Official AMCAS 2003 Questions Page

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I have a question about the secondary experiences. I have described my experiences resume style, without a subject and beginning with the verb-eg, Volunteered at a clinic. Is this OK? It seems so repetitive to always write I.
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One more question, if anyone knows the answer. I have already gotten a grade for a class I took this semester, but it won't be on the transcript I just sent out to AMCAS. Is it OK to include the grade in my course work section? It is a final grade, but it won't be on my transcript until July. It will help my GPA, so I'd like to include it.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Galt:
•One more question, if anyone knows the answer. I have already gotten a grade for a class I took this semester, but it won't be on the transcript I just sent out to AMCAS. Is it OK to include the grade in my course work section? It is a final grade, but it won't be on my transcript until July. It will help my GPA, so I'd like to include it.•••••First of all, if you want to include this grade, you HAVE to include all the other grades from the other classes you took with this class.

Second of all, if you want to include it, then the transcripts you sent WILL NOT suffice if you want them to verify your application ASAP

your choices
a) include all the classes from this term and send your transcripts in July again and they will be able to verify your application but not until at least August which will be at a disadvantage. You want it verified ASAP

b) Put IP (in progress) now and the transcripts you sent will suffice and your application will probably be verified much quicker. (of course then it wont help you with your GPA)

I would go with b)

If you put down a grade you HAVE TO HAVE A TRANSCRIPT to back it up

hope that helps
 
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Just a quick question:
so for publications---
you guys are just listing the reference and authors.. but NOT putting the ABSTRACT in the description field?

and also no one responded to the first date we can submit.. I've heard June 5th and also I've heard June 8th... just wondering if anyone has heard a specific date.
thanks guys!
dave
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by laviddee:
•Just a quick question:
so for publications---
you guys are just listing the reference and authors.. but NOT putting the ABSTRACT in the description field?

and also no one responded to the first date we can submit.. I've heard June 5th and also I've heard June 8th... just wondering if anyone has heard a specific date.
thanks guys!
dave•••••NO! DO NOT put the abstract in the description field. Write general info, journal, date, authors, in fact, just do a bibliographic citation in the description field and refer to which research experience it relates to. Talk generally about the research under a separate "research experience" category

As for the start date, check the AAMC website. The last day to submit for some schools 10/15 for others is 12/31. But send it as early as possible.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by laviddee:
•Just a quick question:
so for publications---
you guys are just listing the reference and authors.. but NOT putting the ABSTRACT in the description field?

and also no one responded to the first date we can submit.. I've heard June 5th and also I've heard June 8th... just wondering if anyone has heard a specific date.
thanks guys!
dave•••••wow, your abstract must be really small to fit in 510 characters! I tried to put my abstract in, and it's way longer than the allotted space. I am going to put just the citation for my papers.

On another note, do you guys think we can BOLD stuff in the description section?? I tried to do it (BOLD my name in the authors list) and it didn't work. :( Any idea?
Tweetie
 
ok, another silly question for you guys but it's important to ask--
I took Cell Biology in my senior year, which was also a WRITING class (basically, we got Writing credit for it since we did "Biology Journalism" kinda stuff in the class). My transcript says "W-Cell Biology" for course name, and i am concerned AMCAS might think I actually WITHDREW from it. However, if they look in the "grade" section on the transcipt, I have a 3.4 in the class.
Do you think that on AMCAS, it's important for me to say "W-Cell Biology" just as the transcript says it, or do I explain it as "W-Cell Biology (W = writing credit)" on AMCAS?

On a similar note, is it ok for me to fully spell out a class abbreviated such as "FNDMNTLS PSYCH RESEARCH" as "Fundamentals of Psych Research." I am thinking some of these abbreviations are pretty tough to make out, and I hope AD COMS will be able to decipher them. What to do? What to do???
 
Hi,

Does anyone know for sure whether we should enter AP credits as courses under the fall semester of freshman year? Also, should the "Academic Status" for each of these AP courses be "Freshman" or "High School"? Someone earlier in this forum said that the AMCAS instructions indicate we should put "freshman"... though I can't find this statement in the instructions?.

Thanks
 
Hello everyone, I have a question about post-secondary experience descriptions. What exactly do I write here? Do I write what exactly I did or what I did along with what I got out of the experience? :confused: *me so lost* :confused:
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Soda pop:
•Hello everyone, I have a question about post-secondary experience descriptions. What exactly do I write here? Do I write what exactly I did or what I did along with what I got out of the experience? :confused: *me so lost* :confused: •••••Just write a description of the experience. Save what you got out of it for your personal statement and/or interviews. As I recall there's not that much space anyway.

Welcome to SDN, and good luck with your application!! :)
 
First of all, I appreciate everyone who is answering questions. It is very nice of you to help out.

My questions are:

1. I know that most schools require 6 credits (two semesters) of English. I have heard that they usually accept "writing intensive" courses that aren't always English classes. I am wondering how they know that these classes are "writing intensive". Does AMCAS notate this somewhere? Also, the class I took was under Comparative Literature at my school. There is no category for this on the AMCAS application, so should I put "other", or maybe English Language & Literature, so they know it was a writing class?

