*~*~* Official AACOMAS Questions Thread 2013-2014 *~*~*

BU Medical Sciences
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I'm not totally sure how I should write the descriptions for the ECs.

Should we just use bulletpoints and highlight the main things we did or should we do it in sentences/paragraph?

And do we need to write how it has helped us or do we only need to write about what we actually did? thanks
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1. I did a two day class to get certified as a phlebotomy tech. It was not through a university and therefore there is no transcript. Where should I put this information?

2. Should I list volunteer activity from high school? Such as being a camp counselor for 5th graders.

3. Do I put contact information for each activity in the description?
 
Does it look good if I had direct patient contact but in a PT setting?
 
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wjs010 said:
Does it look good if I had direct patient contact but in a PT setting?
Click to expand...

Somewhat related, but...where do we list our shadowing experiences?

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Trust me, I have tried searching forums for this and their engine didn't work well with it.

Is there a difference between a W and a WF? I dropped a class with a W, which did NOT affect my GPA. Does this just mean a "Withdrawn" and not a WF when inputting the grade?
 
I work as a contract CNA, sometimes I work 40 hrs a week sometimes I work 0 hours a week. I try to type in varies in the space but the s would not fit. I put open for now.

I am thinking abt calling the agencies I work for to see what they say I should put down.


Also I volunteer at a nursing home for only about 20 hrs and it was so inconsistent I am thinking about not listing it, especially since I do work as a geriatric CNA so the schools will know I have geriatric experience. The only problem is that on my uni transcripts my volunteer hrs are recorded so what I have on my app is going to be less thna what on my transcripts but I will tell schools that the volunteer events were random so I did not list them, for example one was volunteering at a food bank, I only did it once.

Also when I went to college I had Bright Futures, which is an award given to all FL public school h.s. grads that meet the standards, should I list it?
 
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Anicetus said:
Trust me, I have tried searching forums for this and their engine didn't work well with it.

Is there a difference between a W and a WF? I dropped a class with a W, which did NOT affect my GPA. Does this just mean a "Withdrawn" and not a WF when inputting the grade?
Click to expand...

Its just a Withdrawn for you.

WF is given at some schools indicating that the person withdrew after the withdrawal deadline, but before the final exam, indicating a withdrawal failure, which basically means the person failed the course, but withdrew from it before the end. That grade counts as a failure to AACOMAS.

maybemed2013 said:
I work as a contract CNA, sometimes I work 40 hrs a week sometimes I work 0 hours a week. I try to type in varies in the space but the s would not fit. I put open for now.

I am thinking abt calling the agencies I work for to see what they say I should put down.


Also I volunteer at a nursing home for only about 20 hrs and it was so inconsistent I am thinking about not listing it, especially since I do work as a geriatric CNA so the schools will know I have geriatric experience. The only problem is that on my uni transcripts my volunteer hrs are recorded so what I have on my app is going to be less thna what on my transcripts but I will tell schools that the volunteer events were random so I did not list them, for example one was volunteering at a food bank, I only did it once.

Also when I went to college I had Bright Futures, which is an award given to all FL public school h.s. grads that meet the standards, should I list it?
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You are thinking too much into this. Just average your hours or mention the variation in the description. You have room for both weekly hours and total, so even if you put 40 hrs, the total will be less than than 40 hrs per week, indicating that it varied. Just fill that info out to the best of your ability. Round and average the hours.

As far as including the nursing home thing, if you think the experience was valuable, you might as well add it, it wouldn't hurt. Honestly, I don't really know why you wouldn't unless you were only there for 1 week.

As for the award, I would list it. Again, why not? There is a space for it afterall.
 
taylorishxc said:
1. I did a two day class to get certified as a phlebotomy tech. It was not through a university and therefore there is no transcript. Where should I put this information?

2. Should I list volunteer activity from high school? Such as being a camp counselor for 5th graders.

3. Do I put contact information for each activity in the description?
Click to expand...

1. Clinical experience/ECs

2. Unless you also did it in college, I wouldn't list it.

3. Its really up to you. The likelihood that anyone will contact that person is very small, plus many secondaries ask you to rewrite ECs and some include a spot for a contact person.

wjs010 said:
Does it look good if I had direct patient contact but in a PT setting?
Click to expand...

I think it does, and it came up at all of my interviews.

Shinobiz11 said:
Somewhat related, but...where do we list our shadowing experiences?

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Click to expand...

This is kind of a gray area on here, but I believe most say that physician shadowing is an EC. A work experience would be something that is paid.
 
AACOMAS asked me if I wanted to transfer all my course work from last app cycle. I said NO, because I needed to update that section with the current and future summer classes I am taking. DId I do this the wrong way? that is, is it going to take longer to get verified? I am having doubts as to whether I should have clicked on YES and then add the course work??? :confused:
 
EDIT: Nevermind - It's in the AACOMAS instructions
 
Also I took a class withdrew and got the W removed but my total credits still include the credit from this class, do I put the class down and say I was exempt from it?
 
