*~*~*~*Official AMCAS Questions Thread 2012-2013*~*~*~*

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If I submit my application this week and then change the "program type" in all my schools later (before the AMCAS data is transmitted to the medical schools), will medical schools see that I originally submitted as one type but changed it after to another? I don't want them to think I'm unsure etc. if this is true :/. Thank you!!!!

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If I'm only submitting my transcript request to my college today, but submitting AMCAS today, will I be verified late? Really worried.
 
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For the summary page at the end of each of the 9 sections, can you make changes after you press continue?
 
Thanks, good luck applying.
 
Submitted!

Status: Submitted to AMCAS - Ready for Review
 

Applicants with your stats and ECs who get rejected from schools like SLU/Creighton make me very nervous.

Congrats again on Tulane though!!
 
I asked a question a few days ago and I got an answer, but I'm looking for a follow up.

I'm going to submit without all of my LOR so I can get verified.

Can I add letters to schools after I submit? Can I remove letters from schools after I submit?
I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, but I'd like someone to confirm.

Can I add schools after I submit?
 
I asked a question a few days ago and I got an answer, but I'm looking for a follow up.

I'm going to submit without all of my LOR so I can get verified.

Can I add letters to schools after I submit? Can I remove letters from schools after I submit?
I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, but I'd like someone to confirm.

Can I add schools after I submit?

Yes. Most Pre-Health committee letters aren't done until later June or July.
 
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Quick question on entering publications in the Work/Activities section:

Over the past two years conducting research as an undergraduate, I have accumulated four publications (two as second author and two as third author) along with eight abstracts and three poster presentations. I would prefer not to dedicate a ridiculous amount of space to my research, as that is not all that defines my undergraduate career; however, I do want to include as much as possible. For the publications, should I just group all four together listing only the name, journal, and author list? Is it necessary to include a bit of information about each publication?

Thanks everyone!
 
I want to submit my application this week. However, will AMCAS add grades for me to the application if I provide them with a transcript and verification is complete? I'm taking two courses for my Masters right now that end on June 29th.
 
Nope, once it's verified, you have to send individual transcripts to individual schools ($$) to update them with your grades. Sorry :(
 
I'm going to submit my primary in an hour. Based on the time and the 2011-2012 Verification thread, I will be verified in about 6 days. That's still considered early right? As long as I'm verified before June 29?
 
Quick question on entering publications in the Work/Activities section:

Over the past two years conducting research as an undergraduate, I have accumulated four publications (two as second author and two as third author) along with eight abstracts and three poster presentations. I would prefer not to dedicate a ridiculous amount of space to my research, as that is not all that defines my undergraduate career; however, I do want to include as much as possible. For the publications, should I just group all four together listing only the name, journal, and author list? Is it necessary to include a bit of information about each publication?

Thanks everyone!

I would recommend giving a brief synopsis including what institution you did the research at (or save yourself space by including that in the name of the activity, like, "Computational Neuroscience at MIT"), what your labs research aims were in the body, and why this was meaningful to you (complemented your education, importance of research in medicine, etc) and follow that up with a list as follows.

Poster: Title: name of conference presented at. Year.

Publication: Title; Journal. Month/year; pages.

Abstracts are not as important here - publications are phenomenal as an undergrad; abstracts (if not published) will only consume space or come off as application fluff, or both.

So, an example:

Poster: Mitochondria Genesis in the retinal photoreceptor inner segment; Society for Neuroscience. 2012.

Publication: Angiotensin II activates programmed myocyte cell death in vitro; Experimental Cell Research. Oct. 1997; pp 317-324.

good luck.
 
I'm going to submit my primary in an hour. Based on the time and the 2011-2012 Verification thread, I will be verified in about 6 days. That's still considered early right? As long as I'm verified before June 29?

Submitted this morning, verified this afternoon. Take your time, if you need it.
 
Submitted this morning, verified this afternoon. Take your time, if you need it.

I submitted this morning too, but haven't been verified yet :(
 
Quick question on entering publications in the Work/Activities section:

Over the past two years conducting research as an undergraduate, I have accumulated four publications (two as second author and two as third author) along with eight abstracts and three poster presentations. I would prefer not to dedicate a ridiculous amount of space to my research, as that is not all that defines my undergraduate career; however, I do want to include as much as possible. For the publications, should I just group all four together listing only the name, journal, and author list? Is it necessary to include a bit of information about each publication?

Thanks everyone!

I have the exact same problem... 3 publications, 4 published abstracts, and 4 poster presentations...

