AMCAS - Transcripts not yet received

[bbbanplay]

Hi All,

I am becoming increasingly concerned as my transcripts have still not been marked as received by AMCAS.
They were mailed out on Aug 29 from Alberta, Canada.
I contacted AAMC support and they mentioned that it can take up to 7 business days to receive them.
It has been 9 business days, as of today.

Is anyone else in the same boat with a late august transcript submission?

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[DoctorPlzzz]

Hi All,

I am becoming increasingly concerned as my transcripts have still not been marked as received by AMCAS.
They were mailed out on Aug 29 from Alberta, Canada.
I contacted AAMC support and they mentioned that it can take up to 7 business days to receive them.
It has been 9 business days, as of today.

Is anyone else in the same boat with a late august transcript submission?

Hello,

I always advised pre-meds to get the transcript in first thing as part of the application cycle for this specific reason. You are able to quickly fill (or even randomly type things) in the application until the transcript request part of the app so that can be requested from the institution before even starting the app for real.

1. There's a chance it was lost in transit.
2. They say 7 days to receive, but this does not mean they have "processed it" and this part can take several more days, including updating it in the AMCAS.
3. AMCAS staff get overwhelmed and things occur much more slowly later in the submission period.

 

[ExcitatorySynapse]

Does your school have electronic transcripts? You could ask them to send it that way. Mine has a special AMCAS transcript delivery service that sends it right to them.

 

[bbbanplay]

Does your school have electronic transcripts? You could ask them to send it that way. Mine has a special AMCAS transcript delivery service that sends it right to them.

Unfortunately, I cannot send transcripts electronically to AMCAS through my school... I wish!
Hopefully I'm not too late of an applicant!

 

[bbbanplay]

You already are a late applicant by sending your transcript on august 29th. May 29th would have been early, July 29th would have already been late. it can now take 4 weeks to verify. then transmit. then secondaries then fill them out and return them. Unless you are an incredibly strong candidate, particularly as a Canadian, particularly as late, you are really way way behind

I know I'm in a tough spot - luckily I've pre-written all of my secondaries already.
I've been reading threads to maintain hope as a late submission! Eyes are glued to my inbox to confirm AMCAS (and TMDSAS) has received my transcripts.

 

[dpking1]

You already are a late applicant by sending your transcript on august 29th. May 29th would have been early, July 29th would have already been late. it can now take 4 weeks to verify. then transmit. then secondaries then fill them out and return them. Unless you are an incredibly strong candidate, particularly as a Canadian, particularly as late, you are really way way behind

This is freaking me out. I completed all my secondaries between August 15-Sept 10 and I feel like I'm very late at this point and just wasted a bunch of money.

 

[ExcitatorySynapse]

This is freaking me out. I completed all my secondaries between August 15-Sept 10 and I feel like I'm very late at this point and just wasted a bunch of money.

I don't think that you're too late, I thought by Gonnif's own timeline that chances decline minutely through the end of September and then there's a bigger drop afterward.

Unfortunately, I cannot send transcripts electronically to AMCAS through my school... I wish!
Hopefully I'm not too late of an applicant!

Fingers crossed for you! I'm also from Alberta but I did school in the states.

 

[DoctorPlzzz]

I don't think that you're too late, I thought by Gonnif's own timeline that chances decline minutely through the end of September and then there's a bigger drop afterward.

I don't remember much from my med school applications days in terms of timeline (I submitted pretty much the day it opened), but I do know that by this time most applications should be complete.

At our school, we have already had 2 interview dates with a few more this month. We have already extended interview invites for the following month as well (meaning our Oct interview dates are full now). We have a set amount of interview dates and do not add dates beyond this. We do not interview during the holidays (Thanksgiving week, and 2 weeks for Dec/Jan holidays) so this limits the amount of interviews left at our institution, with a huge applicant pool. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis as well.

This is true for most schools in terms of interview invites (as it is courtesy to try and give applicants several weeks to plan for travel). I believe the rolling basis review is also true.

I do not mean to scare you with this, but rather encourage you to be proactive. Make sure everything else is complete and in. You can even look on sdn to find secondary prompts and start working on those for the schools you applied to so you can submit right away...etc. Do what you can to not fall behind.

Good luck!

 

[bbbanplay]

Thanks for your advice and input everyone... it is frustrating waiting for my transcripts to be marked "received" holding my application at a standstill. Hopefully this is resolved soon so I can start submitting my secondaries - I hope these (19) are not donations at this point!

