*~*~* Official AACOMAS Questions Thread 2016-2017 *~*~*

[medschoolplease123]

For those of you who had AP credit, what did you select as your "term?" Okay so I have AP credit coming into college, so would that be considered a "Fall" term or the "Interim?"

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[medschoolplease123]

Also, if I got credit for my class (English 1) based off of my ACT score would I still enter that?

 

[Scrubs101]

for those of you who selected "MSUCOM" as your primary school when asked when you first started the application, does your start term say fall or summer? Mine says summer 2016... curious as to what everyone else has.

MSUCOMs term starts earlier than everywhere else, I believed they start Gross Anatomy in June. Might be a glitch though because shouldn't it say summer 2017 then?


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[Anxious Affect]

Is anyone else's transcript entry section going PAINFULLY slow? The rest of the app is incredibly fast but I cannot even enter my courses

 

[Scrubs101]

Is anyone else's transcript entry section going PAINFULLY slow? The rest of the app is incredibly fast but I cannot even enter my courses

+1

I felt like the more I entered the slower the page got, but like severelyyyyyyy


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[Anxious Affect]

+1

I felt like the more I entered the slower the page got, but like severelyyyyyyy

Is there anything we can do? I literally have 30 more courses to add (My MPH is in progress), and each one takes up to 20 minutes. I have spent hours trying to add these courses and have lost all patience. I was thinking about calling them tomorrow… It is actually depressing when I am literally considering only applying to allopathic schools solely because of this website

 

[dramatrauma]

No longer allowing grade replacement from what I've been told.

Source?

 

[Labrat07]

Can you add more than 6 LOR for aacoma??? I didn't know and I haven't added my work LOR/volunteer LOR in there. They're a big part of my app.
3 sciences
1 nonscience
1 md
1 DO

 

[BelieveMeChile]

Source?

Why would this be the case if you're still told to mark retakes?


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[dramatrauma]

Why would this be the case if you're still told to mark retakes?


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Exactly what I was thinking. AACOMAS wouldn't have just arbitrarily cancelled retakes without considerable (at least a few years') notice. Was just curious where the original poster came up with such hogwash.

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Just food for thought for those of you submitting early to get transcripts verified but won't have an MCAT score until June or later... I ended up using LECOM... This is because it's a school I'm genuinely interested in but also when they came to my school for a pre-professional school fair they basically said the only thing they really care about is gpa as long as your MCAT isn't catastrophic. So I figured maybe I'd even get a secondary while waiting for my MCAT score if they're cool with my gpa and ECs. That was my theory behind it anyways.


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[medschoolplease123]

Just food for thought for those of you submitting early to get transcripts verified but won't have an MCAT score until June or later... I ended up using LECOM... This is because it's a school I'm genuinely interested in but also when they came to my school for a pre-professional school fair they basically said the only thing they really care about is gpa as long as your MCAT isn't catastrophic. So I figured maybe I'd even get a secondary while waiting for my MCAT score if they're cool with my gpa and ECs. That was my theory behind it anyways.


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I used MSUCOM because of the realllyyy high OOS tuition. But i mean i can see myself liking lecom especially since they have that AIS index thing for act scores. Is there a way to change the original selection you made when you first started your app to a different school? Also what do you mean catastrophic? Sub 500 catastrophic?

 

[nkafeel]

Why would this be the case if you're still told to mark retakes?


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my sister spoke with accomas. she was told she can only do grade replacement if the classes were retaken at the same institution and were recalculated by the school.

 

[Scrubs101]

my sister spoke with accomas. she was told she can only do grade replacement if the classes were retaken at the same institution and were recalculated by the school.

By any chance do you know the context in which your sister posed her question?
From what I know.

This is only true in the case of academic updates after you have already verified, or currently in the case of people that have re-uploaded their previous application. You can still retake your classes anywhere as long as the course name matches up(and I think credits but I'm not sure on that).

Also your school gpa isn't the gpa AACOMAS uses, AACOMAS composes all of your transcripts and grades from all institutions that you have attended and received a grade at and calculates it themselves.


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[NecrotizingFasciitis]

I used MSUCOM because of the realllyyy high OOS tuition. But i mean i can see myself liking lecom especially since they have that AIS index thing for act scores. Is there a way to change the original selection you made when you first started your app to a different school? Also what do you mean catastrophic? Sub 500 catastrophic?