Here is what I did: I made one category of my 15 activities "publications," and I included fully cited works for only the three publications (this was all that fit with the character count--came to 650 chars). Since I had so many other activities, I completely left out all of the abstracts and poster presentations... I had 4 other slots completely dedicated to my research, so I felt like including them was just overkill.

From what I understand, when reviewing your application, they have categories, one of which is "research" once you get up to the top score for research, there is nowhere else higher to go and a few abstracts and posters won't do anything if your application is so overloaded with research that the other categories are inherently lacking. Maybe mention the abstracts/posters as an aside in the description of your lab work, but nothing more. That's just my suggestion and what I did but good luck figuring this out.

On the bright side, it is always nice to leave something to say at the interview. When confronted about your research, you can always pipe up and say; "yeah, I also had several published abstracts and poster presentations with this research that I did not mention in the application..." I bet SOMEONE will be impressed! :)

Good luck! Feel free to PM me if you would like more specific advice on the world of research-heavy applicants.

Best,
C
 
I'm minoring in something called "History of Science" and some of the courses I've taken that fulfill the minor are from a sister department called "Sociology of Health." Can I change the course courses from SOCH to HSCI if the courses were cross-listed anyway at my university?

I want to show adcoms which courses fulfilled the minor.
 
I took some courses at a foreign college and "selected transcript required" and i sent in my transcript a while ago. I submitted my application and it said its on hold until a transcript is received. The thing is I was supposed to select "transcript not required" so this is probally why its asking for a transcript even though I sent one ,since Its a foreign school.

What should I do?
 
Hmm. So should I wait until I get my grades to submit my application? I don't think they'll be available till the first week of July because of time required for grading. And then I can send my transcript to AMCAS.
 
I want to submit my application this week. However, will AMCAS add grades for me to the application if I provide them with a transcript and verification is complete? I'm taking two courses for my Masters right now that end on June 29th.

Nope, once it's verified, you have to send individual transcripts to individual schools ($$) to update them with your grades. Sorry :(

Hmm. So should I wait until I get my grades to submit my application? I don't think they'll be available till the first week of July because of time required for grading. And then I can send my transcript to AMCAS.
Merging
 
On my application, should I use the classes from my first college (AP credit but no class names?) or from my transfer institution (AP credits transferred to classes but one less credit)?

I took two AP classes, economics and human geography. My first college gave me seven credits (3 for econ and 4 for human geo). The transcript only shows them as AP credits, and not classes.

My second college that I attend now gave me two classes for six credits, Major World Regions and Human Geography. They didn't give me econ credits and I don't know where the Major World Regions class came from.
 
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I took some courses at a foreign college and "selected transcript required" and i sent in my transcript a while ago. I submitted my application and it said its on hold until a transcript is received. The thing is I was supposed to select "transcript not required" so this is probally why its asking for a transcript even though I sent one ,since Its a foreign school.

What should I do?

Call AMCAS.
From p 27 of the AMCAS Instruction manual.
Merging

As Catalystik pointed out, you're going to have to call AMCAS for this since you've already submitted. There isn't an easy way to fix it now without their help.
 
I called and asked about this a few days ago and the person I talked to said it would not matter, just go with the name most up to date
 
Is anyone else trying to access the website and getting an error message?

I am going to New Zealand tomorrow for 5 days and was hoping to get my app in before then, but it looks like it isn't going to happen. Based on the verification thread for last year, I should be able to still get verified before June 29th if I submit my application on June 12/13th.

Will waiting until after I return from my trip hurt my application significantly? It might be good to take some extra time to think about the application and how I have organized everything...
 
Will waiting until after I return from my trip hurt my application significantly? It might be good to take some extra time to think about the application and how I have organized everything...

You will still be awfully early, so I imagine all will be well.

It's a great idea to take a little time to think on it! That submit button is final...
 
You will still be awfully early, so I imagine all will be well.

It's a great idea to take a little time to think on it! That submit button is final...

Thank you for the advice! Just not knowing if it will get in on time is nerve-racking, but it is important that it is as perfect as possible when I submit...
 
I'm taking Orgo Lab I in the fall (my school separates the lab from the lecture, I've already finished the lecture for Orgo I-II). But Orgo Lab I covers all the stuff from Orgo I-II, and it fulfills the requirements at virtually all schools.