We list all of our shadowing experiences in one description right?
 
When inputting work experience, how do you take into account varying hours? I worked full time(40 hours) during the 4 months of summer, and then part time (10 hours) during the 8 month school year. Should I have two separate items, or indicate that in the description?
 
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maybemed2013 said:
Also I took a class withdrew and got the W removed but my total credits still include the credit from this class, do I put the class down and say I was exempt from it?
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If the W was removed, I don't think it should show up as attempted credits. I would talk to someone at your undergrad school about that.


Buckeye1992 said:
We list all of our shadowing experiences in one description right?
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The more concise the better. If you just want to list them or briefly describe them, I'd put them in one section.


advair250 said:
When inputting work experience, how do you take into account varying hours? I worked full time(40 hours) during the 4 months of summer, and then part time (10 hours) during the 8 month school year. Should I have two separate items, or indicate that in the description?
Click to expand...
Find the average and put that in. I don't think the schools will care about small details like that.

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To brakk026 , I talk to my undergrad advisor about it before I graduated last summer and she told me that it will remained under the total attempt of credits I attempted but it just willn't factor into my GPA. I will probably ask another advisor when I get the chance.
 
Damn it, I forgot to add the reason why I want to become a D.O. now I have to alter my P.S. statement.

My P.S. statement was about my grandmother and her health struggles and her doctor was a M.D., she use to have a D.O. but the doctor died after being my grandmother doctor for only about 4 months but what I did notice is that she was the only doctor that instead of drugging my grandmother to treat her diabetes, high bp, cholesterol, etc she wanted to change my grandmother lifestyle habits. I could write about this but the D.O. only treated my grandmother for 4 months back in 2009 I believe and unfortunately passed away.

AND I think it would be weird to tell the committee this is why I want to be a D.O. especially since we changed my grandmother doctor to a M.D. , I think if I was so impressed by the D.O. philosophy I would of made sure my grandmother got a D.O. again, but than again I am not the one in charge of picking my grandmother doctor.


I need help I really don't have a reason why D.O.?

I like the holistic approach but I know M.D.s are going holistic as well.
 
maybemed2013 said:
Damn it, I forgot to add the reason why I want to become a D.O. now I have to alter my P.S. statement.

My P.S. statement was about my grandmother and her health struggles and her doctor was a M.D., she use to have a D.O. but the doctor died after being my grandmother doctor for only about 4 months but what I did notice is that she was the only doctor that instead of drugging my grandmother to treat her diabetes, high bp, cholesterol, etc she wanted to change my grandmother lifestyle habits. I could write about this but the D.O. only treated my grandmother for 4 months back in 2009 I believe and unfortunately passed away.

AND I think it would be weird to tell the committee this is why I want to be a D.O. especially since we changed my grandmother doctor to a M.D. , I think if I was so impressed by the D.O. philosophy I would of made sure my grandmother got a D.O. again, but than again I am not the one in charge of picking my grandmother doctor.


I need help I really don't have a reason why D.O.?

I like the holistic approach but I know M.D.s are going holistic as well.
Click to expand...

You dont need to include this in your PS. You'll have plenty of time to speak to that question in secondaries and interviews.

Its ok to include it in the PS, but some people would even say keep your PS more broad, as in, why medicine in general and who you are as a person.

As for why DO, you need to read and think more. Dont ask others why...try this for a quick read:


http://www.aacom.org/resources/bookstore/Documents/Brief-Guide-to-OME_Final.pdf
 
maybemed2013 said:
Damn it, I forgot to add the reason why I want to become a D.O. now I have to alter my P.S. statement.

My P.S. statement was about my grandmother and her health struggles and her doctor was a M.D., she use to have a D.O. but the doctor died after being my grandmother doctor for only about 4 months but what I did notice is that she was the only doctor that instead of drugging my grandmother to treat her diabetes, high bp, cholesterol, etc she wanted to change my grandmother lifestyle habits. I could write about this but the D.O. only treated my grandmother for 4 months back in 2009 I believe and unfortunately passed away.

AND I think it would be weird to tell the committee this is why I want to be a D.O. especially since we changed my grandmother doctor to a M.D. , I think if I was so impressed by the D.O. philosophy I would of made sure my grandmother got a D.O. again, but than again I am not the one in charge of picking my grandmother doctor.


I need help I really don't have a reason why D.O.?

I like the holistic approach but I know M.D.s are going holistic as well.
Click to expand...


Just talk about why you want to be a doctor, don't necessarily need to do why DO. That can be addressed in secondaries. Try not to bash MD vs DO in your PS..cause DO's dont magically stop over prescribing medicine and drugs ect.
 