I may have used "catastrophic" a bit lightly.. She didn't give me a number, but yeah it seemed like if you were above a 500 and you had a decent gpa you'd at least get a look. MSUCOM is a good choice though if you're OOS. I was considering a school in Mississippi that I heard had high in state bias before I went with LECOM.

 

[medschoolplease123]

I may have used "catastrophic" a bit lightly.. She didn't give me a number, but yeah it seemed like if you were above a 500 and you had a decent gpa you'd at least get a look. MSUCOM is a good choice though if you're OOS. I was considering a school in Mississippi that I heard had high in state bias before I went with LECOM.

Yeah see since I would actually go to LECOM (assuming I get accepted) I want to give myself the best possible option at an acceptance. That way I can use my new MCAT score to give me a greater chance rather than just using my old score and hope that they give me a look. I would rather just apply to MSUCOM as my throwaway school and actually focus on LECOM. Who knows, we shall see... 🙂

 

[slvharm]

First time applicant here! Just so I understand it correctly. You can apply to one school as a throw away to get verification, but after you do this, will all other schools still be $35?

Also, is it necessary to mail the AACOMAS transcript request form to the universities so that they can mail it with the official transcripts, or has anyone just requested their transcripts to be sent without doing that with success?

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

First time applicant here! Just so I understand it correctly. You can apply to one school as a throw away to get verification, but after you do this, will all other schools still be $35?

Also, is it necessary to mail the AACOMAS transcript request form to the universities so that they can mail it with the official transcripts, or has anyone just requested their transcripts to be sent without doing that with success?

I requested both my transcripts to AACOMAS through my schools without the transcript request and it was fine. Using the request is the safe method though I guess.


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[DingDongD]

Do you send your mcat scores now or after you submit your app? Also, when is the first day to submit app?

 

[statlin98]

Just food for thought for those of you submitting early to get transcripts verified but won't have an MCAT score until June or later... I ended up using LECOM... This is because it's a school I'm genuinely interested in but also when they came to my school for a pre-professional school fair they basically said the only thing they really care about is gpa as long as your MCAT isn't catastrophic. So I figured maybe I'd even get a secondary while waiting for my MCAT score if they're cool with my gpa and ECs. That was my theory behind it anyways.


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I'm taking this approach - my MCAT score will released in July (June 18 test). Since you seem to be knowledgeable and receptive to answering people's questions, I have one for you. Transcripts typically take how long to get verified? So if I submitted by say June 1st, would I be verified in time for receiving my score in mid July? I haven't actually gotten far enough into the application to see this, but I assume the desirable result is to be "verified", then when your MCAT scores are released to the schools of your choosing, there's basically just a submit button that needs to be pressed. Am I getting this right?

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

I'm taking this approach - my MCAT score will released in July (June 18 test). Since you seem to be knowledgeable and receptive to answering people's questions, I have one for you. Transcripts typically take how long to get verified? So if I submitted by say June 1st, would I be verified in time for receiving my score in mid July? I haven't actually gotten far enough into the application to see this, but I assume the desirable result is to be "verified", then when your MCAT scores are released to the schools of your choosing, there's basically just a submit button that needs to be pressed. Am I getting this right?

From my understanding yes. And this is my first time through the cycle too, I'm just going off of reading around here. As for how long it takes to get verified, AACOMAS says to allow for 4 weeks. I looked through the thread from last year of verification times and it seemed like in the beginning of the cycle (like in May-ish) it was only taking AACOMAS a week or so. I submitted last week Friday..

I'll update on here when I'm verified so people can get an idea of how long it's taking right now.


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[medschoolplease123]

Wait i thought you couldn't even submit until June 1st?

From my understanding yes. And this is my first time through the cycle too, I'm just going off of reading around here. As for how long it takes to get verified, AACOMAS says to allow for 4 weeks. I looked through the thread from last year of verification times and it seemed like in the beginning of the cycle (like in May-ish) it was only taking AACOMAS a week or so. I submitted last week Friday..

I'll update on here when I'm verified so people can get an idea of how long it's taking right now.


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[medschoolplease123]

From my understanding yes. And this is my first time through the cycle too, I'm just going off of reading around here. As for how long it takes to get verified, AACOMAS says to allow for 4 weeks. I looked through the thread from last year of verification times and it seemed like in the beginning of the cycle (like in May-ish) it was only taking AACOMAS a week or so. I submitted last week Friday..

I'll update on here when I'm verified so people can get an idea of how long it's taking right now.