 

[mariposas905]

Hi All,

I am becoming increasingly concerned as my transcripts have still not been marked as received by AMCAS.
They were mailed out on Aug 29 from Alberta, Canada.
I contacted AAMC support and they mentioned that it can take up to 7 business days to receive them.
It has been 9 business days, as of today.

Is anyone else in the same boat with a late august transcript submission?

OP what are your stats? I think if you've applied, you still have a chance since your secondaries are pre-written. but it probably depends on your stats, especially as a Canadian applicant.

 

[Drakozord X]

OP what are your stats? I think if you've applied, you still have a chance since your secondaries are pre-written. but it probably depends on your stats, especially as a Canadian applicant.

In my opinion, even if OP has secondaries pre-written, at this point just getting placed into the queue to be verified is already late.
Safely pre-writing secondaries should be for those whose primaries have been in the queue and will be verified before labor day.... because one who pre-wrote them can send out the mass number of secondaries before Sept 3rd.

Let's say the transcript got lost in transit, OP will need to send another one and we can approximate around 1-2 weeks to receive and process. Then the verification will be placed in queue for verification, which may take up to 4 weeks. By the time OPs primaries is verified, it'll be around end of October. Then it takes 1-2 days for most schools to send secondaries and other schools around 1-2 weeks if they screen. That'll bring OP into November.

According to Planeblue's interview invite tracker, by the end of October, the percent of interview invites remaining is approximated to be 36%. You may think 36% is a good amount... but by that point... adcoms aren't reviewing the complete application from end of October/start of November, they're reviewing the complete applications from Mid/Late September through Mid-October. Before you know it, the remaining 36% of interview invites are gone by the time they reach complete applications from Late October or Early November.

Best advice: apply next year.

 

[bbbanplay]

Transcript was marked received yesterday (September 13). Now Just waiting on verification.
Stats:
3.1 uGPA (very low - kick in the pants didn't occur until my final year of undergrad (straight A's)
3.7 graduate GPA (thesis based, + courses, full-time student)
MCAT: 510
Tons of ECs including 1000+ hrs shadowing; 4 research assisting roles, lead roles in student groups, volunteering, etc.
6 Publications (4 first author - submitted (yes, I know)), multiple presentations
Part-time employment at 3 jobs for the past ~5 years
Just a brief snapshot....

All secondaries pre-written.

 

[bbbanplay]

I’m... I’m.... speechless ....

Care to elaborate?

 

[ciestar]

Care to elaborate?

You’re not very competitive. International applicants have super high expectations for their apps. Your uGPA is really low and MCAT is below average.

Do you have clinical experience? Shadowing and doesn’t cover clinical experience.. and how on earth did you amass over 1000 hours?! I had.. 50 lol

 

[bbbanplay]

Do these count: OR experience, heart dissections (human), consenting patients for research, etc.?
10+ hours per week over two years, split between two clinics (one of which was 3 times a week).
I'm doing a clinical Master's degree too, which gave me a lot of these opportunities by extension.

I can't change my uGPA since I'm no longer an undergrad -- I've had to go to crazy lengths to enrich my application as a grad student -- not too sure what to do if I don't get in.. pursue a phd and apply after that's done (w/ more ECs, pubs, etc.)??

 

[Osteosaur]

I can't change my uGPA since I'm no longer an undergrad -- I've had to go to crazy lengths to enrich my application as a grad student -- not too sure what to do if I don't get in.. pursue a phd and apply after that's done (w/ more ECs, pubs, etc.)??

You CAN change your undergraduate GPA by taking undergraduate courses. Its called a post-bac. And don't pursue a PhD as an application enhancer. Its a terminal degree to become a scientist. That's a 5 year degree toward a job you don't want to be the cherry on top for a medical school application. Volunteer (where you are doing something and helping people), and ace some hard upper tier science at your local college - that's what you're missing.

I'm truly sorry you had this bomb dropped on you. You clearly put a lot of work into the MCAT, shadowing, and pre-writing but its the truth. Either you've had CRIMINALLY BAD advising, or you saw what you wanted to see.

