*~*~* Official AACOMAS Questions Thread 2012-2013 *~*~*

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Can certain volunteer work go under "work experience?"

I elected to take a volunteer (non-paid) position with my EMS company, but I am regulated (in terms of punching in/out, setting up schedules, etc) like a paid member.
 
nirvikalpa said:
Can certain volunteer work go under "work experience?"

I elected to take a volunteer (non-paid) position with my EMS company, but I am regulated (in terms of punching in/out, setting up schedules, etc) like a paid member.
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I wouldn't see why not... Just be sure to mention the volunteer aspect because that could gain you some brownie points.
 
Thank you 🙂

Is there anyone else out there who keeps on facepalming at how we're required to enter in information? For example, I am a Red Cross volunteer - I am constantly on call. I could go for weeks, months... close to even years without being called.

However, when I am, I rank up 200-300 hours... each call (for national deployments). I don't want to fiddle with my volunteerism for this and put "Average hours worked per week: 1/2 hour" 😆
 
Do we use interfolio to send committee letters?

And i thought i saw a couple pages back something about LOR being for sedcondaries, I thought we submitted LOR with the main application.

1 more thing I saw on some secondaries a form they wanted the dr's we shadowed to fill out. Is this common for every school we apply to.
 
Who do we call to find out if X course will count for Y credit (i.e will a class I took count for biochem). Is it ok to just talk to anyone in the admissions office?
 
Should we mentions specific names of the doctors we shadowed? I just put "a physician".
 
SoulinNeed said:
Should we mentions specific names of the doctors we shadowed? I just put "a physician".
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I shadowed 5 doctors and put all 5 of their names, specialties, and locations.
 
TriagePreMed said:
No, do one entry for all shadowing experiences.
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So I looked at my past app out of curiosity and I guess I am not seeing where you even put in shadowing, I remember places in secondaries where it was put in. Maybe I am incorrect or your app has changed.
 
Can anybody provide info on how the AACOMAS personal statement differs from AMCAS PS? I didn't see a prompt, plus it's shorter in length? Can the content be same?

Are we free to write what we want, or specifically why DO needs to be covered?
 
Dr Dazzle said:
Can anybody provide info on how the AACOMAS personal statement differs from AMCAS PS? I didn't see a prompt, plus it's shorter in length? Can the content be same?

Are we free to write what we want, or specifically why DO needs to be covered?
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Write whatever you like, there is no prompt, 4500 char limit.
 
dntke1518 said:
So I looked at my past app out of curiosity and I guess I am not seeing where you even put in shadowing, I remember places in secondaries where it was put in. Maybe I am incorrect or your app has changed.
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Just under the general "EC" category.
 
MedPR said:
Who do we call to find out if X course will count for Y credit (i.e will a class I took count for biochem). Is it ok to just talk to anyone in the admissions office?
Click to expand...



Yes.
 
MedPR said:
Who do we call to find out if X course will count for Y credit (i.e will a class I took count for biochem). Is it ok to just talk to anyone in the admissions office?
Click to expand...

I would also suggest (if possible) to get it in writing.
 
MedPR said:
Btw, someone asked about whether or not shadowing should be grouped. The AMCAS thread has a FAQ and in that FAQ is a suggestion to group all your shadowing experiences into one. Verbatim:
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What if the shadowing experience let you perform special activities?
 
I have a question about the courses we enter into AACOMAS.

At my college Labs on my transcript show up as 0 credit courses. For example if i took BIOL105 (4 credits) the lab portion is a 0 credit BIOL105L.

How do i place that into AACOMAS? Since it's not graded separately i don't know what to put as a grade. It's not really pass/fail because it's part of the grade of the corresponding course.


Any thoughts?
 
Just put it in exactly how it looks on your transcript, if it is incorrect AACOMAS will change it, but best to mirror your transcript.
 
batndz said:
I have a question about the courses we enter into AACOMAS.

At my college Labs on my transcript show up as 0 credit courses. For example if i took BIOL105 (4 credits) the lab portion is a 0 credit BIOL105L.

How do i place that into AACOMAS? Since it's not graded separately i don't know what to put as a grade. It's not really pass/fail because it's part of the grade of the corresponding course.


Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

My college does the same, and assigns a grade of 'LB,' so I am really stuck as to what to put in for AACOMAS as well. So far I just input the main course and left out the lab segment. I am going to have to email them.
 
I requested my MCAT score be released to AACOMAS almost 2 weeks ago. Whats the hold up?
 
docmayer said:
I requested my MCAT score be released to AACOMAS almost 2 weeks ago. Whats the hold up?
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Send them a message, they'll update it if they have it. I messaged them the other day and within 30 minutes they replied and added my scores.
 
MedPR said:
How would I do this? Send an email?
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They can mail you a statement guaranteeing the credits will be accepted in lieu of another class, or as you said, email works wonders too. Just remember to save it.
 
nirvikalpa said:
They can mail you a statement guaranteeing the credits will be accepted in lieu of another class, or as you said, email works wonders too. Just remember to save it.
Click to expand...


Great! I'll try and get them to email me the statement. Hopefully this works as I don't want to pay the $1300 for unecom online biochem.
 
MedPR said:
Send them a message, they'll update it if they have it. I messaged them the other day and within 30 minutes they replied and added my scores.
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What email did you send your concern to?
 
docmayer said:
What email did you send your concern to?
Click to expand...

Just PMed you back, but in case anyone has the same question... There is a messenging system within the AACOMAS application page.
 
So under the EC, Volunteer, Community Service section, I have conflicting thoughts on what to put in the description box for one of the student organizations I have been involved with for 4 years. I have held a different position each year, 3 of them being on the executive board, so they all have different responsibilities respective to their own department of the organization.

My question is whether or not I still need to put this down under 1 experience and say that I have held 4 positions and have minimal explanation for each position...or would it be okay to put each one in its own category and list the responsibilities of each position?

I've read on previous posts that we need to group all similar experiences into the same entry but I'm worried that I don't have enough room to explain the purpose of it. Should I just put down the overall goal of the organization and then list the positions I have held? I'm at a loss for words. They make this area so vague that it's frustrating. I've called AACOMAS too about guidance for a few other things and the same guy has been working there for the past 3 days and doesn't seem to be too enthusiastic about life or his job :laugh: plus he actually gave me the wrong information about transcripts. I figured it out when I read the entire application instruction booklet. Not cool

Any feedback would be much appreciated
 
I held multiple positions in my fraternity, top being VP (also secretary plus a number of committee chair positions). I just listed it as VP and under the heading explained my other roles and what the experience taught me. Finally, I put that I helped lead them to Greek organization of the year award one year. That's what I did, anyway.
 
I know this ? has pro been answered but can't find a real answer, so i'm puttin it out there.

When applying to DO schools through aacomas, should we request our committee from our school through interfolio?
And does this get sent in with the primary or the secondary? thanks
 
Letters are usually sent with secondaries. You can use interfolio or virtual evals, my pick would be interfolio
 
Holy Crap I had no idea you could be verified before you "Submit" your app!! This is awesome...

So how long does it take to be released to schools if I am already verified?
 
After you are verified, it only lists all of your coursework - where does it say your calculated sGPA and cGPA?

So confused. Any help greatly appreciated. 🙂
 
gumbyj said:
Holy Crap I had no idea you could be verified before you "Submit" your app!! This is awesome...

So how long does it take to be released to schools if I am already verified?
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They send out new apps every Tuesday to schools I believe (after June 1st)? From there it depends when the schools download the new apps as to when they recieve them.
 
gumbyj said:
After you are verified, it only lists all of your coursework - where does it say your calculated sGPA and cGPA?

So confused. Any help greatly appreciated. 🙂
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You won't see that until after they have been reviewed by the schools, then you will get to see each application that was sent to each individual school.
 
Can you have your transcripts sent in to aacomas before you submit your application. wont they be like "who is this, we don't have this person on file" and just lose the transcripts?
 
DrRichand1 said:
Can you have your transcripts sent in to aacomas before you submit your application. wont they be like "who is this, we don't have this person on file" and just lose the transcripts?
Click to expand...

