Attending multiple schools at the same time

[MTRN406]

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I have a weird situation. One of the things that adcoms look at is the course load that you took each semester. For most students, this is a trivial thing to determine, because it is listed for that semester under the school that they attended. However, the AMCAS primary does not list coursework by semester. Rather, it lists it chronologically by school (i.e., all courses taken at school X will be listed by semester under school X, and all courses taken at school Y will be listed by semester under school Y).

So, if someone was attending multiple schools at the same time, coursework for a given semester will not all be listed in the same place. Rather, it will be spread across multiple pages of that section of the application, since each class will be under the school where it was taken.

So, if during my self designed post-bac (due to scheduling issues), I took classes at three different schools during the same semester (i.e., biochemistry and genetics at school X, cell biology at school Y, and molecular biology at school Z), my primary application will not show that I took a full time credit load of science courses during that semester in one convenient place that an adcom could look at and tell immediately. Instead the biochem and genetics would be listed for that semester under school X, then on the next page where the coursework for school Y begins the cell biology would be listed for that semester, and then on the page after that where the coursework for school Z begins it would have the molecular biology listed for that semester.

To get the total number of hours that I was taking in that semester and my gpa for that semester, you would have to realize that I was attending multiple schools at the same time and then go in and manually add the credits up from the different places in the application where they appear. When I put myself in the position of someone who has hundreds of applications to review, this is not something I see them doing. It's not something that most students do, so it is probably not a situation that is encountered very often.

 

[Goro]

It's not an issue. It's a pre-med delusion that you have to attend a single school, and do it in four years.

 

[MTRN406]

It's not an issue. It's a pre-med delusion that you have to attend a single school, and do it in four years.

Oh, I didn't think the mere fact that I attended different schools would be an issue. I'm just more concerned with the screener realizing that I took a full time course load in that semester. Instead of seeing 16 credits under one school in a given semester, those 16 credits for that semester would be dispersed throughout the application. So, for instance, they'd see 8 credits for spring 2015 under one school, then 4 more credits for spring 2015 would be on the next page under another school, etc. So it may not be obvious at a cursory glance that I was attending full time during that semester, unless you realized the same semester was appearing on multiple pages and then added them up manually. I guess I'm more concerned with the screener having to go through the application with a fine tooth comb to find the information they need, rather than having it presented graphically in one convenient place, as is the case with the vast majority of applications.

 

[UBLI-EINSTEIN]

Oh, I didn't think the mere fact that I attended different schools would be an issue. I'm just more concerned with the screener realizing that I took a full time course load in that semester. Instead of seeing 16 credits under one school in a given semester, those 16 credits for that semester would be dispersed throughout the application. So, for instance, they'd see 8 credits for spring 2015 under one school, then 4 more credits for spring 2015 would be on the next page under another school, etc. So it may not be obvious at a cursory glance that I was attending full time during that semester, unless you realized the same semester was appearing on multiple pages and then added them up manually. I guess I'm more concerned with the screener having to go through the application with a fine tooth comb to find the information they need, rather than having it presented graphically in one convenient place, as is the case with the vast majority of applications.

Trust me. adcom must be smart enough to figure out your full-semester course load by attending different schools.

 

[MTRN406]

Trust me. adcom must be smart enough to figure out your full-semester course load by attending different schools.

It's not a question of being smart enough, it's a question of being willing to do it (or paying enough attention to your application in the first place to realize what was going on so it needs to be done).

 

[UBLI-EINSTEIN]

It's not a question of being smart enough, it's a question of being willing to do it (or paying enough attention to your application in the first place to realize what was going on so it needs to be done).

I don't see a reason why you are so skeptical about that.
If they are not going to do so, what will you do? Sending them a email? What if they got annoyed by receiving your email about a stupid reminder?
If they are going to do so, then your worry is completely meaningless.
These are questions/concerns, which can not be correctly answered in this forum.
So, calm down and relax. Just let it be. adcom will be smart and patient enough to figure out this.

 

[MTRN406]

I don't see a reason why you are so skeptical about that.
If they are not going to do so, what will you do? Sending them a email? What if they got annoyed by receiving your email about a stupid reminder?
If they are going to do so, then your worry is completely meaningless.
These are questions/concerns, which can not be correctly answered in this forum.
So, calm down and relax. Just let it be. adcom will be smart and patient enough to figure out this.

When I think of a medical school admissions officer looking at a stack of applications, I get the mental image of a hr recruiter going over resumes in a company. Each application gets glanced at for about 90 seconds, and most get tossed on the burn pile. If, during the initial 90 second cursory glance, they see something that catches their eye, they might read a little bit more. Rarely does the entire application get read front to back, with all primary and secondary essays read, and all grades from individual semesters looked at. More extensive reviews usually get done toward selection time, but as far as the initial screen to find out if someone will be offered an interview or not? That probably lasts about 2 minutes max.

