Official AMCAS 2003 Questions Page

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Hey Jzzzz...
Been there, done that.
I must have deleted my school info atleast 10 times and re-entered it, but it doesn't seem to work. :rolleyes:
Lucky you, it worked for you! so atleast I know I have hope. :clap:

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for post secondary experiences, do you we write the descriptions in first person? could someone provide an example? it would totally help!
 
Org Name: Pre_med University Medical Center
Title: Medical Assistant
Hours: enough to pay my bills
Description:
assisted with patient check-in; vitals; blood draws; followed blah blah blah

OR
Description:
Helped with patient visits. Performed vital signs and did patient histories. blah blah blah.

Both ways have been done. And people from both categories have received acceptances at top notch schools. Obv they don't care HOW we write the stuff, but they do like to know WHAT we did in the most concise manner. Don't forget, they have to read hundreds of these.

My suggestion about keeping it in first person--don't do it. It saves a lot of space (characters) and allows you to write more if needed. :) Good luck.
 
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I would include it in the description. Seems pretty unique to do that and after reading hundreds of applications, reviewers like to see something different. However, be sure the website is professional.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by jst:
•Quick question, I have made a web page with links to the abstract, manuscript, etc. of a recent research project. Is it appropriate to include the web address in the brief description section, of post-secondary experiences, or should I leave it out?

Thanks in Advance!•••••actually i wouldn't, and certainly wouldn't do it if you planned on curtailing the info on the app and putting it on the website. Keep in mind that these adcoms get over 5000 apps.. i doubt they would have the time to take a break and visit a given URL.. it shows a strong effort, but i don't think you need to push it there. As regards to the 510 limit, that's a crapload of space. The most successfull applications I've seen tend to use 100-200 characters to CONCISELY state what you've done.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

-Bill
 
I agree with Polonius' comment above. Be concise.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by bruinkid:
•Hey,
I've volunteered at the ucla medical center, and have volunteered in three different departments. would I enter these as three different experiences, since all of them were very different?
If so, what would i put for the organization name?
Thanks :confused: •••••If you can't figure out that this is simply one experience, maybe you should consider another field. :)
 
Hi,

Tweetie Bird - I entered post bac information as well, but I did not have problems with the credit levels or GPA. It sounds like you may have the incorrect semester length chosen, like a trimester or something like that. That may be why 8 credits are changed to 5.2 credits. Maybe you could try re-entering the school, semester length, and grading scale.

I have UMCP entered 3 times. Once for undergrad, once for post-bac and once for grad school.
__________________________________________________

Ok, here is my new question!

As I said, I have one school listed three times. I can do 1 transcript request, right? I brought up the transcript request form, copied it to Word, and then added the 2 additional dates.

Is this OK?


Thank God we have until June 12th - I feel like I am never going to conquer this beast!

:rolleyes:
u2ecila
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by jst:
•This has probably already been addressed, but in writing post-secondary experiences, is it ok to write in the first person?

Example: I was responsible for.. My duties included.. My university, and so on. I say the words "I" and "my" alot. Is this too informal for the AAMC?•••••No, not ok. I've heard they have a special discard pile for people who do that. :)
 
I live in city of 20K, but the section i'm in is more rural. I use the mailboxes with the red flag to denote that you are sending mail. How exactly do you know what it is you are in? rural, suburban, or urban?
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Mr. H:
•I live in city of 20K, but the section i'm in is more rural. I use the mailboxes with the red flag to denote that you are sending mail. How exactly do you know what it is you are in? rural, suburban, or urban?•••••If you live IN a city or town, you're not rural. If you live ~5 miles outside of city limits, then you're rural..
 
suburban or urban?
 
Post-2ndary: Publications

What would you do if your citation for publications is more than the space allowed (510 chars). Mine is ~1290 chars. I'm a bit unwilling to disregard any one of those pubs, including the ones that are in preparation.

I've already put them in the format that's usually appeared in C.V.

RT
 
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Is "Animal Behavior" a bio class? It was listed through the bio department (we don't have a zoology dept), but c'mon... we learned why birds migrate. I'm having a hard time convincing myself it's a bio class...
 
hey guys, i have a question about semester hours. I go to a semestered school and the courses are in credits. AMCAS asked me for a conversion factor that changes credits into hours, so is a whole year credit= 6 hrs? the number of credits you need to graduate (four years) is 20, so that's 5 whole year credits a year.

Um...one more question, for my first year (1999 -2000), i took all year courses, so do I put down the year (1999) and then choose "semester year",
and then list the courses I took? What if the next year I took some year courses and some half courses? What to do???

thanks guys!!!
 
hey...i have another question. my transcript shows a mark and a letter grade, which one should I put on AMCAS?
thanks a bunch!!
 
