Help with FAP calulcations!

[Little Etoile]

Ok... whoa..wait... hold the phones...

... I thought my family made way too much, but now I'm reading a couple posts and thinking I'm not understanding how the calculations work. I thought you had to be 300% below the poverty line. Is that not right?

I made $21,650. My dad made something like $8,000. The poverty line for a family of two is $14,000. Does this mean I mean I qualify? I can't tell.

I was going to turn in my AMCAS today, but now I'm thinking maybe I should wait! Ack! I need help quick! This is my second time applying and I really don't want to delay turning in my app (was a late-ish app last time and won't make that mistake again!) but this might be worth it.

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[Little Etoile]

Nevermind! I figured it out.

For anyone like me who misread the requirements, it's 300% *of* the poverty line (i.e. take the poverty amount and triple it to find the upper limit), not *below*.

I think I will hold off on submitting my AMCAS. The amount of money saved will probably be worth it.... er... but anyone want to give me some reassurance of that? Hahaha. God, this process kills me.

 

[Smctbone]

Nevermind! I figured it out.

For anyone like me who misread the requirements, it's 300% *of* the poverty line (i.e. take the poverty amount and triple it to find the upper limit), not *below*.

I think I will hold off on submitting my AMCAS. The amount of money saved will probably be worth it.... er... but anyone want to give me some reassurance of that? Hahaha. God, this process kills me.

FAP will definitely save you a lot of money (assuming you apply broadly). I really cant recall how long it took me to get the FAP approval notice, but it was no more than a month (maybe somebody else can chime in with the timing).
But just to point out, it'll save ~$300 for the actual AMCAS application (11-12 schools are free), but if you submit your AMCAS prior to qualifying for FAP, schools that participate in the program will still waive your secondary fee (you just have to send them the approval notice).

 

[Davjc2009]

Is income based upon adjusted gross income?

 

[Little Etoile]

FAP will definitely save you a lot of money (assuming you apply broadly). I really cant recall how long it took me to get the FAP approval notice, but it was no more than a month (maybe somebody else can chime in with the timing).
But just to point out, it'll save ~$300 for the actual AMCAS application (11-12 schools are free), but if you submit your AMCAS prior to qualifying for FAP, schools that participate in the program will still waive your secondary fee (you just have to send them the approval notice).

Okay, cool. Just to clarify- and maybe its changed since last year-:

Waiver of the application fee of $520 for submitting the completed AMCAS application to up to 13 medical schools. Applicants pay $30 for each school beyond the 13 free applications.

Hmmm. So maybe I'll submit, wait a week, and if it's still not verified, push ahead with the primary app in the meantime. It might be worth me sucking it up and just spending that $520 I would have otherwise saved in order to get my app in *now*, but still use the FAP for my secondaries which are more expensive anyway.

However, someone in another thread said that only 2/14 schools he/she applied to accepted FAP for the secondary fees. What was your experience like?

So many decisions! Ah!

Thanks for your input though. Greatly appreciated.

 

[kaliphornia]

you should definitely wait and apply to fap. because once you get it, most schools waive your secondary fees too. for me all of the schools i applied to, except for nymc, did not accept the fee waiver. i applied to 35 schools. so i saved a little over $3,000 on secondaries. it is worth it! and i turned in my AMCAS end of june and was verified in beginning of july.

you actually save in the thousands, which then can be used for interviews, travel, etc. there really is NO difference in getting your AMCAS in now versus in a few weeks. anytime in june is really early. and i'm a re-applicant too. i got in a few schools. going to ucla this fall.

so you'll be fine. no worries. FAP IS WORTH IT!! =) good luck!!! if you have any questions, let me know! PM or reply. take care.

--edit: i forgot to mention: i applied for FAP, sent in my verification documents (ie. 1040, W2, whatever is needed) as soon as they asked for it right after submitting your FAP application online. and i received an email from them saying that i was approved for it in less than two weeks. this was in february. i'm not sure what the timeline is during this month, but shouldn't be long at all. IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH THE WAIT!!! =)

 

[Little Etoile]

you should definitely wait and apply to fap. because once you get it, most schools waive your secondary fees too. for me all of the schools i applied to, except for nymc, did not accept the fee waiver. i applied to 35 schools. so i saved a little over $3,000 on secondaries. it is worth it! and i turned in my AMCAS end of june and was verified in beginning of july.

you actually save in the thousands, which then can be used for interviews, travel, etc. there really is NO difference in getting your AMCAS in now versus in a few weeks. anytime in june is really early. and i'm a re-applicant too. i got in a few schools. going to ucla this fall.

so you'll be fine. no worries. FAP IS WORTH IT!! =) good luck!!! if you have any questions, let me know! PM or reply. take care.