When you register and have an application and ID # you can send your transcripts. I sent mine a month ago just to get it out of the way and entered my coursework last week and today I check and was magically "Verified". I didn't know you could be pre-verified, I was just trying to get it out of the way =)

So now that I am already verified - is there any downside to submitting my application right after my MCAT (July 6) or even the day after scores come out because I will not have to wait for it to be verified?

Any help with that question is greatly appreciated
 
dntke1518 said:
You won't see that until after they have been reviewed by the schools, then you will get to see each application that was sent to each individual school.
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My AACOMAS shows my sGPA and cGPA and I'm not verified :O
 
MedPR said:
My AACOMAS shows my sGPA and cGPA and I'm not verified :O
Click to expand...

After you get verified it takes the GPA away (bizarre...). AACOMAS made a few slight changes so I was just wondering what the new GPA was, but I can just calculate it myself.
 
Yeah it does take it away, so if you have entered anything wrong (classifying it as science or something) then you get to find out when you get to see what was released to the schools.
 
nirvikalpa said:
My college does the same, and assigns a grade of 'LB,' so I am really stuck as to what to put in for AACOMAS as well. So far I just input the main course and left out the lab segment. I am going to have to email them.
Click to expand...

I was instructed (via a reply from AACOMAS staff) to list my labs as a Pass/Fail course.

Anyone get the same verdict? This seems strange to me, since my college assigns a grade 'LB' and now I don't know to put P as the grade or LB... 🙄
 
should i put down shadowing hours of a podiatrist down on my application as well? or can only shadowing doctors of MD or DO qualify?
 
AACOMAS Instructions said:
If you have attended the same institution at different timeframes or received multiple degrees at the same institution, only one transcript is needed as long as it contains all of the coursework taken at the institution. However you MUST notify AACOMAS.
Click to expand...

Anyone do this that can give me a heads up how they 'notified AACOMAS' that the transcript contains the coursework information for both timeframes?
 
Getting nervous about a transcript. It was sent by my school on the 21st (monday) and it still hasn't been received by AACOMAS. Am I prematurely worried?

If they aren't received by Tuesday next week I'm just going to pay the $12 to have them overnighted. I should've just done that in the first place 🙁
 
Hello All,
My first question is, I have some classes which I took that are not the core prereq classes (orgo etc). These include astronomy and statistics. I did not do well, however, I do not have the money/time to take the classes at a large university (my ugrad was UCLA). I was wondering how much it would hurt to take these classes either online or at a community college.

Second question, how closely do the classes have to be to each other - the community college offers the class as "descriptive astronomy 201-Descriptive survey of major astronomical facts, concepts, and relationships,
starting with the solar system and extending to stars, galaxies, and cosmogonies. Writing assignments, as
appropriate to the discipline, are part of the course." whereas the class I had in ugrad was "astronomy 101 - it deals with understanding the history of astronomy, orbits, gravitation, optics and the properties of light and matter."

What do you guys think?
 
I'd wouldn't retake the pre-reqs online, but I'm unsure about how badly taking them at a CC will look.

You can e-mail AACOMAS and ask them directly if the classes will count as retakes. I don't think they'll guarantee that the classes will be considered identical, but it's probably better than what anyone here can offer.
 
So from what you wrote, I understand that are you trying to replace your stats and astronomy grades with your original grades by retaking them at a community college.

I believe you need to ask your school directly if they can replace the grades for these classes. Some schools will only let you replace grades if you take the exact same class over again (at the same institution). It shouldn't matter if you take the course online as long as it is at the same facility and is the same course number. If it is an online course, it won't show that on your transcript anyway.

However, something to consider, when you apply to DO school they will still be able to see your original grade for these courses. Its more important for the schools that you have done well in your core science classes.

You can even consider taking another stats and astronomy class that is harder (higher level) and work hard to get an A in these to show that you are a good student and doing poor in those easier classes was just a fluke.

However, if you took the original Stats and Astronomy class at UCLA, it isn't going to help much if you now decide to take those same classes at a community college, even if you get a good grade because community colleges are generally considered to offer easier classes. It could look like you tried to get the easy way out.
 
So, when I am looking at osteopathic school acceptance stats posted on their website, is it safe to assume that they are referencing the AACOMAS gpa and not the pre-AACOMAS gpa?
Does anyone know specific schools that have their gpa stats posted in AACOMAS fashion?
 
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