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Hi fellow non-trads. I posed this question to the AMCAS 2011-2012 application questions thread a while back, but didn't really get a response. One person that had a similar problem, but they didn't know how to address it either.
So, sorry for a question that I'm sure someone will want to merge with that thread, but after some frustrating conversations with AMCAS, I really want to find out if anyone else has run into and solved this kind of issue. I know it's a situation that trad and non-trad applicants alike could find themselves in, but I thought I might be more likely to run into some helpful person over here.
On the parents/guardians info page, there are basically five things they want to know about each parent you list. Name, living/deceased, sex, occupation, and highest level of education. For my stepfather who passed away about ten years ago, I know the first four. I don't know how much education he had. He didn't talk about it, when he was around, which wasn't too often, as he was in the military, and then eventually separated from my mother.
Conveniently enough, there's an option in the Highest Education drop down that says, "Don't Know." Funny thing is, when you choose that option, there remains some more required info to input: Highest education level school location, state, school name, and city. Weird right? If you don't know what someone's education level was, how do you know any of that? And you can't leave it blank, they're all red asterisked.
When I emailed AMCAS to ask, they referred me to the checkbox at the very bottom of the page, "I am not able to provide this information." But using that box deletes the whole parent listing.
So I called them. The rep I talked to said the same thing, and so I asked if I am really supposed to delete the whole parent just because I don't know his education level. She said that was "up to me to decide." I replied that I was confused as to what decision I had, I wanted to enter his info, but I did not understand what to enter into those school description boxes, if I don't even know what type of school he last attended. This rep was trying to be nice about it, but she just kept going back to, "it's your decision whether or not to list a parent's info" and "if you don't know, then check the box at the bottom." I asked her what the "Don't Know" under highest education level is even for then, and she just became frustrated, and told me, "you're acting like this is a big deal, but it's not."
Yes. It's not a big deal that I'm apparently going to ignore the existence of my deceased parent on a document that I swear is true to the best of my knowledge. I didn't say that to her, I just gave up, thanked her for her time, and hung up. Maybe I'm just being stubborn about it, and should go ahead and just delete the listing since I have an email telling me too. But it just really bugs me to do so. Feel like I'm holding back info, and I feel like it's disrespectful to him, somehow. Which is just sentimental, I know.
I figure I might call back tomorrow and try someone else, but has anyone here figured out a way to express that you don't know a parent's education level without either deleting them or making up a school?
So, sorry for a question that I'm sure someone will want to merge with that thread, but after some frustrating conversations with AMCAS, I really want to find out if anyone else has run into and solved this kind of issue. I know it's a situation that trad and non-trad applicants alike could find themselves in, but I thought I might be more likely to run into some helpful person over here.
On the parents/guardians info page, there are basically five things they want to know about each parent you list. Name, living/deceased, sex, occupation, and highest level of education. For my stepfather who passed away about ten years ago, I know the first four. I don't know how much education he had. He didn't talk about it, when he was around, which wasn't too often, as he was in the military, and then eventually separated from my mother.
Conveniently enough, there's an option in the Highest Education drop down that says, "Don't Know." Funny thing is, when you choose that option, there remains some more required info to input: Highest education level school location, state, school name, and city. Weird right? If you don't know what someone's education level was, how do you know any of that? And you can't leave it blank, they're all red asterisked.
When I emailed AMCAS to ask, they referred me to the checkbox at the very bottom of the page, "I am not able to provide this information." But using that box deletes the whole parent listing.
So I called them. The rep I talked to said the same thing, and so I asked if I am really supposed to delete the whole parent just because I don't know his education level. She said that was "up to me to decide." I replied that I was confused as to what decision I had, I wanted to enter his info, but I did not understand what to enter into those school description boxes, if I don't even know what type of school he last attended. This rep was trying to be nice about it, but she just kept going back to, "it's your decision whether or not to list a parent's info" and "if you don't know, then check the box at the bottom." I asked her what the "Don't Know" under highest education level is even for then, and she just became frustrated, and told me, "you're acting like this is a big deal, but it's not."
Yes. It's not a big deal that I'm apparently going to ignore the existence of my deceased parent on a document that I swear is true to the best of my knowledge. I didn't say that to her, I just gave up, thanked her for her time, and hung up. Maybe I'm just being stubborn about it, and should go ahead and just delete the listing since I have an email telling me too. But it just really bugs me to do so. Feel like I'm holding back info, and I feel like it's disrespectful to him, somehow. Which is just sentimental, I know.
I figure I might call back tomorrow and try someone else, but has anyone here figured out a way to express that you don't know a parent's education level without either deleting them or making up a school?