--edit: i forgot to mention: i applied for FAP, sent in my verification documents (ie. 1040, W2, whatever is needed) as soon as they asked for it right after submitting your FAP application online. and i received an email from them saying that i was approved for it in less than two weeks. this was in february. i'm not sure what the timeline is during this month, but shouldn't be long at all. IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH THE WAIT!!! =)

Awesome. Thanks for the encouragement.

And I'm sure end of June is fine, but I can't help but worry that turning it in a few weeks earlier might help. I'll still use the FAP for my secondaries, but $520 might be worth the peace of mind knowing that I turned my app in as early as possible.

Congrats on your acceptance! UCLA is definitely one of my top choices.

 

[da me ka don]

You will probably get it. My parents made way more than yours did (actually nothing), but I made less than you did. So I think you will be fine.

 

[Little Etoile]

Is income based upon adjusted gross income?

I'm not sure what they base it on, but there is a field for both adjusted gross income and non-taxable income.

 

[Smctbone]

However, someone in another thread said that only 2/14 schools he/she applied to accepted FAP for the secondary fees. What was your experience like?

my experience was just like kaliphornia's. I applied to 27 schools, only one didnt waive the fee, and one charged only half their fee.

there really is NO difference in getting your AMCAS in now versus in a few weeks. anytime in june is really early.

just echoing this comment. If you get your app in anytime in June, youll be in the exact same boat as everyone else who applied in June.

btw, I dug up my info: I received the FAP approval on 2/23/2007 and I mailed the application around 02/07/2007. So it took just a little more than 2 weeks.

 

[Little Etoile]

I just came up with a (potentially) brilliant plan. Given that I'm applying to twenty-five schools....

What if I submit my AMCAS now, but with only a few schools- perhaps my top twelve choices- so I can at least get the verifications process rolling and have those apps in super early. Then once my FAP is approved, add on the other thirteen schools that I'm interested, which is, conveniently, the number of schools FAP will cover. Does that make sense? Basically I pay for the the schools I was already going to cover right now, then have FAP cover the rest later. That's technically not retroactive payment, right? Do you think that would work?

I think I'll call AMCAS in a minute just in case, but I'm up in the mountains and reception is *horrible*, so thought I'd check with you smartie pants first.

 

[Smctbone]

I just came up with a (potentially) brilliant plan. Given that I'm applying to twenty-five schools....

What if I submit my AMCAS now, but with only a few schools- perhaps my top twelve choices- so I can at least get the verifications process rolling and have those apps in super early. Then once my FAP is approved, add on the other thirteen schools that I'm interested, which is, conveniently, the number of schools FAP will cover. Does that make sense? Basically I pay for the the schools I was already going to cover right now, then have FAP cover the rest later. That's technically not retroactive payment, right? Do you think that would work?

I think I'll call AMCAS in a minute just in case, but I'm up in the mountains and reception is *horrible*, so thought I'd check with you smartie pants first.

haha...well it seems like a good idea. You should definitely call first to find out, because I dont think it would work out. For some reason I'm thinking that the FAP only applies to the "first" 13 schools you submit on AMCAS...any edits (adding on schools) would be separate (I guess I'm thinking this because of that initial waived application fee of $160-ish...which you'd have to pay in this scenario). But hey, it's worth asking them!

 

[Little Etoile]

haha...well it seems like a good idea. You should definitely call first to find out, because I dont think it would work out. For some reason I'm thinking that the FAP only applies to the "first" 13 schools you submit on AMCAS...any edits (adding on schools) would be separate (I guess I'm thinking this because of that initial waived application fee of $160-ish...which you'd have to pay in this scenario). But hey, it's worth asking them!

Damn. They were closed for a meeting so I just checked their FAQ:

If you submit your AMCAS application prior to receiving FAP approval, FAP benefits will not be applied to your AMCAS processing fees, including medical schools to which you apply after receiving FAP approval.

I knew it had to be too good to be true.

 

[lisasimpson87]

Hmm.. I am thinking about applying to FAP too but am worried it may be too late for the primary app..If i apply now and get it, would my secondaries still be waived even though I've already submitted the primary? I definitely don't want to wait until the end of june to submit the primary. does anyone know whether I would still benefit at all? Thanks

 

[lisasimpson87]

bump- anyone know if i go ahead and submit amcas before fap gets verified, whether i can still get secondary fees waived?thanks

 

[Character]

bump- anyone know if i go ahead and submit amcas before fap gets verified, whether i can still get secondary fees waived?thanks

you should call and ask...not sure.just wait it out, its still early