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Can schools see what other schools you're applying to?
*~*~*~*Official AMCAS Questions Thread 2015-2016*~*~*~*
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Feeling really nice for some reason so I'm gonna answer some simple questions 😀
Some schools get info that you have designated them as a school on your AMCAS even before it is verified. These schools usually send out secondaries through an automated system. However, most schools wait until you are verified to send secondaries.
Look at the answer to the above question 😀
I am pretty sure that once you are verified you cannot remove an MCAT date, but look at the After Verifcation FAQ on the page where you login to your AMCAS for more details.
I think it costs like $35 or $37 to add another school, regardless of if you add it before or after verification. The first school you add however is like $160 or something. So 10 total schools would be 160+9(35)=a number I'm too lazy to calculate.
I do not think it would accept non-english characters. But even if it does somehow I would advise against it because 1)It may look well formatted in the text box but the computer might turn it into some binary mumbo-jumbo and 2) I don't think most schools take to kindly to that kind of excessive creativity on the personal statement. But that's just my opinion.
For this, fill out an academic change request form (log into AMCAS and it should be an option on the right side). But first I would call them and get the details but since this is their error, it can be fixed I think and you won't need to be reverified or anything. Just to make sure though, call them.
Some schools interview as early as that but It would be impossible to give you exact dates that different schools would be doing that.
No. They are not able to see other schools you are applying to. But at the end of the cycle they can see what schools you are holding acceptances at (and waitlists I think?) but Im not sure if they can see at that time where you have been rejected from.
Thank you sir!
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Callev AMCAS today and they basically told me to call every school I applied to and tell them about the error. Looks like I have 40 phone calls to make 🙁
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Yes sorry about that, just found this link: https://services.aamc.org/AMCAS2_2010/WebApp/Help/WebHelp/Academic_Change_Requests.htm
It says they wont change course names/titles or numbers 🙁
It says they wont change course names/titles or numbers 🙁
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1. When considering the GPA after verification, which numbers do I look at? I know it's separated into BCPM, AO (is that all others?), and total. Is it the BCPM and AO... or BCPM and total?
2. Since I'm retaking the MCAT in the future (July), does this mean once I get my scores, I should add in the appropriate schools or should I do it now (not sure if there's some sort of lag time between when they see my score because I know they won't fully process my app until they get the new score)? Or could they possibly send out secondaries now prior to my score being realized (considering my last MCAT score was crap)?
2. Since I'm retaking the MCAT in the future (July), does this mean once I get my scores, I should add in the appropriate schools or should I do it now (not sure if there's some sort of lag time between when they see my score because I know they won't fully process my app until they get the new score)? Or could they possibly send out secondaries now prior to my score being realized (considering my last MCAT score was crap)?
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How does credit hours work for private schools? I attended a CC that gave 3 credits/class or 4 credits/class if it included a lab. The private college I attend now uses 4 credits for class and 6 for classes with lab. Do these get scaled down or do they hold more 'weight' because of the way the school has them classified (6 credits). Hope that makes sense. Thanks
I think they just hold more weight.
On the MSAR, are the school's median GPA/SciGP's the GPA that the AAMC verifiers create for applicants after primary submission?
Sorry, if that's an unclear question... More specifically, is the SciGPA listed for school X on the MSAR the BCPM GPA that AAMC assigns you, and is the cumulative GPA the MSAR lists the GPA on your college transcript or what the verifiers determined to be a cumulative GPA?
Sorry, if that's an unclear question... More specifically, is the SciGPA listed for school X on the MSAR the BCPM GPA that AAMC assigns you, and is the cumulative GPA the MSAR lists the GPA on your college transcript or what the verifiers determined to be a cumulative GPA?
That's what I was kind of guessing, as well.
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1) I don't have all the required rec letters for the schools I am applying to. After I list one school on amcas and submit now, can I attach the other required rec letters to this school once I receive them later?
2) is it really bad if I can't categorize some of the courses? I took a course about ethics in scientific research and misconduct. Also another course about ethics in biological science such as embryonic stem cell controversy.
2) is it really bad if I can't categorize some of the courses? I took a course about ethics in scientific research and misconduct. Also another course about ethics in biological science such as embryonic stem cell controversy.
1) Yes, you can upload a letter after being verified, add schools to sent this letter to, and resubmit.
2) Categorize them as something. If you're between two options, use your judgment and pick one. If you think none of the options are anywhere close to right, select "other."