2. A few other people have asked, but I haven't seen this question answered. Should AP classes be listed under first semester Freshman year? I though this was the case, but someone earlier in this thread said that they were listing them under the summer before the first year.

Thanks!
 
do you mean AP CREDIT or AP CLASSES???

I took tons of Advanced Placement CLASSES but decided not to take AP CREDIT for any of them. I am not including any of them on my application. I think you mean AP credit, that you actually had to take a test for and got credit for it if you passed it. Right?
 
Yes, I mean AP credit. It is listed on my transcript as credit for the specific classes that I was able to skip.
 
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Yes, they should be noted on AMCAS. You have to pick "high school" though as when the class was taken (instead of freshman) since that's when you actually physically took it. Also, there's a little "check mark" you have to make for "AP" courses on the same page. Know that you have to list the class as it showed up on your original transcript, not on the one that the credits got forwarded on to. Hope it helps!
Tweetie
 
Thanks for the reply SMW! :)
 
Brentwood boy, I just sent you a PM. Please take a look at it. Thank you.
 
Hey!

I'm having a real bad time trying to figure this whole application out. When I input my summer quarter classes I have them in chronological order to all the other quarters, but when I "print application" it appears as if I took the summer quarter classes a year later. Which is more important the course work list or the "print application?" Thanks!!!

UCLA Paratrooper
 
Hey Guys,

This is a stupid questions but under " CREDIT HOURS" does that mean how many units that class was ?

I was on the quarter system so do I need to contact my university to convert the quarter units to hours ? Please help
 
which part of the application are you looking at? I believe AMCAS converts automatically, atleast it did for mine. Same goes with the grades.
 
Credit hours are the same as unit hours. AP Credit should be noted as Freshman Fall (as stated in the AMCAS application guidelines).

One question: has hayone figured out about the +/- thing? I definitely have not, and I emailed them, but they haven't emailed me back yet. I entered a B+ for one of my classes, and nothing came up as my AMCAS grade, but 3 hours of supplemental credit came up. This isn't affecting my GPA at all either (which might be a good thing...). Please help!!!
 
My +/- came out fine.
Do you have the pass/fail box checked?
Maybe amcas thinks your school is on an A-F with nothing in between scale.
What school do you attend? Maybe another SDNer from the same school can tell you if they're having the same prob.

wouldn't it be nice if AMCAS responded in a timely fashion?
 
I listed 33 AP credit hours under my freshman year. But they don't show up as any kind of credit when I print my application out. I would think they'd be under AP or supplimental hours or something.
Has this happened to anyone else? Any advice?
 
What did you guys put for the organization name if you did research under a professor at your university?
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Tweetie_bird:
•which part of the application are you looking at? I believe AMCAS converts automatically, atleast it did for mine. Same goes with the grades.•••••Mine didn't automatically convert. Only my grades did. So if I take a 4 unit class.., do I put 4 under credit hours??

Utterly confused
 
1 qtr unit = 2/3 sem unit

so multiply the qtr units by 2/3
when amcas translated my units, these were the typical units, as amcas rounded them:

5 qtr units = 3.3 credit hours/sem units
4 = 2.73
3 = 2
2 = 1.3
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Soda pop:
•What did you guys put for the organization name if you did research under a professor at your university?•••••If you did research with the guy, he probably has a specific project name with which he goes to get funding for his research. So for example, he may work for XY project/resarch unit at ABC University. Make sense?

If that doesn't work (he doesn't have a name for a project/reseach unit he works with), Org name becomes the Dept and Name of School which you were at. :)
Tweetie
 
Got it! Thank you Tweetie_Bird :D
 
I have tutored several students separately. So should I list each students that I tutored separately in the Post-secondary experience list? Or should I group them together? But if i group them together, how should I put the contact info?
 
AMCAS says to ?assign FR status to CLEP credit awarded when you first entered college.? I took a couple of CLEP tests, but not when I first entered college. I took them during my second year and so they appear on my transcript as such. Should I assign the credits as FR or SO?
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Soda pop:
•I have tutored several students separately. So should I list each students that I tutored separately in the Post-secondary experience list? Or should I group them together? But if i group them together, how should I put the contact info?•••••did you do it through a tutoring center? if so, then put down the director's name as reference.

How did you first hear about this tutoring position? Was it documented any way on any other paper. . or was it kinda "under the table.." . . ie, you advertised yourself and other students responded. If it's the latter situation, I am sorry I don't know how to answer that. But if it's through a tutoring center, put down the director's name. That's what I am doing. Good luck. :)
Tweetie
 
HELP - AMCAS won't save my secondary experiences!!!! What kinda crapolla is this? Any one have any insight? Thanks :mad:
JAMESON
 
Jameson
Are hitting save or next after you enter info. The only way I could get AMCAS to save my info in the post-sec section was to hit save after each entry. If I hit next, it wouldn't save it. Hope that helps.
 
also, anybody notice an "N/A" for end dates on PSE?
 
