Is it possible to get AMCAS verify my transcripts without actually applying to any schools?

[ChrisMack390]

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My undergrad was a 5 year program which includes various internships mixed in with coursework. As a result, we do not graduate with a typical freshman/sophomore/junior/senior trajectory and have lots of summer classes and such. The school describes us as having a "middler" year in between sophomore and junior years, but obviously AMCAS does not.

I am curious as to how AMCAS will allow me to put my grades into the system. Honestly, the reason I am wondering this is due to upward trend. If you go by academic years, my GPA trend is 3.0/3.0/3.5/4.0 but if you go by dividing my total credits by 4 its something more like 3.0/3.0/3.6/3.6. The former likely looks better, and honestly I feel like I really changed a lot over that last summer and went into my senior ready ready to kick ass (and did!).

The guidance from AMCAS is kind of mixed. On one hand they say a year should be ~35 credits, but on the other hand they say you should be switching years every 2 semesters or 2-3 trimesters. For my situation, those lead to different results. Is there anyway to put my grades/transcript into AMCAS and see how they will verify it without causing myself to be considered a re-applicant next year?

 

[LizzyM]

Pretty much, the first 3 years are marked Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and anything after that (including a 5th year) is marked Senior. This is if you were a full time student in every academic year. If you had been a part-time student for many years and took the equivalent of 60 credits over that time the first 30 or so would be shown as freshman and the second 30 as sophomore.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Pretty much, the first 3 years are marked Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and anything after that (including a 5th year) is marked Senior. This is if you were a full time student in every academic year. If you had been a part-time student for many years and took the equivalent of 60 credits over that time the first 30 or so would be shown as freshman and the second 30 as sophomore.

This is the problem though - for my first 2 years, I took a standard schedule of ~16 credits in the fall and spring. Then after that it gets stranger. I did not take an classes in Fall of 2010, which have been my junior year if I had attended a 'normal' school. I did take classes in Spring 2011. Does that mean only my spring 2011 grades count as my entire junior year? That would leave me with a senior year of nearly 100 credits.

 

[Grace184]

Can't you do a throw away school like Loma Linda (I think you're the other catholic kid lol) that you wouldn't go to and see what happens with your GPA? Or would you rather not waste the money? You wouldn't be a reapplicant to any other schools should you choose not to go through with it

 

[ChrisMack390]

Can't you do a throw away school like Loma Linda (I think you're the other catholic kid lol) that you wouldn't go to and see what happens with your GPA? Or would you rather not waste the money? You wouldn't be a reapplicant to any other schools should you choose not to go through with it

I wouldn't mind spending the money and sending a primary to LL or something, but don't a lot of schools ask if you have ever applied to medical school before? In which case I would have to answer yes and I would have a completely stupid reason as to why. I think schools would also see that I have a much older AMCAS ID than everyone else, correct?

 

[Lancer]

I wouldn't mind spending the money and sending a primary to LL or something, but don't a lot of schools ask if you have ever applied to medical school before? In which case I would have to answer yes and I would have a completely stupid reason as to why. I think schools would also see that I have a much older AMCAS ID than everyone else, correct?

Pretty sure you're only a reapplicant at the schools you apply to, so no you wouldn't

 

[NorthOfBroad]

I have friends at Drexel with a similar 5-year coop thing and they don't seem to have an issue. Most secondaries will explicitly ask to explain any gaps in undergraduate education and you have a very easy answer. I wouldn't 'apply' it will cost 160 dollars and I am not entirely sure what your reapplicant status would be

 

[MrLogan13]

This is the problem though - for my first 2 years, I took a standard schedule of ~16 credits in the fall and spring. Then after that it gets stranger. I did not take an classes in Fall of 2010, which have been my junior year if I had attended a 'normal' school. I did take classes in Spring 2011. Does that mean only my spring 2011 grades count as my entire junior year? That would leave me with a senior year of nearly 100 credits.

Your junior year would be the next ~30 units, with the remainder being classified as your senior year.

No point in overthinking how it's going to be classified since you can't do anything about it. I had 136 UG units when I applied, so I had one giant senior year too. Don't worry about it.

 

[Catalystik]

Your junior year would be the next ~30 units, with the remainder being classified as your senior year.

Meaning, your spring 2011 and fall 2012 would be your "junior year".

 

[ChrisMack390]

Sucks because I was counting on pointing to my 9 consecutive A's as evidence of upward trend and increasing maturity at the end of college, but not I can't really say that 🙁

 

[ChrisMack390]

These are the credits I took in college:

Fall 08 - 15 credits
Spring 09 - 19 credits

Fall 09 - 18 credits
Spring 10 - 19 credits

Summer 10 - 8 credits
Spring 11 - 18 credits
Fall 11 - 16 credits

Spring 12 - 14 credits
Summer 12 - 4 credits
Fall 12 - 12 credits
Spring 13 - 14 credits

Would this be the appropriate way to group everything? Comes out to 34 / 37 / 42 / 44 so I guess that is relatively even.

 

[Doug Underhill]

You can apply to a "throwaway" school, but you will have to answer "yes" for the reapplicant box.

 

[ChrisMack390]

You can apply to a "throwaway" school, but you will have to answer "yes" for the reapplicant box.

Seems like a bad idea - I will have to either lie or tell interviewers an incredibly stupid reason for being a re-applicant.

 

[Doug Underhill]

Yeah, I think there's a spreadsheet floating around here to calculate your AMCAS GPA.

 

[ChrisMack390]

There is, and I've used it. I was just wondering how best to stratify my unusual schedule in 4 blocks.

 

[ChrisMack390]

On a related note - if AMCAS disagrees with the way I enter this, will it significantly delay my app or will they just change it and move on?

 

[nwts]

Pretty sure you're only a reapplicant at the schools you apply to, so no you wouldn't

Actually, a lot of secondaries will ask you if you've ever applied to an US medical schools before, so OP would have to answer yes to this question if he/she applied to one school this year. Additionally, even if they don't ask, they can see your older AMCAS ID number, and they'll know you applied to some school in a previous year.

 

[MrLogan13]

On a related note - if AMCAS disagrees with the way I enter this, will it significantly delay my app or will they just change it and move on?

When I applied last year, I made a mistake classifying my year as well. From my end, it didn't seem like there was any significant delay. AMCAS reclassified my years for me. I think it would depend how much you fudged it.

 

[loconoko]

I feel like I may be a student at your university. I entered it as I considered it to be, meaning Freshman and Sophomore were normal because i had 4 consecutive semesters, then a break for work, then started my "middler" year in the spring and counted it as junior, the next semester of classes as junior, and everything else as senior. AMCAS changed the distinction as they saw fit but verified me relatively quickly (submitted the second day on 6/3, verified 6/15)

it's not that big of deal. don't overthink it. you're not the only premed from that school, they'll be able to figure it out. Don't bother doing a 'throwaway' that's a waste of $160 that you'll miss when you actually apply

 

[ChrisMack390]

Cool, I'm just going to do it the way it makes sense to me. AMCAS can change if they need to, as long as it won't delay me a bunch, which it doesn't seem like it will.

Thanks everyone!