AMCAS Update-UMD

[Barton]

I just got an email from the admissions office at University of Minnesota Duluth. She said that AMCAS is MAILING (snail-mail) applications to them. They get a few each day. She said this in reference to EDP apps, but she implied that this is how "transmission" will be done, at least initially. I don't know whether this is a good sign, but at least some schools are getting something, right?

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[Hopkins2010]

Originally posted by Barton:
•I just got an email from the admissions office at University of Minnesota Duluth. She said that AMCAS is MAILING (snail-mail) applications to them. They get a few each day. She said this in reference to EDP apps, but she implied that this is how "transmission" will be done, at least initially. I don't know whether this is a good sign, but at least some schools are getting something, right?•

I'm not surprised by these developments. I havent heard of a single successful electronic submittal for ANYBODY, including EDP applicants.

That implies that AMCAS is having collosal troubles trying to implement their XML stream. I doubt its just a small bug, or they would have fixed it by now. There must be multiple, significant problems with the electronic transmission.

 

[Bruin4Life]

I'm clueless about computer programing and so forth, and I'm quite an understanding person, but how can this mess ever happen? Who dropped the ball: the computer programers by being incompetent or AMCAS for not supplying enough money to set the web applicaton up? I think AMCAS should write all of us an explanation.

 

[Hopkins2010]

Originally posted by Bruin4Life:
•I'm clueless about computer programing and so forth, and I'm quite an understanding person, but how can this mess ever happen? Who dropped the ball: the computer programers by being incompetent or AMCAS for not supplying enough money to set the web applicaton up? I think AMCAS should write all of us an explanation.•

Since I'm not an insider at AMCAS, I cant say for sure on this matter. But my analysis of this situation is as follows:

1) the programming team at AMCAS made some fundamental errors before they ever started writing code. They failed to accurately assess the bandwidth demands that such a user-interactive application would place on the system. I also get the strong impression that the IT guys at AMCAS failed to communicate effectively to the programmers as to their capability hardware-wise. The programmers were probably unaware to some extent of the physical hardware configuration that AMCAS had in place, so they greatly surpassed the system capability with their programming style.

2) the application itself requires solid technical skill to implement, so I think the programmers are very capable in their knowledge and skill. However, they should have browsed around to other online applications that were in place, particularly the Texas application service. Note that the TMDSAS application has succeeded in every possible way that AMCAS has failed. The AMCAS programming team should have at least considered the programming approach that the TMDSAS utilized.

3) Based on 1) and 2) above, my gut instinct is that the fundamental reason AMCAS has failed this year is due to either a lack of hardware knowledge on the part of the programming team or a failure to communicate effectively between the hardware (IT/engineering) and software (programming) groups.