Midwestern University Chicago (CCOM) Discussion Thread 2015 - 2016

[Doctoblast]

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Everyone keeps mentioning Interfolio. For the people sending their letters through Interfolio, did you not attach them to your AACOMAS? I figured that the letters would get to the school if they were included with our primary application, or should I be sending them to the individual schools as well? Sorry if this is a silly question, I'm completely new to AACOMAS!

I am sending them to the schools straight from interfolio. I would call aacomas and have them open up your letters if you uploaded them straight to the primary application. Just ask them to make sure the the files aren't corrupted. If they aren't then you should be fine.

Scores get marked received after you're verified, correct?

I'm not sure if you necessarily have to be verified for them to receive your score, but your application won't be reviewed until you're verified anyways.

 

[67552931811]

I spent a few days there last April. I'd say eclectic is a good mix. That said, it's the suburbs and we'd be in medical school. The only thing we're going to see is the library, the anatomy lab, and the inside of the nearest starbucks.

? You're quoting/replying to me because...?

 

[mathnerd88]

I still don't have a secondary from this school although I've been verified since the 12th...some people who have been verified after me already got their secondary.

 

[RavenclawMed]

I still don't have a secondary from this school although I've been verified since the 12th...some people who have been verified after me already got their secondary.

That'll happen a lot throughout the cycle, nothing to worry about; the cycle's pretty random. The school sends secondaries out in batches or waves. It's still June, don't get worked up yet.

 

[beeboops]

That's irritating, wonder if it's worth it to just send the scores directly to schools that have secondaries out at least...CCOM is the only one for me so far haha

That's not a bad idea, actually... If my scores aren't in the first week of July or so, I'll probably end up doing this.

 

[Rajayray2019]

Everyone keeps mentioning Interfolio. For the people sending their letters through Interfolio, did you not attach them to your AACOMAS? I figured that the letters would get to the school if they were included with our primary application, or should I be sending them to the individual schools as well? Sorry if this is a silly question, I'm completely new to AACOMAS!

I sent them to schools. I think I heard somewhere that AACOMAS doesn't send them. OSU-COM's secondary application specifically says you need to send them your letters directly.

 

[beeboops]

Just spoke to someone at AACOMAS - for LORs, if you have them attached to your primary application, then they should be sent to schools, and there's no need to send them to each individual school (unless you want only specific letters to go to specific schools or in the case of OSU-COM, of course).

Also, has anyone else been really frustrated with AACOMAS's handling of the MCAT? I had my scores sent from AAMC on May 9th, and I was just told that AACOMAS didn't actually have my scores somehow. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[bigoliver101]

Just spoke to someone at AACOMAS - for LORs, if you have them attached to your primary application, then they should be sent to schools, and there's no need to send them to each individual school (unless you want only specific letters to go to specific schools or in the case of OSU-COM, of course).

Also, has anyone else been really frustrated with AACOMAS's handling of the MCAT? I had my scores sent from AAMC on May 9th, and I was just told that AACOMAS didn't actually have my scores somehow. Has this happened to anyone else?

yes, it happened to me too

 

[beeboops]

yes, it happened to me too

I just resent mine from the MCAT THx site. No idea how long it takes for AACOMAS to receive them, but it should be instantaneous, one would think, being electronic and all 🙄 I'm going to check again with AACOMAS tomorrow afternoon, and if they still don't have them, someone from AAMC will be hearing from me!

 

[grey_wind]

@beeboops Check the Nova thread- someone contacted aacomas and they said no MCAT scores were uploaded yet and that they're aiming to do them in a couple days

 

[beeboops]

@beeboops Check the Nova thread- someone contacted aacomas and they said no MCAT scores were uploaded yet and that they're aiming to do them in a couple days

Thanks! Very bizarre. The person I spoke to made it sound like they just hadn't received mine, and she told me to resend it. Sigh...