I'm was multi-time reapplicant (~3.55 GPA, ~515 MCAT, lotsa research) and I was definitely guilting of seeing what I wanted to see and doing what what was most comfortable. I thought that maybe if I used enough jargon ("stereotaxic surgery", "PCR, etc.) in my essays they would think "well we have enough plebes who volunteer. This guy can be the smart one!" So I went in with maybe 100 hours of clinical volunteering and no non-clinical. Perhaps you, or someone else, simply thought it was implicit that master's courses trumped undergrad. Maybe shadowing seemed more comfortable, after a time, than finding a new volunteer gig to discuss passionately. I don't meant to dump on you but I mean to highlight the importance of lots of different eyes on your application and progress.

Going forward:

1) At this point you've done all the work. If you have $2000 to burn... will being a re-applicant really hurt you in a few years when you've improved your app, if you choose to apply again? That is for an experienced adcom to say.

2) You could spend a few years trying to repair your GPA and go DO. @Goro has a guide for reinvention. I don't know if it applies to internationals. If you're finishing up a graduate degree I'm guessing you're in your mid-20's? That's going to be even more school and debt for you.

3) If you have 4 first-author papers to the point of submission you probably have what it takes to be a successful researcher? You've a strong resume in that area at least.

Again, sorry.

 

[bbbanplay]

You CAN change your undergraduate GPA by taking undergraduate courses. Its called a post-bac. And don't pursue a PhD as an application enhancer. Its a terminal degree to become a scientist. That's a 5 year degree toward a job you don't want to be the cherry on top for a medical school application. Volunteer (where you are doing something and helping people), and ace some hard upper tier science at your local college - that's what you're missing.

I'm truly sorry you had this bomb dropped on you. You clearly put a lot of work into the MCAT, shadowing, and pre-writing but its the truth. Either you've had CRIMINALLY BAD advising, or you saw what you wanted to see.

I'm was multi-time reapplicant (~3.55 GPA, ~515 MCAT, lotsa research) and I was definitely guilting of seeing what I wanted to see and doing what what was most comfortable. I thought that maybe if I used enough jargon ("stereotaxic surgery", "PCR, etc.) in my essays they would think "well we have enough plebes who volunteer. This guy can be the smart one!" So I went in with maybe 100 hours of clinical volunteering and no non-clinical. Perhaps you, or someone else, simply thought it was implicit that master's courses trumped undergrad. Maybe shadowing seemed more comfortable, after a time, than finding a new volunteer gig to discuss passionately. I don't meant to dump on you but I mean to highlight the importance of lots of different eyes on your application and progress.

Going forward:

1) At this point you've done all the work. If you have $2000 to burn... will being a re-applicant really hurt you in a few years when you've improved your app, if you choose to apply again? That is for an experienced adcom to say.

2) You could spend a few years trying to repair your GPA and go DO. @Goro has a guide for reinvention. I don't know if it applies to internationals. If you're finishing up a graduate degree I'm guessing you're in your mid-20's? That's going to be even more school and debt for you.

3) If you have 4 first-author papers to the point of submission you probably have what it takes to be a successful researcher? You've a strong resume in that area at least.

Again, sorry.

Thank you, I appreciate your genuineness,

Perhaps this has become a post for a different thread, but nonetheless: I actually had no intention of pursuing medicine until I was part-way through my fourth year -- a tough personal experience opened my eyes to the greatness of the field of medicine, and the impact of a physician.

I took a MSc as I saw it as a way to advance my education, and begin contributing to the field (can convert to a PhD if I don't get in to an MD program). My graduate studies has also opened doors to many many ECs and clinical experiences, further enriching my application. Basically, I'd like to be involved in both preclinical and clinical medicine, hence my research interest.

A graduate degree seemed to make more sense instead of just adding useless courses to my undergrad to boost my gpa. I had expected that Med Schools would appreciate that!

My school selection was based upon MSAR data for GPA and acceptance rates of international applicants. The schools I chose also have strong research programs, so I was hoping for some chemistry there as well.

 

[Goro]

Transcript was marked received yesterday (September 13). Now Just waiting on verification.
Stats:
3.1 uGPA (very low - kick in the pants didn't occur until my final year of undergrad (straight A's)
3.7 graduate GPA (thesis based, + courses, full-time student)
MCAT: 510
Tons of ECs including 1000+ hrs shadowing; 4 research assisting roles, lead roles in student groups, volunteering, etc.
6 Publications (4 first author - submitted (yes, I know)), multiple presentations
Part-time employment at 3 jobs for the past ~5 years
Just a brief snapshot....

All secondaries pre-written.

You're fine for all the DO schools that accept Internationals. But this is not an application that will work for MD schools