*~*~* Official AACOMAS Questions Thread 2015-2016 *~*~*

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I was accepted for the fee waiver and e-submitted my app yesterday. However, I noticed that when paying for the programs, the fee waiver was not applied. I reread the fee waiver acceptance email and it said "...this means that when you e-submit your application, some or all of your program fees will automatically be credited." At the time I paid, it was not applied so I assumed that they would automatically deduct the price of three schools and charge the remaining cost on my credit card. Well, I just checked my credit card activity online and they SURELY did not apply the fee waiver. This is soooo frustrating. Anyone else e-submit with the fee waiver? Did you see the fee waiver apply to the total cost before paying????
 
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oceanman said:
I was accepted for the fee waiver and e-submitted my app yesterday. However, I noticed that when paying for the programs, the fee waiver was not applied. I reread the fee waiver acceptance email and it said "...this means that when you e-submit your application, some or all of your program fees will automatically be credited." At the time I paid, it was not applied so I assumed that they would automatically deduct the price of three schools and charge the remaining cost on my credit card. Well, I just checked my credit card activity online and they SURELY did not apply the fee waiver. This is soooo frustrating. Anyone else e-submit with the fee waiver? Did you see the fee waiver apply to the total cost before paying????
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I had the same issue for a couple of days when I tried submitting. It must be a glitch in their system because I went on today to e-submit my app and the credit appeared when I started adding schools.
 
jl80 said:
I had the same issue for a couple of days when I tried submitting. It must be a glitch in their system because I went on today to e-submit my app and the credit appeared when I started adding schools.
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Wow. I already e-submitted and it already charged me the full cost without the fee waiver credit -.- I thought it would credit me when charging my card, but it didn't.
 
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oceanman said:
Wow. I already e-submitted and it already charged me the full cost without the fee waiver credit -.- I thought it would credit me when charging my card, but it didn't.
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Yeah, no; I called them yesterday about it. It was a glitch. They told me to wait until it was fixed. It was fixed by this morning.
 
Where can I find the official AACOMAS instruction manual for the 2015-2016 cycle? I've looked around, but can't find it anywhere. Can someone link me? I found the 2015 version, but it's a bit different since they changed the website since the last cycle.

Thanks!
 
Hi Guys, I have a question about course entry in AACOMAS. How important is it to have the official transcript when we enter the courses? Do we have to match every single word in AACOMAS to our official transcript? I entered my courses based on my unofficial transcripts. How likely will they send back my app and ask me to correct it?
 
ERWINSHRODINGER said:
Hi Guys, I have a question about course entry in AACOMAS. How important is it to have the official transcript when we enter the courses? Do we have to match every single word in AACOMAS to our official transcript? I entered my courses based on my unofficial transcripts. How likely will they send back my app and ask me to correct it?
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as long as its the same course name and abbreviation, as well as same grade then you'll be fine
 
hey guys, I just reviewed my transcripts, and finalized them, entered all the colleges, however, when I click on my selected schools prerequisites, there is a message that says:
You opted not to enter any colleges attended, you do not have to enter any prerequisites.
What is this??
 
some people have said it earlier that the application asks for evaluations just for the verificiation process, but i thought we don't need evaluations to be in at this point. Can someone shed some light on this ? ...
 
Does anyone know if you can request a letter of recommendation after you submit? I know it says you can change one after submitting but anyway to create a new one? I'm ready to submit but haven't heard back from my employer about a letter yet. I'm sure she'll write one but I don't want to request in the app until she gets back to me. I was thinking if you can't create a new one I'll just put her name then just my email until she gets back to me then change it?
 
lyana said:
hey guys, I just reviewed my transcripts, and finalized them, entered all the colleges, however, when I click on my selected schools prerequisites, there is a message that says:
You opted not to enter any colleges attended, you do not have to enter any prerequisites.
What is this??
Click to expand...
That happened to me and it was because I didn't "finalize" my course work. Make sure you don't skip any of the steps or click the back bitten when you do the process or it won't finalize. Go back to the section where you filled out your classes and do the finalization process. You can still edit stuff after you do this and re-finalize it.
 
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Nitpicky transcript question: I took general chemistry at a school closer to home after freshman year. On the transcript for that school, it's only listed as CHEM 150/160 with 4 credits awarded to each. On my primary university transcript, my school accepted the transfer credits as CHEM 160/162 lecture for 3 credits and CHEM 161/165 as 1 credit labs. Should I put them in this way in my primary university course work or should classes that are transferred just be in the coursework of the university where you earned them? I'm concerned about entering pre-reqs later on for schools that list "Inorganic Chemistry with Lab". Thanks!
 
Yea just put them in where you initially earned them. I am assuming the 4 credits included Lab right? From my understanding you are just entering the "pre-reqs" for the school to help them out but they make the final decision on the pre-reqs after evaluation. I may be wrong on this though.

Hope this helps!! Trust me it sucks entering in all of those courses and applying each pre-req.
 
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Thank you vilraj! Answers my question perfectly. The 4 credits does include the lab.

