ in many departments is cut off at 93%, which might have been an A- at another school. But oh well, I'm sure I'm not the only applicant in this boat. Thanks again.

What does that have to do with anything? What shows on your transcript is the letter grade and not the percentage grade. Some places curves get so low that sometimes even an 87 is an A so what does percentage have to do with anything and what is possible and not possible or with the .5 vs. .3/.7 system of determining quality points? I'm not sure I'm understanding where you are going with this.

 

[flip26]

My school has the following grading system:

A = 4.0
B+ = 3.5
B = 3.0
C+ = 2.5
C = 2.0

When AMCAS calculates my GPA, will they take into account that there were no minuses at my school, or will a B+ be calculated as a 3.33? If so, that is a. unfair, and b. really bad for my GPA!!!

Not really. Some of your As might have been A- under a system with minuses...I think it all evens out.

 

[bonoz]

If you spent a significant amount of time on these things I would list them.

What is considered a 'significant' amount of time? 6 months +?

 

[bonoz]

What about volunteering for events? like a one day event? volunteered to help out with earthquake relief efforts? or took part in an election phone bank?

 

[scarfscarfscarf]

i want to make a few changes to my AMCAS

1) switch a few of my courses to appear as Biology
2) i want to change which recommendations i am sending out to certain schools

how do i make these changes if i already submitted my AMCAS a few days ago (and gotten a secondary from a school already)?

 

[AdemTD]

i want to make a few changes to my AMCAS

1) switch a few of my courses to appear as Biology
2) i want to change which recommendations i am sending out to certain schools

how do i make these changes if i already submitted my AMCAS a few days ago (and gotten a secondary from a school already)?

It's too late. Also, you can't just make classes appear on AMCAS as you wish them to appear.

 

[GoSpursGo]

i want to make a few changes to my AMCAS

1) switch a few of my courses to appear as Biology
2) i want to change which recommendations i am sending out to certain schools

how do i make these changes if i already submitted my AMCAS a few days ago (and gotten a secondary from a school already)?

Merging with AMCAS Questions Thread.

 

[parhumn]

can you make any changes to the schools you want to apply to or the letters of recommendations you want sent to them after you submit your application? or is it all final once submitted?

 

[amph119]

can you make any changes to the schools you want to apply to or the letters of recommendations you want sent to them after you submit your application? or is it all final once submitted?

You can add both LOR's and schools to apply to, but you cannot remove either. However, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think that you HAVE to send all letters on AMCAS to schools. I am almost positive that you can pick and choose which uploaded letters go to which schools.

 

[scarfscarfscarf]

my problem is i wasn't sure how many letters of rec a school wanted, so i ended up just sending all of them. once i called them, i learned that i went over the limit with a few schools. i haven't actually sent out the letters of rec yet, since i haven't sent them from interfolio to amcas. i've simply sent out the fact that they should expect them. i can't even remove that request?

 

[muchomaas]

Searched this thread so far and didn't see this question . . so:

My college transcript has some gym classes called "lifetime physical activities". We actually got grades in these classes, so for example I have a C in "yoga". Do I need to enter this crap into the application? We were required to take two semesters of some physical activity, but obviously no one took it that seriously . . .

 

[gator13doc]

Hey I have 2 quick questions and would greatly appreciate the help.
1. For two student organizations I'm not sure what to classify the experience as. I have held leadership in both, so I'm thinking leadership because I don't want to put just extracurricular? Any thoughts?

2. I participated in club tennis. Its a step above intramurals and we play tournaments with other universities, but its obviously not NCAA play. Should I put it was extracurricular or intercollegiate athletics? I'm thinking the former?

thanks!!

 

[JJMrK]

Searched this thread so far and didn't see this question . . so:

My college transcript has some gym classes called "lifetime physical activities". We actually got grades in these classes, so for example I have a C in "yoga". Do I need to enter this crap into the application? We were required to take two semesters of some physical activity, but obviously no one took it that seriously . . .

What do you think?

 

[JJMrK]

Hey I have 2 quick questions and would greatly appreciate the help.
1. For two student organizations I'm not sure what to classify the experience as. I have held leadership in both, so I'm thinking leadership because I don't want to put just extracurricular? Any thoughts?

2. I participated in club tennis. Its a step above intramurals and we play tournaments with other universities, but its obviously not NCAA play. Should I put it was extracurricular or intercollegiate athletics? I'm thinking the former?

thanks!!

1. What you classify something as matters less than what you actually did and how you benefited from it.

2. Intercollegiate means competition against other schools. It sounds like you did this.

 

[JJMrK]

my problem is i wasn't sure how many letters of rec a school wanted, so i ended up just sending all of them. once i called them, i learned that i went over the limit with a few schools. i haven't actually sent out the letters of rec yet, since i haven't sent them from interfolio to amcas. i've simply sent out the fact that they should expect them. i can't even remove that request?

You mean you assigned them all to schools through AMCAS already? I don't believe you can change it now. Look at the AMCAS manual.

One thing that comes to mind:
Since you haven't sent your letters to AMCAS yet, what if you create new entries in AMCAS for the letters you don't want sent to some schools? Then just be careful where you assign the new entries, and schools will never get the letters you don't want them to get, since the entries you already assigned to them won't have a letter associated with them.

Disclaimer: Read the manual/contact AMCAS and schools before you actually do this. I don't know if it will actually work, and it might screw up your application. It's just something to look into.