 

[Med Ed]

When I think of a medical school admissions officer looking at a stack of applications, I get the mental image of a hr recruiter going over resumes in a company. Each application gets glanced at for about 90 seconds, and most get tossed on the burn pile. If, during the initial 90 second cursory glance, they see something that catches their eye, they might read a little bit more. Rarely does the entire application get read front to back, with all primary and secondary essays read, and all grades from individual semesters looked at. More extensive reviews usually get done toward selection time, but as far as the initial screen to find out if someone will be offered an interview or not? That probably lasts about 2 minutes max.

Your assumptions are flawed. I cannot speak for every school, but most of the admissions processes I am familiar with run in a similar fashion. The first pass is usually done by people whose sole task is to determine if each application meets the minimum requirements (prereqs, LORs, etc.). Those that make the cut are then evaluated by individuals who are qualified to make interview offers. The only way to do that in a competent manner is to be thorough.

Your concerns are completely unfounded, btw. We have plenty of students who attend multiple schools concurrently and the data output simple to interpret.

 

[MTRN406]

Just to be clear on my thoughts for the OP

1) Any evaluator will immediately know from almost a single glance at your application what your credit load is and how you did for all your time in school obvious reasons
2) If these reasons are obvious to you, a picture speaks a thousand words or actually only 3 are needed AMCAS GPA GRID

View attachment 223414

That grid is exactly what I'm concerned about. It is not what the grid tells you that's the problem, it's what it doesn't tell you. For example, the post-baccalaureate section of the grid just tells you the the number of post-bac credits and GPA. It does not tell you how those credits are distributed. Were a person's 30 hours of post-bac credit taken over the course of one year or three, and how many credits did they take each semester? Were they attending full time or part time? For that information, you'd have to dig deeper into the application. If multiple schools were attended in the same semester, that information is not listed all in one place. The credits are listed under each school, rather than all together under the same semester in the same place, so you'd have to dig deeper still and add them up manually. If that is, in fact, something that most adcoms notice and routinely check for, then my concerns are indeed unfounded.

 

[Med Ed]

That grid is exactly what I'm concerned about. It is not what the grid tells you that's the problem, it's what it doesn't tell you. For example, the post-baccalaureate section of the grid just tells you the the number of post-bac credits and GPA. It does not tell you how those credits are distributed. Were a person's 30 hours of post-bac credit taken over the course of one year or three, and how many credits did they take each semester? Were they attending full time or part time? For that information, you'd have to dig deeper into the application. If multiple schools were attended in the same semester, that information is not listed all in one place. The credits are listed under each school, rather than all together under the same semester in the same place, so you'd have to dig deeper still and add them up manually. If that is, in fact, something that most adcoms notice and routinely check for, then my concerns are indeed unfounded.

The grid is only one data view. With two clicks I can see all your transcripts, which are broken down by the what, when and where of every course you've ever taken.

This is a non-issue.

 

[CloverBale]

Have fun adcoms, I went to 7 different school~🙂

 

[MTRN406]

The grid is only one data view. With two clicks I can see all your transcripts, which are broken down by the what, when and where of every course you've ever taken.

This is a non-issue.

Does what you get look different than what applicants see on their end filling it out. I was under the impression that you got the .pdf printout that gets generated when we go to our application and click "print application" and then then we can either print our app in .pdf or html form.

 

[workaholic181]

I finished my DIY postbacc at multiple places due to finances and course offerings. I've done pretty well thus far this cycle so I dont think it hurt me at all.

It is kind of a pain when filling out the app having to include multiple institutions and then make sure all the transcripts were in order, but no big deal ultimately.

 

[Med Ed]

Does what you get look different than what applicants see on their end filling it out. I was under the impression that you got the .pdf printout that gets generated when we go to our application and click "print application" and then then we can either print our app in .pdf or html form.

You are seeing the monochromatic digest that AMCAS spits out. We get your raw data, and use a configurable third party software system to view and manipulate it however we wish. Different schools use different platforms but they all do essentially the same thing.

Still a non-issue.

 

[MTRN406]

You are seeing the monochromatic digest that AMCAS spits out. We get your raw data, and use a configurable third party software system to view and manipulate it however we wish. Different schools use different platforms but they all do essentially the same thing.

Still a non-issue.

So different schools use different software programs to review and manipulate the data? I didn't know that. Do the third party software manufacturers contract with AMCAS to port the data into their programs as schools receive primaries, or does someone have to sit there and manually enter data for each app the school gets. Sounds quite tedious.

So with the program that you use, if you wanted to know "what is this guy's GPA over the last X-arbitrary number of credit hours" it would be relatively trivial for you to do that?

 

[Med Ed]

So different schools use different software programs to review and manipulate the data? I didn't know that. Do the third party software manufacturers contract with AMCAS to port the data into their programs as schools receive primaries, or does someone have to sit there and manually enter data for each app the school gets. Sounds quite tedious.

When an applicant selects a given school the data is automatically transmitted to that school's system within hours. Compatibility is a core requirement. AMCAS would be of no use if someone had to re-enter the information.

So with the program that you use, if you wanted to know "what is this guy's GPA over the last X-arbitrary number of credit hours" it would be relatively trivial for you to do that?

Yup.