Another question on the pre-reqs: Is everyone selecting courses beyond the introductory ones? I've just been clicking gen bio and gen chem with their respective labs but should I select each biology and each chemistry course?

Thanks! This thread is saving me a lot of headaches!
 
@restlessdriven - no problem.

Yea I was wondering that same question. Depending on the school they say the "Minimum Credits" when you select pre-reqs and some wanted you to have more than just gen bio. I want to say VCOM actually asks you for specific upper level bio courses.

I just selected the regular pre-reqs they asked for given the information above
 
I am on the verge of submitting......but I am still waiting on my LORs to come in, i will send the letters to aacomas via interfolio. Just to be sure, I can add evaluations after I submit right ? (I know this quesiton has been asked many times, but the the screen says the evaluations section will be locked upon submission). Currently my evaluation section is blank.
 
How to put the right amount of hours for experience?

For example, I have volunteered in an organization for 200 hours in total. I started from Oct 2009 - December 2012 , which is 165 weeks.

Since I can only enter the whole number, NOT the half number (like 0.5) as the hours per week, should I input 100 weeks and 2 hours per week (that will give the total of 200 hours) ? I assumed that it does not make sense if I put 200 weeks and 1 hour per week, since there is only 165 weeks between October 2009 and December 2012.

Another way is to change the starting time and ending time of my volunteering. For example, I can change the starting time in October 2009 to Feb 2009, and there are 200 weeks between Feb 2009 and Dec 2012. Though I am not sure if I shoud change the starting time and ending time, especially my volunteer record are documented.

Help, Anyone? Thanks in advance!
 
For you guys who group multiple shadowing experience into one entry, whose contact information do you put? The physician you spend most time shadowing?
 
21341234 said:
I am on the verge of submitting......but I am still waiting on my LORs to come in, i will send the letters to aacomas via interfolio. Just to be sure, I can add evaluations after I submit right ? (I know this quesiton has been asked many times, but the the screen says the evaluations section will be locked upon submission). Currently my evaluation section is blank.
Click to expand...
I thought that you can't send evals to AACOMAS through Interfolio? And that you have to send them to each individual school through Interfolio. Is there something I'm missing? This is what I was told when I called the other week.
 
Thoracic Bean said:
I thought that you can't send evals to AACOMAS through Interfolio? And that you have to send them to each individual school through Interfolio. Is there something I'm missing? This is what I was told when I called the other week.
Click to expand...

Someone has mentioned this method earlier in this post. If you have a letter stored in Interfolio. You can use a generated email address from interfolio to send your letters to AACOMAS. The problem is that most of my letters haven't come in yet...... so bascially I have to submit the app with the evaluations left blank.
 
For the Pre-req section, if you repeated a course, should you put in the first attempt and the second attempt to fulfill the requirement?

Thanks
 
Also

1) Does it look bad if you don't have a supervisor for one of your activities because you attended a conference?

2) How do I indicate a withdraw on my transcript entry?

3) Did you get a notification when AAMC sent in your MCAT scores to AACOMAS?
 
oceanman said:
Wow. I already e-submitted and it already charged me the full cost without the fee waiver credit -.- I thought it would credit me when charging my card, but it didn't.
Click to expand...

Just wondering when you submitted your application for the FAP/ how long it took to be approved?
 
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lyana said:
hey guys, I just reviewed my transcripts, and finalized them, entered all the colleges, however, when I click on my selected schools prerequisites, there is a message that says:
You opted not to enter any colleges attended, you do not have to enter any prerequisites.
What is this??
Click to expand...

I had the same issue (even though I did complete everything correctly). I called AACOMAS customer service, and they said it was a bug and they are working on a fix.
 
Is there a way to view the whole application (like TMDSAS) to see if there are any errors in the achievements and experiences sections - its really laborious to go in a check EVERY SINGLE experience!
 
21341234 said:
Someone has mentioned this method earlier in this post. If you have a letter stored in Interfolio. You can use a generated email address from interfolio to send your letters to AACOMAS. The problem is that most of my letters haven't come in yet...... so bascially I have to submit the app with the evaluations left blank.
Click to expand...
How do you go about generating the email through Interfolio?
 
leslieknope2015 said:
Also

1) Does it look bad if you don't have a supervisor for one of your activities because you attended a conference?

2) How do I indicate a withdraw on my transcript entry?

3) Did you get a notification when AAMC sent in your MCAT scores to AACOMAS?
Click to expand...

1) I don't have a contact person for 2 volunteer positions so I put "Volunteer Services Office" and a phone number. Perhaps find the contact info of a conference coordinator if you don't feel comfortable leaving it blank. As far as I remembered contact info was not "required".

2) I am not entirely sure on this one.

3) I did not get a notification when AAMC sent my scores. In fact, I don't believe I even see my scores on AACOMAS at the moment.
 
How do I know if they have my transcript? I sent it on the same day as my AMCAS transcript over two weeks ago. AMCAS emailed a confirmation of receipt. AACOMAS hasn't said anything and nothing seems to have changed on my account. Anybody have any luck?
 