 

[parhumn]

You mean you assigned them all to schools through AMCAS already? I don't believe you can change it now. Look at the AMCAS manual.

wait, your statement above confused me. aren't you supposed to before you submit your amcas? is there the option to complete it after your amcas application is sent? i'm somewhat confused by all this

 

[parhumn]

i guess in addition to my question above, what changes can you make to the amcas application after you have submitted it? THANKS!!!

 

[bonoz]

For something like Dean's List, what date should you put for it? what if you got multiple dean's list awards? and what do you put for average hours?

 

[mvenus929]

i guess in addition to my question above, what changes can you make to the amcas application after you have submitted it? THANKS!!!

You can add schools, add LORs, and change your contact information. That's it.

Unless you submit an Academic Change Request, but that's not really something you change.

For something like Dean's List, what date should you put for it? what if you got multiple dean's list awards? and what do you put for average hours?

Put the first month you got it, and the last month you got it. Don't put anything for average hours (if it makes you, put 0).

 

[parhumn]

You can add schools, add LORs, and change your contact information. That's it.

Unless you submit an Academic Change Request, but that's not really something you change.

thanks!! i'm assuming you can't remove any once they have been submitted.

just out of curiosity, do most people wait until after they have submitted their application the first time to decide which LORs they want to go to each school?

 

[muchomaas]

"Quote:
Originally Posted by muchomaas
Searched this thread so far and didn't see this question . . so:

My college transcript has some gym classes called "lifetime physical activities". We actually got grades in these classes, so for example I have a C in "yoga". Do I need to enter this crap into the application? We were required to take two semesters of some physical activity, but obviously no one took it that seriously . . .

What do you think?"

Are you being earnest? I think I shouldn't put them on. What do you think?

 

[scarfscarfscarf]

You mean you assigned them all to schools through AMCAS already? I don't believe you can change it now. Look at the AMCAS manual.

One thing that comes to mind:
Since you haven't sent your letters to AMCAS yet, what if you create new entries in AMCAS for the letters you don't want sent to some schools? Then just be careful where you assign the new entries, and schools will never get the letters you don't want them to get, since the entries you already assigned to them won't have a letter associated with them.

Disclaimer: Read the manual/contact AMCAS and schools before you actually do this. I don't know if it will actually work, and it might screw up your application. It's just something to look into.

apparently you're right. not changes can be made. should i just contact the schools and ask them to disregard the letters which i intended to remove?

 

[mvenus929]

My college transcript has some gym classes called "lifetime physical activities". We actually got grades in these classes, so for example I have a C in "yoga". Do I need to enter this crap into the application? We were required to take two semesters of some physical activity, but obviously no one took it that seriously . . .

What do you think?"

Are you being earnest? I think I shouldn't put them on. What do you think?

If it's on your transcript, you have to list it. There's no option to not list classes just because you didn't take them seriously. If you don't list them, AMCAS will.

 

[alibai3ah]

When adding a school (before verification), it asks to re-certify and resubmit, does that mean I'll be put behind in the queue again for verification. I had all my stuff in the 15th and don't want to pushed back further?

 

[BlueElmo]

When adding a school (before verification), it asks to re-certify and resubmit, does that mean I'll be put behind in the queue again for verification. I had all my stuff in the 15th and don't want to pushed back further?

I suggest you wait until you are verified before adding more schools.

 

[GoSpursGo]

When adding a school (before verification), it asks to re-certify and resubmit, does that mean I'll be put behind in the queue again for verification. I had all my stuff in the 15th and don't want to pushed back further?

Wait until you're verified.

Merging with the AMCAS Questions thread.

 

[parhumn]

just out of curiosity, do most people wait until after they have submitted their application the first time to decide which LORs they want to go to each school? when i asked a question about LORs, people seemed surprised that i was designating which schools i wanted them to go to on my first submission.

 

[mvenus929]

just out of curiosity, do most people wait until after they have submitted their application the first time to decide which LORs they want to go to each school? when i asked a question about LORs, people seemed surprised that i was designating which schools i wanted them to go to on my first submission.

I did everything prior to submission, so I hardly had to look at my application at all once I hit submit.

 

[alibai3ah]

I suggest you wait until you are verified before adding more schools.

o thank god, i added a school but luckily said no to the resubmission/recertification part, thanks guys

 

[JJMrK]

wait, your statement above confused me. aren't you supposed to before you submit your amcas? is there the option to complete it after your amcas application is sent? i'm somewhat confused by all this

Yes, you can assign letters after submitting initially.

 

[JJMrK]

i guess in addition to my question above, what changes can you make to the amcas application after you have submitted it? THANKS!!!

Add/assign LOR, change contact info, add schools, send in transcripts. If you add a school and select MD/PhD, you may be able to complete the additional essays those programs require (not sure about this though).

 

[JJMrK]

Are you being earnest? I think I shouldn't put them on. What do you think?

If you had really searched, as you said you did, you would have figured out that you need to list every college course you've ever taken. Just because you decided to slack off doesn't mean you don't have to report it.

 

[JJMrK]

When adding a school (before verification), it asks to re-certify and resubmit, does that mean I'll be put behind in the queue again for verification. I had all my stuff in the 15th and don't want to pushed back further?

I was wondering about this too. I'm not verified yet and I now want to assign some letters to schools, but I think I'm going to wait until verification.