 

[grey_wind]

I had no idea we even had to have AAMC send the scores to AACOMAS. I've been verrified since mid May and have already completed my CCOM secondary. I just now logged on to AAMC Thx and had them forwarded to AACOMAS .....facepalm

Yeah they don't really make it clear that you need to do this...I'm pretty sure I only knew from SDN lurking haha

 

[Oh_Gee]

primary submitted 6/1
verified 6/19
secondary: 6/22

unfortunately, the DO I shadowed who agreed to write me a LoR a few weeks ago never sent his in. Tried emailing but no dice. had to contact another DO I know but I told her I'd give her a month to do it. CCOM said I can submit the other things but app won't be complete until I send them the DO letter. 🙁 Had my secondary pre written already and was so ready to submit the day I got it

On another note, has anyone been able to get their MCAT scores officially submitted to AACOMAS? my CCOM checklist shows that they haven't received my scores even though I used MCAT thx to send my scores to AACOMAS on 5/16/2015

 

[bshap000]

On another note, has anyone been able to get their MCAT scores officially submitted to AACOMAS? my CCOM checklist shows that they haven't received my scores even though I used MCAT thx to send my scores to AACOMAS on 5/16/2015

As has been mentioned many times, AACOMAS is taking forever to attach the official MCAT scores. For reference, I sent mine on 5/5/15 (and a couple extra times for safety) and still nothing has happened.

That's irritating, wonder if it's worth it to just send the scores directly to schools that have secondaries out at least...CCOM is the only one for me so far haha

How were you planning on doing that? Mailing a hard copy of the verified score report printout? Almost none of the DO schools appear on the MCAT THx list of recipients you can send to (PCOM interestingly is on the list).

 

[grey_wind]

As has been mentioned many times, AACOMAS is taking forever to attach the official MCAT scores. For reference, I sent mine on 5/5/15 (and a couple extra times for safety) and still nothing has happened.



How were you planning on doing that? Mailing a hard copy of the verified score report printout? Almost none of the DO schools appear on the MCAT THx list of recipients you can send to (PCOM interestingly is on the list).

I was just thinking out loud, I didn't know all the DO schools weren't automatically on MCAT THx, so there goes that idea lol

 

[bshap000]

I was just thinking out loud, I didn't know all the DO schools weren't automatically on MCAT THx, so there goes that idea lol

Yeah its unfortunate; I ran into the same problem earlier 😛

At least it sounds like AACOMAS is finally beginning to attach the scores...

 

[Oh_Gee]

When sending interfolio letters to CCOM, how long does it take for them to receive it and get that checkmark on your checklist

 

[Doctoblast]

Physician Letter , Recommendation letter, were marked as Received as of 6/22. Supplemental application marked received 6/20. MCAT scores still marked as "expected"

Did you submit your letters via aacomas or interfolio? And if interfolio, when did you send them to CCOM?

 

[Doctoblast]

I was just marked as complete at CCOM.
Submitted AACOMAS: 06/02
Verified: 06/12
LORs sent through interfolio: 06/18
Official MCAT score received: 06/22
LORs received and secondary complete: 06/23

Just in case anyone was wondering about my timeline

 

[Oh_Gee]

I was just marked as complete at CCOM.
Submitted AACOMAS: 06/02
Verified: 06/12
LORs sent through interfolio: 06/18
Official MCAT score received: 06/22
LORs received and secondary complete: 06/23

Just in case anyone was wondering about my timeline

what magic did you do get your mcat in

 

[iluvmedicine2]

I was just marked as complete at CCOM.
Submitted AACOMAS: 06/02
Verified: 06/12
LORs sent through interfolio: 06/18
Official MCAT score received: 06/22
LORs received and secondary complete: 06/23

Just in case anyone was wondering about my timeline

Congrats! Does CCOM send an email notifying you of your complete status or did you just see a complete status update on the secondary portal?

 

[swolebrah]

Congrats! Does CCOM send an email notifying you of your complete status or did you just see a complete status update on the secondary portal?

