*official* Amcas 2006

[CoffeeCat]

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Hi Coffeecat - can you please edit the thread title to be in all caps? It would help me find it a lot faster. Thanks! 😀

Sorry about that - it was in caps originally and it automatically changed and now I can't change it back - I changed the title of my first post but not the whole thread 🙁


Edit - ARGH!!! I wrote the title of this post in caps too and it changed!!! Anyone else caps-challenged?

 

[CoffeeCat]

Somehow the link for "Apply Now" doesn't work for me. Anyone else having this problem?

It's cause you can't apply now - you have to wait until June 1st even if everything is finished, you overachiever 😉

 

[willthatsall]

Is anyone else taking more/less than 4 years to finish? If so, how do you designate fresh/soph/junior/senior on the course entry thing. I am taking 5 years, so do I just have 2 senior years, or should it be dependent on hours or what?

 

[tigress]

It's cause you can't apply now - you have to wait until June 1st even if everything is finished, you overachiever 😉

Unless he meant the link from the AMCAS main page to ge to the 2006 application.

Hooray for overachievers! Who else is almost finished with their ap? I really didn't expect to be until closer to June, but I couldn't sleep last night and stayed up working on my PS and I think it's all about finished! 😍

 

[tigress]

Is anyone else taking more/less than 4 years to finish? If so, how do you designate fresh/soph/junior/senior on the course entry thing. I am taking 5 years, so do I just have 2 senior years, or should it be dependent on hours or what?

I think in the instructions it says if you take 3 years to finish you should designate freshman, sophomore, senior, and if you took more than 4 you should designate all years after the 4th as senior as well. So you'll just have 2 senior years.

 

[willthatsall]

Thanks, that's a big help. 👍 I was hoping I wasn't going to have to look through all that stuff.

 

[DarkFark]

Unless he meant the link from the AMCAS main page to ge to the 2006 application.

Hooray for overachievers! Who else is almost finished with their ap? I really didn't expect to be until closer to June, but I couldn't sleep last night and stayed up working on my PS and I think it's all about finished! 😍

I'm on the home stretch. PS has been done since monday, just have 4 more experiences to put in. Unfortunately, I can't truly finish it until my final grades come in, but that'll only take 10 minutes. Nice job on the fast finish. 👍

 

[Hoberto]

Is anyone else taking more/less than 4 years to finish? If so, how do you designate fresh/soph/junior/senior on the course entry thing. I am taking 5 years, so do I just have 2 senior years, or should it be dependent on hours or what?

It took me 10 years, yes 10, and my school switched from quarters to semesters at year 6. So, I just used the hours to determine my class standing. It works out that I was a Junior, based on quarter hours-before the switch, but was a sophomore, based on semester hours, after the switch. Hah! Who thinks I'll get asked about this during interviews??

Another interesting thing....on the quarter system a year of Gen Chem is 3 classes. On the semester system, it's only 2 classes. So, what happens if the school switches to semesters and you've only taken Chem I and Chem II but no Chem III??? For me, I got to take Chem II under the new semester system, which is part of the Chem II and all of the old Chem III. On the transcripts it looks like I took Chem II two times. Think I'll get asked about this, too??

😉 I have the weirdest AMCAS, I swear.

 

[CoffeeCat]

Unless he meant the link from the AMCAS main page to ge to the 2006 application.

🙂 Guess I got too excited to know the answer to something and didn't finish reading the other posts! Between that and the caps problem, I think it's time I go finish studying for finals. 🙂

 

[45408]

1) when then instructions say to enter the course names, it says to write it exactly as it does on the transcript... so i should write "hist/mem/legacies/holocaust" and not the actual name of the class, "History, Memory, Legacies and the Holocaust"?

Yes, put the abbreviation. It wouldn't all fit in the blanks anyways if you wrote it out. You might even have to shorten it some more.

 

[CoffeeCat]

Hooray for overachievers! Who else is almost finished with their ap? I really didn't expect to be until closer to June, but I couldn't sleep last night and stayed up working on my PS and I think it's all about finished! 😍

I'm pretty much done too...I was way more excited about it that I thought I'd be. All I have left is finishing/editing the PS, which is close to being done, and editing what I wrote about my work/activities. 👍

 

[willthatsall]

So we have to enter classes that we will take next year too? What if we decide to change them later, is that going to be a problem?

 

[LabMonster]

I'm pretty much done too...I was way more excited about it that I thought I'd be. All I have left is finishing/editing the PS, which is close to being done, and editing what I wrote about my work/activities. 👍

My PS has been done, just waiting on transcripts now so I can fill out the classes portion.