NEED HELP WITH STUDY ABROAD!
So I saw somewhere someone said put under other section. Which I will, hours should I just multiply 24hrs/day for how many days? It was a a month, one 4 credit class. It was through the university, we paid our university for tuition fees, and the grade was through our school website just like during a normal semester. That being said, should I put that in my "Colleges attended section"???? I have my university, a community college, and should I put the University that I studied at abroad??
This is what I have in colleges attended for that one right now.
Degree: No Degree Expected
Major: No Major
Edit
Minor: No Minor
Edit
Transcript Required: No
Is that okay? and for course work since theres no transcript and the grade is on my transcript, how do i enter it? under my university courses or the study abroad one or both??
And AP classes, should I only put ones that I used credit for in college and not the ones that the exam score didn't count for anything or do I have to put all?
Thank you in advance!
So I saw somewhere someone said put under other section. Which I will, hours should I just multiply 24hrs/day for how many days? It was a a month, one 4 credit class. It was through the university, we paid our university for tuition fees, and the grade was through our school website just like during a normal semester. That being said, should I put that in my "Colleges attended section"???? I have my university, a community college, and should I put the University that I studied at abroad??
This is what I have in colleges attended for that one right now.
Degree: No Degree Expected
Minor: No Minor
Transcript Required: No
Is that okay? and for course work since theres no transcript and the grade is on my transcript, how do i enter it? under my university courses or the study abroad one or both??
And AP classes, should I only put ones that I used credit for in college and not the ones that the exam score didn't count for anything or do I have to put all?
Thank you in advance!
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If a secondary says "1500 characters" and I have a little over 1800 but the input field isn't one of those that prevents more characters than stipulated from being entered, should I submit the 1800 character essay or find a way to cut it down 300?
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Cut it down on the off chance they check and drop you for ignoring instructions.
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Are there any special documents that must be attached to a recommendation letter that will be uploaded to interfolio? I thought the only thing my rec writer has to do is write the letter on a letterhead, sign it, and upload the letter through interfolio link?
Cut it down. If you don't abide by their character limits, they might think that you think the rules don't apply to you or something. Those 300 characters have way more potential to harm you than help you.
In Coursework, I'm little confused regarding some Spring/Summer classes. I have 7-week and 14-week classes that were taken in different periods, and I'm not sure if I need to use "Summer Semester" or "Mini Semester". For example:
Class 1 (14-week): from May to August
Class 2 (7-week): from May to June
Class 3 (7-week): from July to August
What terms do I assign to these classes?
Class 1 (14-week): from May to August
Class 2 (7-week): from May to June
Class 3 (7-week): from July to August
What terms do I assign to these classes?
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Will Clinical Microbiology be considered its own course and counted towards the BMPC when I have already taken Microbiology?
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question here: While I was in high school, I took a calculus class at the local University , (through a gifted program type thing), it did not count for anything and was not really that serious. I just took it to have a taste of what calculus was like and promptly failed it, but when I took the AP calc in school, I was much more ready.
Must I report it to the AMCAS? Making things even worse, I cannot find it on my state
's drop down list.
Must I report it to the AMCAS? Making things even worse, I cannot find it on my state
's drop down list.
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Yes. The AMCAS requires that you report any course you have taken from a college, so you must report it and send a transcript for it.
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How much do you think a low verbal score (6), will hold me back? Overall Mcat = 31 (b-13,v-6,p-12), gpa=3.8, sgpa=3.9, pretty solid EC's, good LOR's, went to a well respected liberal arts college. Also a 1st gen. immigrant, not URM.
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I have a questions regarding the AMCAS application. Would appreciate any help or advise that you can give.....
1) In the work experience section, is it advisable to list volunteering/work experiences which are old like 10 yrs. old and there is no contact for that right now. Since there is nobody to corroborate that experience on my behalf, is it best to leave those out? Can I provide 'self' as the contact for those experiences?
2) The AMCAS talks about "Transcript Exempt screen" in their manual. I listed a foreign institution where I took courses and no credits were transferred to any US/Canada institution. So I selected foreign institution/no credit transferred as the reason why AMCAS does not require transcript from this institution -- but the institution still shows up on the Print Transcript list. I also made sure that I don't enter any grades or credit hours for those courses as was advised in the manual. Why is the institution still listed in Print Transcript screen? Am I doing something wrong here?