Thanks HalfListic , because the only thing I could think of was me wanting to be a primary care physician and how most D.O.s are primary care physicians.
 
maybemed2013 said:
To brakk026 , I talk to my undergrad advisor about it before I graduated last summer and she told me that it will remained under the total attempt of credits I attempted but it just willn't factor into my GPA. I will probably ask another advisor when I get the chance.
Click to expand...
Does the course show up on your transcript? If it doesn't, that's really weird. If it does, just list it as a W on AACOMAS.
 
It does not show up on my transcripts but I have 4 more credits under attempt hours than in my passed, earned and gpa hours.
 
maybemed2013 said:
It does not show up on my transcripts but I have 4 more credits under attempt hours than in my passed, earned and gpa hours.
Click to expand...

That's strange. I would just not list it and see if AACOMAS says anything about your total credits. Meanwhile, talk to your school and try to get it fixed in case AACOMAS asks you about it. There's no reason for something not on your transcript to be affecting your credits like that. :confused:

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maybemed2013 said:
It does not show up on my transcripts but I have 4 more credits under attempt hours than in my passed, earned and gpa hours.
Click to expand...

I agree with brakk026, don't list it. I doubt they will even notice the extra credits in attempts. If anything, listing it and it not being on your transcripts will confuse them and may cause an unnecessary delay.
 
For ECs, should we be selective in what we put down? I was very heavily involved in different organizations, so I don't want to miss anything important, but at the same time don't want to make my primary dauntingly long..thoughts?
 
SFU said:
For ECs, should we be selective in what we put down? I was very heavily involved in different organizations, so I don't want to miss anything important, but at the same time don't want to make my primary dauntingly long..thoughts?
Click to expand...

I would overlap certain things. Like say you were on the executive committee of some different organizations, you could list them under "leadership roles", and then list the organization, the position, the years involved, etc. That being said, if you have one that you felt was really valuable and affected your life, I would talk about it separately.
 
hallowmann said:
I would overlap certain things. Like say you were on the executive committee of some different organizations, you could list them under "leadership roles", and then list the organization, the position, the years involved, etc. That being said, if you have one that you felt was really valuable and affected your life, I would talk about it separately.
Click to expand...


Hmm, but at the same time wouldn't that be underselling yourself too? I guess what I will do, is for significant leadership roles (i.e. 100 hours and above) have individual items, and then for smaller ones(and smaller 20-30 hour community involvements) start combining things. Thanks!
 
SFU said:
Hmm, but at the same time wouldn't that be underselling yourself too? I guess what I will do, is for significant leadership roles (i.e. 100 hours and above) have individual items, and then for smaller ones(and smaller 20-30 hour community involvements) start combining things. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's basically what I meant :).
 
When is the earliest we can submit transcripts for verification to AACOMAS? May or after June 1st?
 
When entering ECs and work experience is it best to just lay out objectively what it entailed or elaborate some (i.e., what was gained from it or how it was meaningful)?

Example: which is better A or B

A: I ran participants in studies in a social psychology lab aimed at exploring existential motives related to the self and self-meaning. Duties included planning and organizing studies with the primary investigator and graduate assistant, setting-up the lab, coding data, troubleshooting, greeting, briefing, and debriefing participants

B: I ran participants in studies in a social psychology lab aimed at exploring existential motives related to the self and self-meaning. Duties included planning and organizing studies with the primary investigator and graduate assistant, setting-up the lab, coding data, troubleshooting, greeting, briefing, and debriefing participants. Working as a research assistant, I greatly valued being able to continue to learn and explore in greater detail topics which caught my interest in class. I enjoyed being able to problem solve by applying concepts covered in my research methods and social psychology courses and actively extending my education beyond the classroom. Through this experience I discovered how much I not only appreciated, but enjoyed research and would like to continue to be involved in it as I continue my education and into my career.

(B is kind of long, ****ally written, and not exactly what I would write but it demonstrates the point)
 
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I'm filling out my coursework right now, and I have a question as to what category a few of my classes fall under.

My sophomore year I took Psychopathology course. Some may argue that a class like this can fall under the science category. I have it listed under behavioral science, but I just want to make sure I have it under the right category.

Also, my junior year I was a TA for an upper-level psych stats course. I have that listed under the math category.

What do you all think? Are the two classes listed under the right categories?
 
ISUBird100 said:
I'm filling out my coursework right now, and I have a question as to what category a few of my classes fall under.

My sophomore year I took Psychopathology course. Some may argue that a class like this can fall under the science category. I have it listed under behavioral science, but I just want to make sure I have it under the right category.

Also, my junior year I was a TA for an upper-level psych stats course. I have that listed under the math category.

What do you all think? Are the two classes listed under the right categories?
Click to expand...

That's how I put those classes on AMCAS last year and there weren't any issues, so that should be correct, unless the psychopathology course was super neurbio heavy, then you may be ablemake an argument for it being bio.
 
