AMCAS Complete - What does it all mean?

[Hi Everybody]

Hello. Can anyone please explain what it means to have your AMCAS app complete? Does that mean that just the app is done or does that mean that absolutely EVERYTHING is turned in (letters of rec, transcripts, etc.)?

I want to apply early and I want to know if missing some LOR's will make my app incomplete? More importantly, I need to know if asking for letters of rec in May is too late?

Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted7807]

you don't send letters of rec to amcas, you just send them to the schools that ask for them (can be as early as July in you turn in Amcas early). Asking for LOR in May is only too late if the writers can't guarantee to have them done by early summer. For AMCAS, you send trancripts, money (lots and lots of money), and the rest is information submitted online.

 

[sandflea]

your rec letters don't go to AMCAS--they're included with your secondaries. all that you send to AMCAS are your transcripts (each and every one of them) and your completed application (which you work on and submit online), along with the appropriate fee (which you could pay online or send in a check). once they process your application and verify your grades against your transcripts, it gets forwarded to each school that you indicate on your AMCAS app, and those schools send you secondaries.

well, this is the way it's *supposed* to work, anyway. there were many delays and problems on the AMCAS end this year, so hopefully they will be cleared up by the time you apply! good luck!

 

[Hi Everybody]

I guess that's a relief to know that LOR's don't go to AMCAS!

You mean to tell me that a completed app is just filling out the online questions & essays, having your $ and transcripts submitted, and MCAT scores reported?

So when people get rejections and no secondaries, the decision was mostly based on numbers? In other words, if you have lame numbers, you better have great essays or you're s.o.l.? Likewise, if you have great numbers and lame essays?

 

[megkudos]

You do not need your recommendations for AMCAS, as the other posters have said. Your applications at individual schools will not be complete until they recieve your letters, your primary from AMCAS, your secondaries, your secondary application fees, and whatever else they require.

You should be fine asking for a letter in May as long as the person hands it in relatively promtly.

I know it sounds confusing now but trust me it will become crystal clear soon as you will be living and breathing this process for a whole year.......Good luck and let us know if this doesn't make any sense

 

[megkudos]

In other words having a completed application at a school and completing AMCAS are two totally different things. AMCAS is just a small part of your completed application at a school. A completed app includes AMCAS, letters of rec, MCAT scores, and whatever else they require. Then some schools don't give out secondaries to everyone so they'll screen your completed app (including your letters) to see if you get a secondary. Most schools in my experience give secondaries to everyone though.

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by Hi Everybody:
•You mean to tell me that a completed app is just filling out the online questions & essays, having your $ and transcripts submitted, and MCAT scores reported?•••

If you'd gone through what we went through with AMCAS this year, you would never have said just!!! Oh, and I've noticed you've also missed out on another step. After you "complete" your AMCAS app, AMCAS has to "verify" it. I can't even begin to tell you what all this entails. Mostly heartache.....with a good dose of apoplexy!!!