I feel better knowing there are really anal people like me (although I would raelly rathner not have to compete against all of you) 😉

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

Sorry about that - it was in caps originally and it automatically changed and now I can't change it back - I changed the title of my first post but not the whole thread 🙁


Edit - ARGH!!! I wrote the title of this post in caps too and it changed!!! Anyone else caps-challenged?

No worries... Thanks for trying!

 

[willthatsall]

Is everyone putting contacts for all their activities? Even awards and stuff? I don't know the people who gave me some of my awards...

 

[MoosePilot]

Has anyone else had problems in the work/experiences section?

Now that the character limit is so much higher, it seems to beg for paragraphs. When I try to separate paragraphs, they look ok in the edit view, but when I go to the PDF to print the app, the paragraph breaks are gone and there are just bad looking multiple horizontal spaces, like I hit the space bar instead of the enter key.

So far I decided to go with one huge paragraph in my experience descriptions. It worked fine in the PS.

 

[MoosePilot]

Is everyone putting contacts for all their activities? Even awards and stuff? I don't know the people who gave me some of my awards...

No

 

[taddpole]

How much are you crazy kids writing for the work/activity/honors descriptions? I was planning on just BRIEFLY describing what it is I did for each in 3-5 sentences. Are most people writing mini-essays for each? Or is a tiny blurb sufficient?

 

[DrYo12]

Has anyone else had problems in the work/experiences section?

Now that the character limit is so much higher, it seems to beg for paragraphs. When I try to separate paragraphs, they look ok in the edit view, but when I go to the PDF to print the app, the paragraph breaks are gone and there are just bad looking multiple horizontal spaces, like I hit the space bar instead of the enter key.

So far I decided to go with one huge paragraph in my experience descriptions. It worked fine in the PS.

The trick here is using the enter key. When you get to the end of the paragraph, press enter and then you have to press enter again. It will insert a line between paragraphs and give you a break in between. This is typically how you get the 'paragraph' look in your personal statement. I think its worth the additional characters you will use in making the application look exactly how you want.

 

[musiclink213]

How much are you crazy kids writing for the work/activity/honors descriptions? I was planning on just BRIEFLY describing what it is I did for each in 3-5 sentences. Are most people writing mini-essays for each? Or is a tiny blurb sufficient?

If it's something really important to me, I'll go more into detail for it. If it's something that I did, then I'll just mention it briefly, such as some of the conferences I've attended, or awards I've won.

 

[willthatsall]

How much are you crazy kids writing for the work/activity/honors descriptions? I was planning on just BRIEFLY describing what it is I did for each in 3-5 sentences. Are most people writing mini-essays for each? Or is a tiny blurb sufficient?

Yeah, I'm doing just like 1 sentence. I mean, it's pretty self explanatory. If they want to know more, they can ask me at the interview. I wish AMCAS didn't even extend the limit, that's just annoying.

 

[BAM!]

Activity question:

I was part of the premed honors society of my school. We didn't really do much. I'm sure others have this same issue. Is this worth noting, and should I say something about it, or just list it?

 

[willthatsall]

Activity question:

I was part of the premed honors society of my school. We didn't really do much. I'm sure others have this same issue. Is this worth noting, and should I say something about it, or just list it?

I would list it if you had extra room, but it wouldn't be very high on my list of things to add because it doesn't really tell them much about you and it isn't very impressive.

 

[willthatsall]

For shadowing stuff, are you putting each doctor as a different activity, or just putting "shadowing" and listing all the other stuff?

 

[willthatsall]

I won first place in an organic synthesis competition that was part of the lab requirement at my school. Research/Lab or Honors/Award? What do you think?

 

[Overeducated]

For shadowing stuff, are you putting each doctor as a different activity, or just putting "shadowing" and listing all the other stuff?

I intend to put all shadowing as one activity and just mention what departments they were in, etc.

 

[laxgirl9]

Regarding transcripts:

I heard UC berkeley takes two months after completing the semester to send the transcript. So when i finish my final semester, May 2005, i will have to wait til july to have transcript completely available. Should i just send in a transcript now without my spring semester's grades? I'm only taking 2 classes... i think i'm getting A's in there but it's not really gonna raise my GPA any much higher. Maybe by two tenths of a decimal.

According to bearfacts, transcripts with spring grades are available on June 9th. It's usually about two weeks after finals ends, not two months.

 

[crzynikki]

Hmm... I retook the MCAT in April 2005, and on the Standardized Tests Section it doesn't show that I took it, it only shows my past August scores. I know scores don't come in until June, but should it at least say April 2005 with the scores blank? What does everyone else have?