TXKnight said:
Thank you both, but I think there's a misunderstanding somewhere:laugh:

I am tempted to submit one of my transcripts now, but I don't want it to be rejected...so is it May or June?
Click to expand...

They are both correct. You can submit your transcripts when the app is open (i.e. in May) and you have a transcript request form. That being said, verification or processing will not occur with the transcripts until after you submit your app, which is on or after June 1st.

To clarify, your original question was when can you submit the transcripts for verification, hence the two responses. Technically, it will not be use for verification until after June 1st, but you can submit them whenever you have a transcript request form, in May.
 
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WillburCobb said:
When entering ECs and work experience is it best to just lay out objectively what it entailed or elaborate some (i.e., what was gained from it or how it was meaningful)?

Example: which is better A or B

A: I ran participants in studies in a social psychology lab aimed at exploring existential motives related to the self and self-meaning. Duties included planning and organizing studies with the primary investigator and graduate assistant, setting-up the lab, coding data, troubleshooting, greeting, briefing, and debriefing participants

B: I ran participants in studies in a social psychology lab aimed at exploring existential motives related to the self and self-meaning. Duties included planning and organizing studies with the primary investigator and graduate assistant, setting-up the lab, coding data, troubleshooting, greeting, briefing, and debriefing participants. Working as a research assistant, I greatly valued being able to continue to learn and explore in greater detail topics which caught my interest in class. I enjoyed being able to problem solve by applying concepts covered in my research methods and social psychology courses and actively extending my education beyond the classroom. Through this experience I discovered how much I not only appreciated, but enjoyed research and would like to continue to be involved in it as I continue my education and into my career.

(B is kind of long, ****ally written, and not exactly what I would write but it demonstrates the point)
Click to expand...
It's really up to you and you'll find different opinions on this. Personally, I think the more concise, the better.
 
Just to point out, on the EC's, the number of hours and average hours per week dont have a * beside it, so I assume you can actually just put the total hours if you want, and no put hours per week.
 
SFU said:
Just to point out, on the EC's, the number of hours and average hours per week dont have a * beside it, so I assume you can actually just put the total hours if you want, and no put hours per week.
Click to expand...

That's correct. Technically, you can leave both blank, but I would put something for at least one of them.
 
For physician shadowing when we put it in the EC section, what would we list as our "position" and "organization" if we list all of the experiences together? I shadowed different doctors from different organizations, as most of you probably did as well.
 
drcollete said:
For physician shadowing when we put it in the EC section, what would we list as our "position" and "organization" if we list all of the experiences together? I shadowed different doctors from different organizations, as most of you probably did as well.
Click to expand...

I just put "Various" when I made a section like that.

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One of the colleges I attended didn't show up on AACOMAS' list, how much extra time do you think it will take them to confirm it is accredited and all that jazz? Will they do that only once I submit, or when they receive my transcripts(well before June 1st). I added the college, and the coursework

Anyone ever have to deal with this?
 
Does anyone know if our transcripts are accepted by AACOMAS without our AACOMAS ID#? The application instructions don't seem to mention it as requirement. Any insight is much appreciated.
 
DarkMatter0 said:
Does anyone know if our transcripts are accepted by AACOMAS without our AACOMAS ID#? The application instructions don't seem to mention it as requirement. Any insight is much appreciated.
Click to expand...

It says sending it with it would make the process faster, but you can send without the transcript request form, All they really have to do is look up your name.
 
I feel really stupid right now. What the heck do they mean by Guardians?
 
hallowmann said:
1. Clinical experience/ECs

2. Unless you also did it in college, I wouldn't list it.

3. Its really up to you. The likelihood that anyone will contact that person is very small, plus many secondaries ask you to rewrite ECs and some include a spot for a contact person.



I think it does, and it came up at all of my interviews.



This is kind of a gray area on here, but I believe most say that physician shadowing is an EC. A work experience would be something that is paid.
Click to expand...

How did you address shadowing in PR? Did they seem to like the direct contact? I graduated in kinesiology and was required to do an intern in PT. I have over 200 hours. How did you make it to where they don't start thinking you want to be a PT. I don't want to give them the wrong ideas and I do NOT want to be a PT! Thanks bub
 
austin4ski said:
But it seems like you have to write someone, I don't think it lets you leave it blank, so would you just pick your favorite aunt?
Click to expand...

Just put "No answer" for the line with the asterick.
 
Question on replacement:
First took:
Organic 1: B- 4 credits
Organic 2: C+ 4 credits
Organic Lab: B 2 credits

Retake:
Organic 1: 5 credits
Organic 2: 5 credits

Both included a lab as part of the 5 credits, and not an additional class. Would my lab get replaced too, or would my original 4 credits just get turned into the 5 credits?
 
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