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Do you mean you submitted your transcripts or the entire application?

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Do you mean you submitted your transcripts or the entire application?

I think so? I received an e-mail when I submitted saying, "Congratulations! You have e-submitted your application." or something like that. It also says they are verifying my transcripts right now.

Wait i thought you couldn't even submit until June 1st?

Not sure. I'll let you know what my application says when it becomes verified.

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Just got verified!

Submitted: 05/13/06

 

[medschoolplease123]

DANG! LOL. And here I thought you could not submit the application until June haha. Or is that for AAMC? Also, does verified mean that you just submitted your app or that you submitted your app and you have both the transcripts and letters of recommendations sent to AACOMAS?

Just got verified!

Submitted: 05/13/06

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

DANG! LOL. And here I thought you could not submit the application until June haha. Or is that for AAMC? Also, does verified mean that you just submitted your app or that you submitted your app and you have both the transcripts and letters of recommendations sent to AACOMAS?

Just transcripts, I'm doing a committee letter and I guess my school doesn't even start writing those until June.. So I think it's application submission.

I respond fast because in between MCAT study sessions I just get on here and read about how much everybody hates the CARS section because CARS has become the bane of my existence and it makes me feel better that others are sharing my frustration.

 

[medschoolplease123]

I share everyone's hatred towards CARS. For those of you applying, do you guys have a DO shadowing experience/DO letter? I only have MD shadowing and a MD letter or rec...

 

[Scrubs101]

Just transcripts, I'm doing a committee letter and I guess my school doesn't even start writing those until June.. So I think it's application submission.

I respond fast because in between MCAT study sessions I just get on here and read about how much everybody hates the CARS section because CARS has become the bane of my existence and it makes me feel better that others are sharing my frustration.

I'm not sure if you're doing Kaplan or not but to chime in on the hatred of CARS and checking between studying. I'm in the midst of FL 4, and there was 3 WHOLE cars passages I literally did not understand the meaning of. One specifically made me feel dumber.

Update: Kicked A$$ on everything except cars......


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[Scrubs101]

I share everyone's hatred towards CARS. For those of you applying, do you guys have a DO shadowing experience/DO letter? I only have MD shadowing and a MD letter or rec...

I have DO shadowing, currently in progress of shadowing another. Hoping to get a letter from at least one.


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[Doctor_Strange]

This is the most up-to-date site for course classificaitons correct: http://help.unicas.com:8888/aacomas...-history-2/aacomas-course-subjects/index.html ?

Also, did anynone find out if Medical Terminology with the prefix HSC classifies as other science or not? In addition, I took a course called "Issues in Medicine" via the Medical Humanities department, could that somehow be considered science? Would it hurt to do so and see if they accept it?

Just got verified!

Submitted: 05/13/06

Sorry, so just to confirm: AACOMAS will verify your transcripts and calculate the respective GPAs even if you need to send in more LORs?

Edit: Stupid question, after my junior year I took courses at another institution--is that the beginning of my senior year, or end of junior year?

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Sorry, so just to confirm: AACOMAS will verify your transcripts and calculate the respective GPAs even if you need to send in more LORs?

Edit: Stupid question, after my junior year I took courses at another institution--is that the beginning of my senior year, or end of junior year?

Yes. I didn't turn in LORs and I got verified. My spa's aren't up yet, but I think it is because they closed like right when I got verified.

I'm not sure about the second question.

 

[Scrubs101]

This is the most up-to-date site for course classificaitons correct: http://help.unicas.com:8888/aacomas...-history-2/aacomas-course-subjects/index.html ?

Also, did anynone find out if Medical Terminology with the prefix HSC classifies as other science or not? In addition, I took a course called "Issues in Medicine" via the Medical Humanities department, could that somehow be considered science? Would it hurt to do so and see if they accept it?



Sorry, so just to confirm: AACOMAS will verify your transcripts and calculate the respective GPAs even if you need to send in more LORs?

Edit: Stupid question, after my junior year I took courses at another institution--is that the beginning of my senior year, or end of junior year?

I did it by credits, if I had 90+ credits going INTO that semester I put senior. 60+ into I put junior, not sure of the accuracy of this though.


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[medschoolplease123]

When do you guys think is a good date to submit the app.

 

[Doctor_Strange]

I did it by credits, if I had 90+ credits going INTO that semester I put senior. 60+ into I put junior, not sure of the accuracy of this though.