One exception is Mayo, which requires 1 year of Orgo Lab instead of 1 semester. Should I list that I will take Orgo Lab II as well (to meet the Mayo requirement since I'll be applying there)? Med schools that know my school would might look at this a little weird since Orgo lab II is mainly for chem majors and not for pre-med purposes...I don't want them to think I'm exaggerating my courses.
 
I'm taking Orgo Lab I in the fall (my school separates the lab from the lecture, I've already finished the lecture for Orgo I-II). But Orgo Lab I covers all the stuff from Orgo I-II, and it fulfills the requirements at virtually all schools.

One exception is Mayo, which requires 1 year of Orgo Lab instead of 1 semester. Should I list that I will take Orgo Lab II as well (to meet the Mayo requirement since I'll be applying there)? Med schools that know my school would might look at this a little weird since Orgo lab II is mainly for chem majors and not for pre-med purposes...I don't want them to think I'm exaggerating my courses.

You could always just list the ones you know you'e taking. You will probably have an idea in the fall as to whether or not you might be in the running for Mayo; you can add the course in the spring if necessary. I do not believe you are counted out if you haven't completed all courses - many students are still taking coursework after interviewing.
 
You could always just list the ones you know you'e taking. You will probably have an idea in the fall as to whether or not you might be in the running for Mayo; you can add the course in the spring if necessary. I do not believe you are counted out if you haven't completed all courses - many students are still taking coursework after interviewing.


Thanks man, I'm definitely taking Orgo Lab I, so I'll list that for the fall. So do you think I should list on my AMCAS that I'll be taking Orgo Lab II in the spring? Or just leave it out and tell Mayo during the interview I'll take it if accepted? My main concern is that Mayo might reject me outright if they see only Orgo Lab I listed on my AMCAS.
 
Thanks man, I'm definitely taking Orgo Lab I, so I'll list that for the fall. So do you think I should list on my AMCAS that I'll be taking Orgo Lab II in the spring? Or just leave it out and tell Mayo during the interview I'll take it if accepted? My main concern is that Mayo might reject me outright if they see only Orgo Lab I listed on my AMCAS.

I would leave it out if you wouldn't take it otherwise. I'm under the impression that it is not uncommon to have a conditional acceptance (especially since not all schools have the same requirements). No personal experience there though.
 
I would leave it out if you wouldn't take it otherwise. I'm under the impression that it is not uncommon to have a conditional acceptance (especially since not all schools have the same requirements). No personal experience there though.

Thanks! This is what I was thinking too. Good luck with your AMCAS.
 
would I also be considered educationally disadvantaged if only 10% of my HS graduating class attended a four-year college?

I don't think so. Less than 5% of my graduating high school class attended college (my class also started with over 1,000 kids but about 40% dropped out/transferred to the alternative high school. I graduated with 600 other students). I feel like 10% is high. I took the educationally disadvantaged as meaning your parents dropped out of high school or got their GED way later.
 
If all the grades, classes, and number of credits are correct can we assume that AMCAS calculated our GPA correctly as well?
 
I am taking a gap year and am not quite sure what I will be doing during it. I will be doing research and may or may not be doing an SMP program.

Should I list the SMP program courses as future courses? If I do not list them and end up taking the SMP, do I have to update all the schools with the change? How would I do this?

My grades are already descent so I am not depending on the SMP to pull up my GPA. I would like to take the classes since I have taken very few bio courses.
 
I will be doing research and may or may not be doing an SMP program.

Should I list the SMP program courses as future courses? If I do not list them and end up taking the SMP, do I have to update all the schools with the change? How would I do this?

I would only list what you are sure of, so not the SMP classes. There's no need to update unless you just want to, and you can do that with a letter to the schools that accept that.
 
Are you allowed to change the schools you are applying to after you have submitted the AMCAS but before June 29th?
 
Sorry if this has already been asked/answered but I searched the thread and couldn't find it.

When I enter my personal statement on AMCAS I do two hard returns between paragraphs to give one space. However, when I print the PDF of my complete application, there are two spaces between each paragraph. Has anyone else experienced this/is this how everyone's essay looks/do ADCOMs even care? Thanks SDN.
 
I wouldn't stress about it.

Seems like every app I've done so far has formatting problems of some kind though.
 
Hey guys, I have a question.

On my transcript, the AP credit I received is not listed under a specific semester but instead it's under Other Credit. This is how it appears on my transcript:

OTHER CREDIT
AP German Language 4.0

How do I put this down in the course work section and under what semester? Thanks!
 
Anyone else had this? I'm leaving the grade slot blank for a current course. When I click done I get a message saying my form is incomplete and my amcas verification may be held up.
 
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