AOA Elgibility and ERAS

[HalladayWeekend]

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If someone is academically eligible to AOA but not selected, would it be wise to list "Academically eligible for AOA" on ERAS (possibly under activities)? Just was wondering if I am not selected if I should do this. Obviously this won't help in programs with AOA cutoff but could give a boost otherwise...

 

[NotAProgDirector]

No. Either you're AOA, or you're not. We'll see your grades on your transcript and MSPE.

 

[gutonc]

And what does "academically eligible for AOA" mean anyway? That you got all Honors in your MS3 clerkships? Are you also planning to list your "Student of the Month, Mrs. Jones' 3rd Grade Class" among your accomplishments? Because at least that's a real thing that you got.

You're either AOA or your not. It's a bit sad that some programs get hung up on it (although I think that number is a lot smaller than you probably think it is) but everybody needs a way to narrow the field.

 

[HalladayWeekend]

At my school a certain percentage of the class is academically eligible based on grades, and then subjective criteria (CV and letters of rec) are used to choose the members.

 

[coffeebeanjenn]

Your GPA and transcript will communicate that for you.

Think of it like this: If you're over 25 and a US citizen, you're also eligible for US Congress. But you wouldn't list that, because you're (I'm assuming) not a congressman.

 

[HalladayWeekend]

Your GPA and transcript will communicate that for you.

Think of it like this: If you're over 25 and a US citizen, you're also eligible for US Congress. But you wouldn't list that, because you're (I'm assuming) not a congressman.

Correct, but an overwhelmingly large majority of applicants are eligible to be a congressman. My point is that after being in the top 25% of my class, subjective measures are used to select AOA. In terms of grades, the committee is (supposedly) blinded to actual class ranking. In this regard, 75% of the class is not eligible (wheres probably 90+% of residency applicants are eligible for Congress). Should I not be selected for Senior AOA, I am communicating that it was a subjective (rather than objective) exclusion. Isn't the academic part of AOA what adds to the residency ap anyway? I have good research, extracurriculars (which most top students have anyway), etc that residency programs will see anyway.

 

[HalladayWeekend]

And what does "academically eligible for AOA" mean anyway? That you got all Honors in your MS3 clerkships? Are you also planning to list your "Student of the Month, Mrs. Jones' 3rd Grade Class" among your accomplishments? Because at least that's a real thing that you got.

You're either AOA or your not. It's a bit sad that some programs get hung up on it (although I think that number is a lot smaller than you probably think it is) but everybody needs a way to narrow the field.

I agree that it's sad, but it is a reality. It almost seems that schools with AOA that select the way mine does are rewarding a random subset of qualified students (while seemingly hurting the ones who are "eligible" and not selected). Oh well, life goes on...

 

[username456789]

Correct, but an overwhelmingly large majority of applicants are eligible to be a congressman. My point is that after being in the top 25% of my class, subjective measures are used to select AOA. In terms of grades, the committee is (supposedly) blinded to actual class ranking. In this regard, 75% of the class is not eligible (wheres probably 90+% of residency applicants are eligible for Congress). Should I not be selected for Senior AOA, I am communicating that it was a subjective (rather than objective) exclusion. Isn't the academic part of AOA what adds to the residency ap anyway? I have good research, extracurriculars (which most top students have anyway), etc that residency programs will see anyway.

AOA is not just rewarding the academic prowess of a student (at least at many schools . . . some schools literally do just take the top X number of students and select them, at least for Junior AOA). AOA is meant to select students who, while at the top (at least top 25%) of their class, have also shown outstanding leadership/community involvement/research production/etc.

It is unfortunate that many schools have different (and very subjective) ways to ultimately select who is AOA and who is not. I do have a few former classmates who were academic workhorses, but who did little else and were not particularly pleasant people to work with. I haven't read our bylaws or whatever recently, so I don't even remember to what extent we are technically supposed to take into account personal attributes, but our selection process does involve a good bit of "vouching" for a person as far as whether or not they're an all-around super guy/gal. [Note: I am in no way insinuating that you are or are not an all-around super guy, and people do indeed "slip through the cracks" in this process sometimes]

Believe it or not, 25% of a class is kind of a lot. To say you're academically eligible for AOA based on this does not set you apart quite as much as you would like to think. Your MSPE will state what quartile (or however it's broken up) you fell into based on the wording ("Roy's performance was outstanding/excellent/great/good"). So mentioning that you were considered but not picked for AOA is a bit redundant at best, and kind of desperate at worst.

 

[HalladayWeekend]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll just have to hope I'm picked for senior AOA or just move on.

 

[username456789]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll just have to hope I'm picked for senior AOA or just move on.

Unfortunately that's the best thing you can do at this moment.

Best of luck, though.