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Ahh, my school goes by a unit system as in I needed 32 units to graduate. I'll give the AACOMAS people a call and update you guys on it.

 

[Doctor_Strange]

1) My transcript lists my labs as 0 credits since the actual lab grade was incorporated into the 1.0 credit course itself--should I list this as 0 or not even list this? Otherwise I will be putting down a zero credit lab course with a F--it may not count on my GPA but it looks odd nonetheless...

2) My school allows me to P/F coursework without any hit to GPA, so I replaced a C+ with a P and my transcript lists it as a 1 unit with no numerical grade--should this been listed? I do not want to accidently input an F grade since I essentially received no grade but my school gave me the credit, but that may be separate from AACOMAS..

 

[katattack21]

Hello! I have a couple of questions for my application.

1. I wanted clarification since I wanted to send my application next week but I did not add any LORs yet. So even after I submit and get verified can I still add a new evaluator because on the website it says I can edit but nothing about adding a new one?

2. I spent my first year of college working at a retail store and I don't know if it is worth putting on experiences. I mean it was my first job, but any suggestions?

 

[katattack21]

Also! I spent a year doing research for academic credit but after graduating college, I continued voluntarily just so we could keep up with the research progress. Should I list them separately? I mean technically I could list my professor as the contact person the first year and the PI of the lab the second year, but the job duties are essentially the same?

 

[cwillman044]

Listing high school volunteer hours on AACOMAS, yay or nay? Also, are you guys putting significant hobbies or just work related things on your apps?

 

[slvharm]

Question ya'll. Apply now with low cGPA (3.0-3.2) or wait until I complete my summer courses that will bump it up by .15? I wouldn't be turning in my app until August if I waited. I am scared about applying now and then the schools only seeing my lower GPA and not seeing my newer GPA. I just do not want to be screened out. I am also scared about possibly being too late if I apply in August. Thoughts? I heard the academic update in Sept is brutal.

 

[Phoodie]

Hey everyone,

For those who opened an application last cycle just to see what an app looked like and got listed as a "Reapplicant" by AACOMAS., this is what they said with regards to how to deal with this issue:

"Thank you for contacting AACOMAS. You're listed as a re-applicant through
AACOMAS because you created an application before, you can contact the programs
you're applying to and let them know this but it shouldn't be a big deal as you
never submitted the application."

From my interpretation, your reapplicant status might be specific to the schools you apply to and not the AACOMAS DO school application cycle. What are your guys' thoughts?

I contacted AACOMAS via phone regarding this issue because I'm in the same boat. The representative said that my AACOMAS account is listed as a reapplicant account but programs will not be able to see that unless I have applied to them in the past. No need to notify each one individually.

 

[ojf135]

LOR question: My application was verified today and I was about to pay for a school when it said, "Once you pay & submit your application, you will not be able to edit specific portions of your application." One of the portions that will be locked is the evaluations portion. I can still add LOR requests, right? I just can't delete the LORs already submitted? I feel like this is the case, because LORs are needed with secondaries. Any thoughts?

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

LOR question: My application was verified today and I was about to pay for a school when it said, "Once you pay & submit your application, you will not be able to edit specific portions of your application." One of the portions that will be locked is the evaluations portion. I can still add LOR requests, right? I just can't delete the LORs already submitted? I feel like this is the case, because LORs are needed with secondaries. Any thoughts?

That's right.

 

[DrH2O]

I just started my app process. Should I send my transcripts now or wait until my app is complete?

 

[odysseus827]

Hi everyone. An AACOMAS question for you here.

So I am a post-bacc student. I retook my Physics I, Physics, II, Organic I and Organic II. as a post bac and did quite well at Cleveland state university. My original undergrad was SUNY Geneseo. I marked the courses as repeated when filling out my app at SUNY Geneseo but was not able to mark the repeated course at cleveland state university. I tried quite hard, but because SUNY Geneseo was my "primary institution where I earned my degree" there was no way for me to mark the classes at Cleveland state as repeated when verifying my transcripts.

Today my application was e-verified and much to my horror it had my science GPA as 3.1ish. When it should have been 3.3-3.4 ish with the repeats. I emailed the AACOMAS customer service people and explained that I was not able to mark the classes at Cleveland State and that I tried. They told me this:

""Unfortunately, if the repeated courses taken across schools were not correctly
reported prior to submission, they may not be changed at this point, now that
the application has been verified."