Also, should I include my OAT score?

Thank you!

 

[CoffeeCat]

The trick here is using the enter key. When you get to the end of the paragraph, press enter and then you have to press enter again. It will insert a line between paragraphs and give you a break in between. This is typically how you get the 'paragraph' look in your personal statement. I think its worth the additional characters you will use in making the application look exactly how you want.

This didn't work for me 🙁 Any other suggestions?

 

[kcruz]

Hmm... I retook the MCAT in April 2005, and on the Standardized Tests Section it doesn't show that I took it, it only shows my past August scores. I know scores don't come in until June, but should it at least say April 2005 with the scores blank? What does everyone else have?

Also, should I include my OAT score?

Thank you!

My standardized section does not show it as well and I also took the MCAT last month, but I would assume that it shouldn't have it at all because the scores have yet to be released.

I would suggest for you to include your OAT score, however I am not certain.

Hope this helps!

 

[QofQuimica]

It took me 10 years, yes 10, and my school switched from quarters to semesters at year 6. So, I just used the hours to determine my class standing. It works out that I was a Junior, based on quarter hours-before the switch, but was a sophomore, based on semester hours, after the switch. Hah! Who thinks I'll get asked about this during interviews??

Another interesting thing....on the quarter system a year of Gen Chem is 3 classes. On the semester system, it's only 2 classes. So, what happens if the school switches to semesters and you've only taken Chem I and Chem II but no Chem III??? For me, I got to take Chem II under the new semester system, which is part of the Chem II and all of the old Chem III. On the transcripts it looks like I took Chem II two times. Think I'll get asked about this, too??

😉 I have the weirdest AMCAS, I swear.

I have a bizarre one too. I was putting in my college classes last night until 2AM because I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to enter some of my work. I have no grades, course numbers, credit hours, or GPA. 😛 So on one hand, it makes it faster to enter everything. But then I realized that my transcript is not in chronological order, and the school combined some of my classes together, making it look like they were one class. (ex. my transcript lists "PHYSICS I-II," as a single class, even though these were two separate courses.) That wouldn't be a big deal, except that some of my so-called full year classes were taken during different years of my schooling, but the transcript doesn't reflect that at all. Also, I graduated college long enough ago that I don't always remember when I took various classes. Luckily I had kept copies of my academic contracts, which I used to figure most of that out. 🙄 And then I had to figure out what to do about my independent study periods and my thesis year. I hope that I did it all to AMCAS's satisfaction.

 

[LadyBulldog]

well, now that finals are over, i'm getting started......these 12 pages of posts make it seem scary though 🙁 are people able to type in microsoft word and then cut/paste w/o prob or is it better to use notepad like they suggest?....knock on wood that this goes ok

 

[USArmyDoc]

Hey guys,
I have a wierd situation. I took 37 college credits in high school, but they are not considered AP. Basically, we took them at a local college. However, when I designate what year I put high school for them. Afterall, they is when I took them. That leads to the next question. I assume I will be missing a freshman year. I would only have high school, sophomore, junior, and senior right?

 

[LadyBulldog]

question already: so my school doesn't give the typical credit hours (ie. 4 per class or whatnot) but we get credits--like 1 credit per class, 1/2 for a lab.....so should i enter those (which look measley and would leave me lacking for schools that require 8 credit hours of bio, chem, etc) or just leave it blank since there's no star by it?

Edit: --never mind, just read the instructions again. Apprently they "adjust" the hours based on the school attended 🙂 but i'm still confused on the whole AP thing--if we give it frosh standing, then what year/term do we use? just 2002-2003 fall semester?...

 

[Daichi Katase]

Hey guys,
I have a wierd situation. I took 37 college credits in high school, but they are not considered AP. Basically, we took them at a local college. However, when I designate what year I put high school for them. Afterall, they is when I took them. That leads to the next question. I assume I will be missing a freshman year. I would only have high school, sophomore, junior, and senior right?

Also, they suggest that you change term every 32 credits or so. For example, change from freshman to sophomore after 32 credits. However, what if you have 40 credits freshman year. Do you just arbritrarily assign some to sophomore year?

 

[LadyBulldog]

that's what i inferred from the instructions.....

 

[MoosePilot]

This didn't work for me 🙁 Any other suggestions?

Heh, it didn't work for me either

It's ok. It's the system, so combine it into one paragraph. Everyone else will do the same. If you try to put in exactly enough spaces to make it look right, sure as anything the ADCOMS are using a view we don't even see and it'll look really bad. Just make one paragraph is my tactic.