This is a copy of what they send to you if you have been fully completed with all checklists done:

Greetings from the Office of Admissions at Midwestern University, Downers Grove campus. Our office has recently received all of your required application materials and your application to the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine is complete.

Completed applications are reviewed and interview decisions are made on a rolling basis. We will be in contact with you once a decision has been made on your application. Thank you once again for applying to Midwestern University and good luck in the admissions process.

Midwestern University
Office of Admissions

 

[grey_wind]

Question for people who have verified AACOMAS apps- when you check the PDF of your app and look at your classes in particular, is there anything in the Verified Grade or Verified Credit columns? I got the verification email this morning but those columns are blank for me...

 

[Doctoblast]

what magic did you do get your mcat in

I have no idea how that happened lol all I did was send it from the thx system and then a couple weeks later I sent em again. This was towards the end of May though

 

[mathnerd88]

Did people who were verified not receive a secondary yet? Mine's been verified since June 12th and still no secondary invite.

 

[Gandyy]

Did people who were verified not receive a secondary yet? Mine's been verified since June 12th and still no secondary invite.

That is odd man. I'd wait it out for a bit longer before you call though.

 

[nutelly]

All of my letters were sent to AACOMAS who forwarded them to CCOM. AACOMAS Application was submitted on 5/21. I actually took an unorthdox route, as I was not aware at the time how letters were to be submitted. I had all of my letter writers upload letters to my interfolio account, and from there I forwarded them to AACOMAS. All this did for me was cost me extra money that was unnecessary, but it apparently got the job done regardless.

I had the same thing done, but my my application checklist on the secondary website still shows letters "not received". Are the letters forwarded automatically to CCOM from ACCOMAS?

 

[mk2015]

Did people who were verified not receive a secondary yet? Mine's been verified since June 12th and still no secondary invite.

That does seem odd. I was verified yesterday afternoon and got the secondary this morning.

 

[mathnerd88]

This is extremely frustrating. I contacted CCOM and they said they have not gotten it yet. I wonder if AACOMAS is not letting my application available.

 

[Gandyy]

This is extremely frustrating. I contacted CCOM and they said they have not gotten it yet. I wonder if AACOMAS is not letting my application available.

That is frustrating. Call AACOMAS.

 

[mathnerd88]

Yeah, I can't even do anything because I'm not sure whether it is the school not getting my application or AACOMAS screwing up.

 

[Gandyy]

Yeah, I can't even do anything because I'm not sure whether it is the school not getting my application or AACOMAS screwing up.

Just call AACOMAS. Also if you have to get stern with 1 of them to get your stuff done, its pretty obvious who you do that with.

 

[mathnerd88]

I called AACOMAS and they said they could look me up using their admissions software. That means all schools can see my application.

I'm very worried because it seems that nobody is in the same boat as me, and I might have fallen through a crack in the system?

 

[Gandyy]

I called AACOMAS and they said they could look me up using their admissions software. That means all schools can see my application.

I'm very worried because it seems that nobody is in the same boat as me, and I might have fallen through a crack in the system?

Nah, stay persistent. Just call the school again, and let them know that you need to know whats going on. Have AACOMAS reps call the schools in a 3 way call if they can.

 

[mathnerd88]

Nah, stay persistent. Just call the school again, and let them know that you need to know whats going on. Have AACOMAS reps call the schools in a 3 way call if they can.

Well, they're saying that don't compare yourselves to others on SDN. While that may be true, others have gotten their secondaries the next day after primary was verified. Mine has been verified for almost two weeks and still nothing.

I can't risk pissing CCOM off.

 

[Gandyy]

Well, they're saying that don't compare yourselves to others on SDN. While that may be true, others have gotten their secondaries the next day after primary was verified. Mine has been verified for almost two weeks and still nothing.

I can't risk pissing CCOM off.

Yea... but maybe you can risk pissing AACOMAS off? Just try to see if a 3 way call is possible. That way, the culprit is found within a few minutes, and you get to hear it all while it happens.

