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*~*~* Official AACOMAS Questions Thread 2016-2017 *~*~*
Started by AlteredScale
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More details the better. I would suggest listing organization as "University of X- Student Government Association". Unless you exceed the character limit then go with the SGA
I have all of my letters of interfolio; how do I submit them to aacomas? Can you PM me?
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Sorry, meant to clarify as the actual "title", not the key descriptor but I think your point still stands.
When you submit your app, if you submit to a throwaway school do you only click "pay for this program" or do you just pay for all of your programs?
Do you think it is would be harmful if I used "&" instead of "and" in the description of the experiences section. I know it is not considered professional, but do ADCOMS understand that there is not much space to explain an experience, and therefore will be more lenient?
Finally verified and GPAs are 1 point higher then expected. Worth the wait I guess.
Can you share the answer to this? I have like 10 letters on Interfolio. Of course I don't want all 10 to go to every single school I am applying to. Do I just send letters to specific schools once I get secondaries? Or do we need to go through AACOMAS?
No. You can add new experiences but cannot edit any that were submitted initially.
Okay, so I'm a scared newbie to AACOM and filling out the application I have a ton of questions that I can't find answers too... Help?
What else is "Continuing Education?" Like, does anyone have a list? I'm an EMT so I have that and CPR, but I can't really think of anything else that falls under that category.
Also, the website says to only list experiences from college, but I started volunteering as an EMT my senior year of high school. Should I not bother with those hours for that year? Technically I started December 2012 and I was in my first semester of college Fall 2013. The one year is hundreds of hours so I'm sort of bummed if they don't count. I was taking dual enrollment college classes my senior year of high school, so is that a possible round-about way to list that those hours since I was technically in college?
Thanks!
What else is "Continuing Education?" Like, does anyone have a list? I'm an EMT so I have that and CPR, but I can't really think of anything else that falls under that category.
Also, the website says to only list experiences from college, but I started volunteering as an EMT my senior year of high school. Should I not bother with those hours for that year? Technically I started December 2012 and I was in my first semester of college Fall 2013. The one year is hundreds of hours so I'm sort of bummed if they don't count. I was taking dual enrollment college classes my senior year of high school, so is that a possible round-about way to list that those hours since I was technically in college?
Thanks!
When I called AACOMAS and asked about Continuing Education, the lady told me it is any class you took that is NOT accredited by an institution, an example could be if you are a CNA and took CEU for work.
Regarding your EMT, to be honest you have a tricky situation. I would call AACOMAS to get the best answer since you have a unique situation. (617) 612-2889 Open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm EST.
If you just have that one school selected, then you just pay for that program. If you are thinking of just submitting with that one throwaway school so you can get verified, I would suggest NOT paying for all your programs.
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Hold up. You mean you went from something like a 3.x to a 4.x? That's awesome!
whoops, more like a .1 increase.
Still good, better than it going down.
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Lol all these people keep saying that their GPAs are increasing upon verification. Why is that? I think I've calculated my GPAs correctly but now I'm not so sure haha
A = 4.0 A- = 3.7 B+ = 3.3 B= 3.0 B- = 2.7 C+ = 2.3 C = 2.0 etc
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A = 4.0 A- = 3.7 B+ = 3.3 B= 3.0 B- = 2.7 C+ = 2.3 C = 2.0 etc
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Could be a couple of things:
-Retaking classes
-Doing poor in math classes, which don't count towards your sGPA
-General miscalculation
-Rounding up (3.6992--->3.70)
Gotcha. Pretty sure I've taken those things into account, but who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
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I'm 99% sure it is because people perhaps did not factor in 3.0 semester credit hours vs 4.0 semester hours right. Alternatively, and certainly in my case, I am identifying several courses that I believe fall under sGPA but could be viewed differently by AACOMAS (i.e. I took "Research Ethics" which I labled as Bioethics, but AACOMAS may label it as Medical Ethics and then it does not count towards sGPA). We are talking a .5 difference or greater in GPA for me. I am sure others are in a similar predicament.
Quick question regarding continuing education courses - I am currently certified as a medical assistant and phlebotomist through the state, but I never actually took a course for it through a college/university or anything... rather, I was trained through my clinical research job. Should I still include it and just upload a picture of my certification?
Btw, how long is it taking people to get verified right now?
My calculator give me the closest to the verified, which is 3.53. Then it verified into 3.54 haha.
I submitted on 5/27 and was verified on 6/1 (2 business days)
sGPA or cGPA
Is there a way to print the entire app? Or see an overview of the entire app? I just submitted a few days ago, but have yet to be verified. Will there be a print/view the completed app once it is verified?
cGPA 3.54, sGPA is 3.36
You can go to the school you applied to and click download pdf. It shows your whole app and its like 30 pages long to print.
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For those of you doing a "throwaway" school. What schools did you decide? Right now I'm thinking of MSUCOM because of the high OOS tuition. But then again i don't want to just waste $190 for a school i wouldn't even go to if i got in... (not looking for 320 k debt after med school). Should i change to LMU? Or BCOM? Thoughts? Because with that 190 i could save an use it towards secondaries or more schools...
What's the point of having s throwaway school? Isn't your app locked after you submit to your first school?
Yeah. But the throwaway school is for individuals waiting on the upcoming MCAT score to determine if they want to apply to more or less schools or more top tier or less top tier schools. Just a way to get verified essentially.
Oo got it. Thanks.
The cycle is approaching. Good luck to everyone.
wait so if i get my mcat score tomorrow, should i do a throwaway? i thought you need a throwaway school in order to get verified? i think i am missing something here..
If you get your score tomorrow, then No. Just wait and submit tomorrow.
Ok, so to ask perhaps the obvious:
Once I get my MCAT score, I can submit right away without a "throwaway" school and AACOMAS will verify it--until they verify it I cannot apply to any schools during the interim. Correct?
Also, I just got a paper accepted for publication. It has not been issued yet though, so should I put this under my achievement, but not add any additional information? It's a pretty gray area--I don't really know what to do.
.
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You should.
I have one presentation in the FPL programs with my group. It was not published but it still listed as achievement
Transcript arrived today...now pending verification. Anyone know how long it takes to verify? I know AACOMAS states it can take 4-6 weeks but some people on here claimed they were verified super quick...
Mine was one business day but i submitted in May. Maybe 3-4 days now
Holy smokes that's quick. Yeah I'm thinking maybe a week or so. I also updated my achievements section as I was invited to present one of my abstracts as an oral presentation. I'm thinking that'll probably slow things down, but hopefully not too much.
Do most schools send secondaries via emails? Or are they on their websites??
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I believe they will send you a link through emails to their secondary application with log-in information.
I would guess most would be science actually. Depends on the course name as well. Like a sociology course for your minor would not be science for instance.
Did anyone not fill their descriptions all the way to 600? Mine usually are 500 or 300 characters long...
I did 500 then stop cause no space available for more.
Thanks for the reply. The courses had the prefix HLT in them, I took about 5: Personal Health, Intro to Public Health, Health behavior Theory & Practice, Health of Elementary children, and Health Promotion & Disease Prevention.
If they count as "other science" that would be very helpful for my S.GPA.