Under post sec experiences, for dean's list, I put that under honors etc. However, what dates should I put in, what is my position/title? What should I do? :confused:
 
I'm confused about where we submit our vision statement. I only see a place to submit the personal statement. Also, I can't find any guidelines or directions for the vision statement. I'm not really sure what AMCAS is looking for...something about what we envision our medical practice to be in 10 years?? Thanks for any and all help!!
 
There is no vision statement in this year's AMCAS bud
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by medical22:
•AMCAS says to ?assign FR status to CLEP credit awarded when you first entered college.? I took a couple of CLEP tests, but not when I first entered college. I took them during my second year and so they appear on my transcript as such. Should I assign the credits as FR or SO?•••••medical, i also took CLEP after my first year of college. on my official transcript it is listed as credit earned during the summer semester after my first year, so that is how i reported it to amcas. just assign the credits as your transcript shows them. i think that way amcas will be able to find it easier and complete the verification process.
 
Saim - I'm flustered by the same circumstance. AMCAS assumes everything is so black-and-white, where is the happy medium? So here is what I did. For title I put down student, dates I put down how long I was on the honor roll, and for hours per week I put 168 :D Oh well, I hope they understand...
Jameson
 
Thanks Gatepig, I ended up figuring it all out. I was just clicking the NEXT button, which seems logical, but not with AMCAS.
Jameson
 
my post-bac classes do not seem to be having any AMCAS conversion to them? I do'nt think they are being configured into my total GPA. Anybody having the same prob?

Tweetie
 
my post-bac classes do not seem to be having any AMCAS conversion to them? I do'nt think they are being configured into my total GPA. Anybody having the same prob?

Tweetie
 
Hey Guys; I hope you've been doing well!

I've got a couple of questions:
1) What do you do with the AP credits; I read in the instruction manual the following: "Assign High School status to college-level courses taken while you were in high school, regardless of the physical location of the college-level course." Then, I read "Assign Freshman status to Advanced Placement credit awarded when you first entered college." Just in writing this, I think I know what to do now, but would the AP credits count as "college-level work" to be placed as HS status or would it be "AP credit to be placed as FR status?"

Ok, my second question: 2) The instruction booklet states that medical schools prefer that applicants receive and review their MCAT scores prior to certifying and submitting the AMCAS applications. What do you guys think about this; would it be best to heed their advice or to go ahead and turn the application in as soon as possible?
 
For the post-secondary part....
1)should i include the summer after highschool?
2)in the descriptions, should I say what I did or more about why I liked or why its significant?
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Tweetie_bird:
•my post-bac classes do not seem to be having any AMCAS conversion to them? I do'nt think they are being configured into my total GPA. Anybody having the same prob?

Tweetie•••••Do we actually have people answering these?? I always seem to be waiting for days to get my reply. :( Anybody??
 
I'm having the same issue, Tweetie, which is really not good b/c my post-bacc classes are so much more impressive than my undergrad!! :D :D

I"m having another issue with my post-bacc classes... grad students at UNC are on a High Pass/Pass/Fail system. I got a high pass ("H" on my transcript) in all my post-bacc classes, but AMCAS won't convert my grade, even when I check the pass/fail box. Any suggestions?
 
Okay, here's a silly question...

We can use contractions in the personal statement, right? i.e., "I can't get over my writer's block" vs. "I cannot get over my writer's block".

opinions... answers... anyone...
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Yogurt the Kid:
•I've got a couple of questions:
1) What do you do with the AP credits; AP credit to be placed as FR status?"

2) The instruction booklet states that medical schools prefer that applicants receive and review their MCAT scores prior to certifying and submitting the AMCAS applications. What do you guys think about this; would it be best to heed their advice or to go ahead and turn the application in as soon as possible?•••••1 - AP credit should be with FR status (or better yet, however it's recorded in your transcript - everything you put in this section of the AMCAS is going to be verified according to your transcript - so make it as straight forward as possible)

2 - I've heard conflicting thoughts on this. I think if your GPA is really good, then you should go ahead and submit right away. If you're hoping your MCAT will compensate some for your GPA, it may be better to wait so schools will see the whole package at the same time. or, you could pay the extra $15 and get your scores early!

hope this helps!
:)
 
of course you can use contractions!!
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Sweet Tea:
•Okay, here's a silly question...

We can use contractions in the personal statement, right? i.e., "I can't get over my writer's block" vs. "I cannot get over my writer's block".

opinions... answers... anyone...•••••Nope, it's recommended that you do not (no contraction <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> ) use contractions. Here's the reason I was told (by an AD COM member on UCSF)--b/c ad coms that read your essays are from the old school, and don't like to read papers that have contractions. Anyway, just an opinion. I wouldn't take the risk.

Oh and in regard to your High Pass problem--I have no idea. I was on a 4.0 scale system. It seems as though you can leave it blank, according to AMCAS, so they can check with the school during verification process. Hey, this means less work for you!!!
 
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