 

[mathnerd88]

Yea... but maybe you can risk pissing AACOMAS off?

I've already tried that route. They're saying that everything looks fine on their end and that they can see the application through admissions portal.

 

[Gandyy]

I've already tried that route. They're saying that everything looks fine on their end and that they can see the application through admissions portal.

Hmm, then in that case, all you can do is call CCOM and politely explain the situation or just wait for a while.

 

[mathnerd88]

Hmm, then in that case, all you can do is call CCOM and politely explain the situation or just wait for a while.

Well, I just got a secondary from CUSOM, so I believe CCOM is being delayed.

 

[Gandyy]

Well, I just got a secondary from CUSOM, so I believe CCOM is being delayed.

There you go

 

[pmsltechnician]

Just got my secondary this morning (6/25). Does anyone know if CCOM accepts additional LORs aside from the physician and basic science professor?

Edit: Thought I should mention that my MCAT scores were already marked as received.

 

[Doctoblast]

Just got my secondary this morning (6/25). Does anyone know if CCOM accepts additional LORs aside from the physician and basic science professor?

Yes, they do

 

[Oh_Gee]

Just got my secondary this morning (6/25). Does anyone know if CCOM accepts additional LORs aside from the physician and basic science professor?

Edit: Thought I should mention that my MCAT scores were already marked as received.

Yes, they do

are you sure
https://www.midwestern.edu/programs-and-admission/il-osteopathic-medicine.html

scroll down to #4

it doesn't say you can submit more than those 2 and the CCOM secondary checklist only has those 2 letters mentioned

 

[ananasmed]

Just got my secondary this morning (6/25). Does anyone know if CCOM accepts additional LORs aside from the physician and basic science professor?

Edit: Thought I should mention that my MCAT scores were already marked as received.

Yes, they do

are you sure
https://www.midwestern.edu/programs-and-admission/il-osteopathic-medicine.html

scroll down to #4

it doesn't say you can submit more than those 2 and the CCOM secondary checklist only has those 2 letters mentioned

While I believe they will accept more than the 2 required letters, remember that sometimes when it comes to these things, less is more.

 

[vantheman]

How did I not know about this: "The full legal name and AACOMAS ID number of applicants must be on the front page of the recommendation. The applicant must provide this information to the evaluators."

All of my letters are already submitted to interfolio and I would feel so annoying to contact my letter writers and have them resubmit just so I have my AACOMAS ID number on the front page.

Any advice?

 

[vantheman]

Do you have to have an AACOMAS ID number on your LORs for all schools? Or is it just for CCOM?

 

[ananasmed]

How did I not know about this: "The full legal name and AACOMAS ID number of applicants must be on the front page of the recommendation. The applicant must provide this information to the evaluators."

All of my letters are already submitted to interfolio and I would feel so annoying to contact my letter writers and have them resubmit just so I have my AACOMAS ID number on the front page.

Any advice?

It's for all schools. I can't remember if you can attach your AACOMAS ID to the letter in retrospect, or if you had to do it when you requested the letter. Try poking around on interfolio to see if there's a space where it lets you add an ID.

Edit: Or call Interfolio to see if they can attach your AACOMAS ID to the letters.

 

[RavenclawMed]

are you sure
https://www.midwestern.edu/programs-and-admission/il-osteopathic-medicine.html

scroll down to #4

it doesn't say you can submit more than those 2 and the CCOM secondary checklist only has those 2 letters mentioned

Last year I submitted a committee letter which included a non-science letter and a letter from my Resident Director from my senior year as an RA. They were accepted with no problems.

 

[Giovanotto]

These DO school names are driving me nuts. Is this the same school as:
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University

?

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

^yes it is. And i'm pretty sure if you have a committee letter that has all of your letters in one packet you don't need to have individual professors/writers put the name+ID since the packet of letters will have all of it in one (assuming the committee letter has it)