Hey JoJo--

Doing the "semester year" thing sounds right for your year-long classes.

I had a similar problem with taking classes of different lengths at the same school at the same time. I ended up listing the time twice-- I listed all my semester classes under "spring semester", and made another category for "other time" (or however it's listed) and listed all the classes that fell into that category. So if you did it the way I did, you would make a listing for all your "semester year" classes, and then make another listing for "semester" classes, even though you took them at the same time. I hope this makes sense.

I don't know what to tell you about grades vs. marks. Not being Canadian, I thought marks and grades were the same thing... Are marks the percentage (i.e. 93)?
 
How do we know if and when AMCAS has recieved our transcripts?
 
relatively prime,
they will e-mail you when they receive your transcripts! they e-mailed me!
 
thanks sweet tea, that's how i'm doing it right now. and yes, the marks show a percentage, and then beside it, there's a letter grade. so what should I do?
and um....how come amcas doesn't convert my grade?
thanks
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Bikini Princess:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by jst:
•This has probably already been addressed, but in writing post-secondary experiences, is it ok to write in the first person?

Example: I was responsible for.. My duties included.. My university, and so on. I say the words "I" and "my" alot. Is this too informal for the AAMC?•••••No, not ok. I've heard they have a special discard pile for people who do that. :) •••••are u serious? I thought post-sec exp weren't that much of a big deal?
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by RT:
•Post-2ndary: Publications

What would you do if your citation for publications is more than the space allowed (510 chars). Mine is ~1290 chars. I'm a bit unwilling to disregard any one of those pubs, including the ones that are in preparation.

I've already put them in the format that's usually appeared in C.V.

RT•••••I am having the same issue. I think it might be best if we put down our hypotheses/observations of the paper. I don't think it should take that much space. Plus, if you leave them a bit in the dark (eg: just tell them hypotheses) it might be a good interview topic. :) Any other suggestions? :rolleyes:
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by saimabean5:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by Bikini Princess:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by jst:
•This has probably already been addressed, but in writing post-secondary experiences, is it ok to write in the first person?

Example: I was responsible for.. My duties included.. My university, and so on. I say the words "I" and "my" alot. Is this too informal for the AAMC?•••••No, not ok. I've heard they have a special discard pile for people who do that. :) •••••are u serious? I thought post-sec exp weren't that much of a big deal?•••••Yes, they are a big deal. Schools look at your total application of which EC's, honors, etc. are a big part, but the format you use to report them is not a big deal. I think the discard pile was a joke!
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Tweetie_bird:
[QB]I took an 8 credit EMT class at a local community college in which I got a 3.8. When I type in my GRADE from transcript, the AMCAS grade conversion should show up. It's not.
[/bQB]••••Tweetie, just curious are you entering an actual leter grade or the 3.8?
 
i mentioned this before, but my essay only allows me to put in exactly 5294 characters. every time i save it an go back, it says "5294" in the character count box, and truncates my essay accordingly. they advertised 5300, and i was wondering if it was a problem specific to my app alone, or to everyones. thanks.

-jot :)
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by conure:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by Tweetie_bird:
[QB]I took an 8 credit EMT class at a local community college in which I got a 3.8. When I type in my GRADE from transcript, the AMCAS grade conversion should show up. It's not.
[/bQB]••••Tweetie, just curious are you entering an actual leter grade or the 3.8?•••••Hi there,
I am entering the GPA.
 
how do I post transcripts to AMCAS? please help!
 
you don't post it. your school does.

Once you are down typing the schools that you attended on AMCAS, there's a little menu bar on the left hand saying 'TRANSCRIPT REQUESTS." click on that...and it should take you to a screen where your school list comes up which you attneded. For example, I have 3. So, you click on one of those school names, and it takes you to a screen where you get to choose if you want AMCAS to get a copy, or yourself, or both. You pick the appropriate boxes, make sure the addresses are correct, and eventually it will take you to a screen called "PRINT TRANSCRIPT REQUESTS." Click on that, and print as many as you want for youreslf.

You make one copy of that, and take it to your school registrar who will (usually for a small fee) take that form, process it, and send it in to AMCAS. When you talk to your registrar, MAKE SURE you remind them that the AMCAS printed transcript request has to go with the transcript. MAKE SURE!!! The transcripts have to be OFFICIAL..i.e. you can't post them, your school has to do it confidentially. You can also get an extra copy of transcripts for yourself, to use when adding courses into AMCAS.
Hope this helps.
Tweetie
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Blitzkrieg:
•how do I post transcripts to AMCAS? please help!•••••There is a form you print out. It should be on the left hand side of the screen right after you log in. It says transcripts requests. Hope thats clear for you.
just to add...i don't think i've gotten to this point yet ---> :p
 
does amcas automatically converts your grades to amcas grade. how come it doesn't do it for me. I put in a percentage, and nothing shows up in the amcas grade slot. What's going on??
thanks, everyone!
 