SCooFS said:
How do I know if they have my transcript? I sent it on the same day as my AMCAS transcript over two weeks ago. AMCAS emailed a confirmation of receipt. AACOMAS hasn't said anything and nothing seems to have changed on my account. Anybody have any luck?
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Same situation, just waiting on transcript to say received-nothing so far.
 
Here's what I did when mine were delayed:

Called the undergrad institution- I had to request transcripts from 3 and one of them lost (never received) my transcript request.

Double check the address you used for AACOMAS- they changed it this year but the old one is still floating around online. This caused an additional problem for me because my undergrad university uses an electronic service to send transcripts. Well that service still had the old AACOMAS address on file so it was sent to the wrong place and had to be resent after I called and figured out that's what had happened
 
Stephanopolous said:
Here's what I did when mine were delayed:

Called the undergrad institution- I had to request transcripts from 3 and one of them lost (never received) my transcript request.

Double check the address you used for AACOMAS- they changed it this year but the old one is still floating around online. This caused an additional problem for me because my undergrad university uses an electronic service to send transcripts. Well that service still had the old AACOMAS address on file so it was sent to the wrong place and had to be resent after I called and figured out that's what had happened
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Thanks will check these steps out tomorrow just to make sure .
 
It's very frustrating. I feel like for almost every portion of the app I've had to call multiple times for different issues. I just recently learned that now my letters, although they state "complete" may actually be corrupted. I'll have to call again tomorrow about that.
 
SCooFS said:
How do I know if they have my transcript? I sent it on the same day as my AMCAS transcript over two weeks ago. AMCAS emailed a confirmation of receipt. AACOMAS hasn't said anything and nothing seems to have changed on my account. Anybody have any luck?
Click to expand...
You should get a notification on AACOMAS that says they received your transcript. I'm still waiting on one of my transcripts that I sent over 2 weeks ago. I will probably go to my school and have them resend it just in case tomorrow.
 
Should Experience descriptions be fairly concise and simply a description, or should we be using the full 600 characters to describe the experience as well as what we learned/gained from it?

I feel as though answers to this question tend to vary, is there a right or wrong way of doing it?
 
Stephanopolous said:
It's very frustrating. I feel like for almost every portion of the app I've had to call multiple times for different issues. I just recently learned that now my letters, although they state "complete" may actually be corrupted. I'll have to call again tomorrow about that.
Click to expand...
I know what you mean man, had to resend a letter since it wasn't on letterhead .
 
cuwhenucme said:
How to put the right amount of hours for experience?

For example, I have volunteered in an organization for 200 hours in total. I started from Oct 2009 - December 2012 , which is 165 weeks.

Since I can only enter the whole number, NOT the half number (like 0.5) as the hours per week, should I input 100 weeks and 2 hours per week (that will give the total of 200 hours) ? I assumed that it does not make sense if I put 200 weeks and 1 hour per week, since there is only 165 weeks between October 2009 and December 2012.

Another way is to change the starting time and ending time of my volunteering. For example, I can change the starting time in October 2009 to Feb 2009, and there are 200 weeks between Feb 2009 and Dec 2012. Though I am not sure if I shoud change the starting time and ending time, especially my volunteer record are documented.

Help, Anyone? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...


Could anyone help me with my question? Thanks in advance!
 
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Thoracic Bean said:
I would do 100 weeks, 2 hrs/wk. I estimated mine, trying to modify the hours per week and be as accurate as possible with the number of weeks.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much. Do you modify the starting and ending time?

The record says that I volunteered for 200 hours in total, from Oct 2009 - December 2012 , which is 165 weeks.

Now, I input 100 weeks and 2 hours per week that will give the total of 200 hours, which is actual amount of hours.

Should I also change to starting time from Oct 2009 to Nov 2010 to make it 100 weeks in total? Otherwise there are 165 weeks from Oct 2009 to Dec. 2012, which does not make sense, right?

All my volunteering record is documented so I am trying to be as actual as I could. Thank you for your help!
 
blkgrnblkylw said:
Should Experience descriptions be fairly concise and simply a description, or should we be using the full 600 characters to describe the experience as well as what we learned/gained from it?

I feel as though answers to this question tend to vary, is there a right or wrong way of doing it?
Click to expand...

Any opinions on this?
 
From what I have gathered, there is no right or wrong way.

I would pick a style and then stick with it for your application. This way your application has a consistent style.

I personally chose to provide a short description followed by a blurb on what I learned from the experience.
 
NineIron said:
I'd request transcripts to be sent right now even if you haven't submitted as it's another part of the application. Aacomas will verify the transcripts/application by mid June I think? But yea without a transcript they can't match your inputted scores with your official transcripts
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So I requested my transcripts to be sent to AACOMAS already but I only have it as being sent to AACOMAS but not specifically the AACOMAS Transcript Processing Center that is outlined on the transcript request form, will that be an issue? I have the P.O. Box and other information correct.
 
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