What should I do here? I have worked extremely hard the last 1.5 years to work full time getting healthcare experience and to bust my butt replacing poor classes with As. The reality is my application is only competitive with the replaced grades. I can't imagine waiting another full year because of a clerical error, especially because I don't feel it was my fault.

Has anyone ever encountered a similar situation like this? The repeated classes were exactly the same in content and the whole idea was to have them replaced for this application.

Please help.

 

[Doctor_Strange]

Hi everyone. An AACOMAS question for you here.

So I am a post-bacc student. I retook my Physics I, Physics, II, Organic I and Organic II. as a post bac and did quite well at Cleveland state university. My original undergrad was SUNY Geneseo. I marked the courses as repeated when filling out my app at SUNY Geneseo but was not able to mark the repeated course at cleveland state university. I tried quite hard, but because SUNY Geneseo was my "primary institution where I earned my degree" there was no way for me to mark the classes at Cleveland state as repeated when verifying my transcripts.

Today my application was e-verified and much to my horror it had my science GPA as 3.1ish. When it should have been 3.3-3.4 ish with the repeats. I emailed the AACOMAS customer service people and explained that I was not able to mark the classes at Cleveland State and that I tried. They told me this:

""Unfortunately, if the repeated courses taken across schools were not correctly
reported prior to submission, they may not be changed at this point, now that
the application has been verified."


What should I do here? I have worked extremely hard the last 1.5 years to work full time getting healthcare experience and to bust my butt replacing poor classes with As. The reality is my application is only competitive with the replaced grades. I can't imagine waiting another full year because of a clerical error, especially because I don't feel it was my fault.

Has anyone ever encountered a similar situation like this? The repeated classes were exactly the same in content and the whole idea was to have them replaced for this application.

Please help.

May be able to alter this during the Academic Update period, first one is in September I believe.

 

[odysseus827]

May be able to alter this during the Academic Update period, first one is in September I believe.

To further clarify:

When I was verifying my transcripts. I went through and marked all of the class I repeated at SUNY Geneseo correctly. It's clear I knew how to do this because I marked the repeated Geneseo classes correctly. What I'm trying to say is that during the "verification and review" part of entering transcripts, there was never an option to mark the Cleveland State transcript. The green verify and review button only showed my the SUNY Geneseo transcript. I tried restarting and everything after hitting the green button I only was shown the SUNY Geneseo transcripts. I don't know if there was some sort of malfunction or something. I don't feel its fair to say that there is nothing that can be done because I sat there for close to 1 hour trying to figure out how to mark the Cleveland state transcripts. There just was not an option to do so.

I'm kinda freaking out over this. My MCAT is solid and I feel I have an okay chance if I apply early. I'm going to try calling them tomorrow and explain I'm just really worried

 

[Phoodie]

To further clarify:

When I was verifying my transcripts. I went through and marked all of the class I repeated at SUNY Geneseo correctly. It's clear I knew how to do this because I marked the repeated Geneseo classes correctly. What I'm trying to say is that during the "verification and review" part of entering transcripts, there was never an option to mark the Cleveland State transcript. The green verify and review button only showed my the SUNY Geneseo transcript. I tried restarting and everything after hitting the green button I only was shown the SUNY Geneseo transcripts. I don't know if there was some sort of malfunction or something. I don't feel its fair to say that there is nothing that can be done because I sat there for close to 1 hour trying to figure out how to mark the Cleveland state transcripts. There just was not an option to do so.

I'm kinda freaking out over this. My MCAT is solid and I feel I have an okay chance if I apply early. I'm going to try calling them tomorrow and explain I'm just really worried

This seems like a sticky situation that might be able to be resolved if you give AACOMAS a call in the morning. I'm just speculating here but I don't see why they wouldn't be able to just re-verify you if this was a technical error. You're not late in the application cycle by any means so that's a plus.

P.S. Go Knights!
P.S.S. The fountain will be restored soon enough

 

[medschoolplease123]

Everyone says they are submitting apps, but I thought you couldn't even submit the app until June? Or is that for AAMC (MD) apps? Also if we can submit the apps right now, what would be considered submitting the app "early"?

 

[Doctor_Strange]

Everyone says they are submitting apps, but I thought you couldn't even submit the app until June? Or is that for AAMC (MD) apps? Also if we can submit the apps right now, what would be considered submitting the app "early"?

Called AACOMAS today: you can submit but everything must be compelted except your LOR. In other words, only submit if the only thing left is your LOR still on the way to be received and processed.