 

[Avenue Q]

yet another question!

is credited fieldwork (hospital volunteering) lecture or lab, since it is neither?

since it was credited through biology, i'm catagorizing it as that, but it also seems kinda weird.

Also, is special studies only for afro-american studies, american studies, or gender studies? can another "studies" like Jewish Studies, be put there since it does not fall under any other catagory? otherwise, since it is interdisciplinary, I'm putting it in other.

 

[tank you]

well, now that finals are over, i'm getting started......these 12 pages of posts make it seem scary though 🙁 are people able to type in microsoft word and then cut/paste w/o prob or is it better to use notepad like they suggest?....knock on wood that this goes ok

it says specifically to use notepad

 

[Code Brown]

well, now that finals are over, i'm getting started......these 12 pages of posts make it seem scary though 🙁 are people able to type in microsoft word and then cut/paste w/o prob or is it better to use notepad like they suggest?....knock on wood that this goes ok

Word works just fine.

 

[Code Brown]

Hey guys,
I have a wierd situation. I took 37 college credits in high school, but they are not considered AP. Basically, we took them at a local college. However, when I designate what year I put high school for them. Afterall, they is when I took them. That leads to the next question. I assume I will be missing a freshman year. I would only have high school, sophomore, junior, and senior right?

Yes, you can have HS, Soph, Junior and Senior.

 

[Code Brown]

yet another question!

is credited fieldwork (hospital volunteering) lecture or lab, since it is neither?

since it was credited through biology, i'm catagorizing it as that, but it also seems kinda weird.

Also, is special studies only for afro-american studies, american studies, or gender studies? can another "studies" like Jewish Studies, be put there since it does not fall under any other catagory? otherwise, since it is interdisciplinary, I'm putting it in other.

I would stick it under lab.

As for special studies. I would stick Jewish studies under that category. They won't really change it either way. They are really only concerned about the BCMP and English/Literature ones being in the right place.

 

[BaylorGuy]

So i finished pretty much everything besides my PS....i decided to take a look at it and print it out beforehand just to catch some mistakes and i noticed something weird. Most of my acitivites/work went in order except only a few. For some reason i got a little ticked and decided to enter them ALL in again.

Entered them all in again and got the same result. Any help?? I've come to the conclusion that its automatically done in a way in which the activies will fit on one page and not span 2 pages....this would explain why some of them are out of order. Any thoughts??

 

[willthatsall]

So i finished pretty much everything besides my PS....i decided to take a look at it and print it out beforehand just to catch some mistakes and i noticed something weird. Most of my acitivites/work went in order except only a few. For some reason i got a little ticked and decided to enter them ALL in again.

Entered them all in again and got the same result. Any help?? I've come to the conclusion that its automatically done in a way in which the activies will fit on one page and not span 2 pages....this would explain why some of them are out of order. Any thoughts??

i'm unclear on how changing the order affects length?

 

[Avenue Q]

they go in in chronological order by start date. is that how they printed?

 

[LabMonster]

I had about 100 hours of shadowing slated for the end of May/ beginning of June, but a 4th year is doing some elective through our ER; so now, I'll end up with only 24-30 hours of "shadow" experience. Do I still include it?

I do spent quite a bit of time in the ER/ICU etc due to my job - does that extra bit of shadowing add anything?

 

[MoosePilot]

I had about 100 hours of shadowing slated for the end of May/ beginning of June, but a 4th year is doing some elective through our ER; so now, I'll end up with only 24-30 hours of "shadow" experience. Do I still include it?

I do spent quite a bit of time in the ER/ICU etc due to my job - does that extra bit of shadowing add anything?

That's still a lot of shadowing.

 

[LabMonster]

That's still a lot of shadowing.

🙂 That's why I asked, I'm sure many people have done 100's of hours, I really just want to take a look at the decision making.

Thanks

 

[MoosePilot]

🙂 That's why I asked, I'm sure many people have done 100's of hours, I really just want to take a look at the decision making.

Thanks

Well, if you can only do 8 hours a day then every 24 hours represents three days of shadowing. A lot happens in 3 days. I think it's a lot. It's most of what I have.

 

[CoffeeCat]

So i finished pretty much everything besides my PS....i decided to take a look at it and print it out beforehand just to catch some mistakes and i noticed something weird. Most of my acitivites/work went in order except only a few. For some reason i got a little ticked and decided to enter them ALL in again.

Entered them all in again and got the same result. Any help?? I've come to the conclusion that its automatically done in a way in which the activies will fit on one page and not span 2 pages....this would explain why some of them are out of order. Any thoughts??

I think they're in order of start date and length of time of the activity - don't worry about it, it's the way AMCAS wants them, it seems.