I don't know how they do it in canada, but you're supposed to put in a letter grade. And then AMCAS puts in their grades.
Like Put in A, or A- or B+.
It wont't accept A+ so in that case just put A.

don't you guys have letter grades in Canada?
 
jojo... do your percentages correlate to the letter grade? if so, i would think you just put the letter grade in. make sure i'm right before you do this, though... you might want to *attempt* to contact amcas on this one... good luck with that :rolleyes:
 
thanks laviddee and sweet tea, I'll try calling amcas tomorrow. that'd be fun... :rolleyes:
 
hey guys, i have a stupid question. If i took some courses in the summer, let's say, the summer after my first year, is my academic status still freshman, or sophomore?
and if i entered college in 1999, would the summer of 2000 be counted as academic year 1999 or 2000.
thanks :)
 
I would count summer classes with the year prior. Typcially, the academic year starts in the fall. Therefore, everything from say September 1999 to August 2000 would be considered the 1999 academic year.
 
thanks mpp, i'll go and change everything now... :)
 
mpp, i just tried what you suggested, so i put in 1999 for the summer of 2000, but amcas arranged them so that the summer showed first, then its the 1999 academic year courses. Would that be mistaken as I took the courses in the summer of 1999 prior to sept. 1999?
 
Put in your classes how you want them, and let AMCAS rearrage them... it will look a little strange but that is apparently what they want.
 
I think it would be Ok to have them listed either way (1999 or 2000). AMCAS will verify everything anyway. Although you took the classes in 2000, they are part of the 1999 academic year. However, since AMCAS generates GPA's for freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years, I guess including, they may classify the summer 2000 as part of your sophomore year.

Just get the data in there the best you can. It will eventually make sense and I don't think it would have an effect on your application.
 
if you're confused about which year to put it in, start counting the credits. That tells you exactly where each quarter stands in terms of grade level.
 
It is my understanding that you can only enter a letter grade in to the grade box. If you enter numbers ie 3.8 or 95% AMCAS can't convert that because it makes no sense to them. Does your transcript not list a letter grade? if not than you need to find out what the equivalent is from your school.
 
I always entered the NUMBER grade for (3.8 on 4.0 scale etc) for my grades and it worked every time.

The only time it didn't work was when i was doing my post bac classes. I am beginning to think it all depends on what school you attened and how exactly we got graded. I was under the impression we got number grades for my post bac school. But now that I look on the transcript, I see letter grades next to it. So I'll try letter grades and see if that works. You should try both and see what works best.
If nothing works, your work is much much less b/c AMCAS will do it all during verification!!
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Mr. H:
•suburban or urban?•••••i would go with suburban i think. i mite be wrong but i dont think 20K really is large enough to be considered urban. Are you near a larger city?
 
Bump.

to many AMCAS Qs being asked on their own out there when we have a very active forum right here.

Thanks.
 
I'm brand new posting here, but I was hoping somebody could answe questions I have..
First, I tutored a student in my Freshman English class after the professor had singled me to do so...she is also writing me a letter of rec for med school..should I include this in post-sec exp, because I only tutored her outside of the class once or twice..
Second, I included in my statement how I had to work a lot during my first two years of school to pay for it, and to be able to transfer to the school I had originally wanted to go to out of high school..should I include this job in post sec..p.s...the job was in a CRAFT store of all places!! :) Appreciate the opinions!
 
CrashinStoneFish -
I would definately put the craft store job in there since you spent a lot of time doing it. It shows you are responsible! :)

As far as tutoring, have you tutored in other situations as well? If so, you could have 1 secondary experience named tutoring where you list the various things you've done. Otherwise, I would not put it in, unless you really need more secondary experiences.

For example, i did volunteer work with disadvantaged children for 1 day my freshman year, but I dont think its enough info for a whole experience.

good luck,
u2ecila
 
Hi, Im on the quarter system, but under terms, there are no options for quarters! Anyone have the same problem?
 
I see this is the last thread left on the first page. So..BUMP.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by jojo:
•mpp, i just tried what you suggested, so i put in 1999 for the summer of 2000, but amcas arranged them so that the summer showed first, then its the 1999 academic year courses. Would that be mistaken as I took the courses in the summer of 1999 prior to sept. 1999?•••••I think that perhaps the summer session is part of the following academic calendar- so I think you'd put that summer down as part of the 2000 year. here's why -- this is what the instruction book says concerning 'academic status'

Assign the upcoming status to summer session courses (e.g., summer courses between your freshman and sophomore years should be assigned (SO) status).
So perhaps that summer session is also part of the following academic calendar year???
just my guess- luckily i never had to take summer school.
 
Summer sessions start the following year.
 
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