Please ignore the first question. I have asked that in the Work/Experience thread. Did not realize there was a specific thread just for that section of the application.
1) In the work experience section, is it advisable to list volunteering/work experiences which are old like 10 yrs. old and there is no contact for that right now. Since there is nobody to corroborate that experience on my behalf, is it best to leave those out? Can I provide 'self' as the contact for those experiences?
2) The AMCAS talks about "Transcript Exempt screen" in their manual. I listed a foreign institution where I took courses and no credits were transferred to any US/Canada institution. So I selected foreign institution/no credit transferred as the reason why AMCAS does not require transcript from this institution -- but the institution still shows up on the Print Transcript list. I also made sure that I don't enter any grades or credit hours for those courses as was advised in the manual. Why is the institution still listed in Print Transcript screen? Am I doing something wrong here?
Please ignore the first question. I have asked that in the Work/Experience thread. Did not realize there was a specific thread just for that section of the application.
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I didn't submit my application yet so I'm not an expert, but I have answers to your questions:
1) https://www.aamc.org/students/apply...anlistasacontactforanactivity-experience.html
2) I took classes at a foreign institution and requested for a transcript exemption, but the institution is still showing up in the transcript list. So I inquired about that and I was told it's normal and the exemption will take effect after submission during verification because it has to be approved by AAMC.
Wow! Thank you and Thank you. The transcript exempt was agonizing for me. I checked and then re-checked the application inside out but could not find that exempt form. I sent an email to AMCAS and their response was basically a cut and paste from the manual, which I had already read but did not answer my question -- which you just answered. I appreciate it so much. A person in the WE thread answered exactly as that link you sent me had said. I appreciate you sending the link.
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i don't have a transcript for it though.
You mean if you called the school and asked for a transcript for your course, they'd say they don't have one?
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Are there any clinical care extenders out there who could answer this question: do we have to list UCR extension as a school and list the course we registered for the CCE training on AMCAS? I've already submitted but it's bothering me and I'm wondering if I need to update schools?
I understand that once you submit an application you cannot make changes to the course section. My question is, if there is an exam other than mcat that I will be taking in future to boost my verbal, can I add that in the scores section after submission? Is that permitted?
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I submitted my primary application on 7/6/15 with all my transcripts/LORs and I have been in line for verification since then However, I just noticed that when listing my coursework I only wrote the Course Name and did not write any course numbers. If I recall correctly it wasn't marked with an asterisk so I assumed it wasn't needed... but now I'm kind of freaking out because I'm not sure if it's required to list and I've been waiting to be verified for almost a month now. Do you guys think they will deem this as a mistake and make me fix it after they review my app? What should I do?! I'm SO worried!! 🙁
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I'm sorry but I've heard from multiple ADCOMS that any subscore below a 7 is not competitive. However your total MCAT score is stellar so I would still encourage you to apply and not worry about it now! If you don't get in this cycle, that may be something you should consider improving but honestly I think you'll be fine!
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I submitted. For some reason my home university where all my pre-reqs were taken - 2009 - 2012 - is lumped on my transcript with my Ugrad school.
To clarify: the two campuses are located in entirely different regions of the state, have completely different mantras (one is Div 1, the other is Div 2, one campus land grants and does NOT accept students from the other; ugrad school is NOT land granting and will accept anyone..) Ala: the prereqs were taken at the more rigorous institution. Before, there were two different transcripts as they are basically two different universities.
However, after submitting, AAMC is not recognizing they HAVE the official transcript for BOTH. Do I call? :/
To clarify: the two campuses are located in entirely different regions of the state, have completely different mantras (one is Div 1, the other is Div 2, one campus land grants and does NOT accept students from the other; ugrad school is NOT land granting and will accept anyone..) Ala: the prereqs were taken at the more rigorous institution. Before, there were two different transcripts as they are basically two different universities.
However, after submitting, AAMC is not recognizing they HAVE the official transcript for BOTH. Do I call? :/
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I did not put in 4 AP tests I took on the AMCAS. I received credit for 3 of them. Given the rest of the application is well, would this application be returned to me? Or will they add it in?
The AP tests involved no letter grades and I dont need the AP credit to fulfill requirmentes but they are on my transcript.
The AP tests involved no letter grades and I dont need the AP credit to fulfill requirmentes but they are on my transcript.
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Question: I am making a change to my course schedule for next year, and I noticed that I can't update that on my AMCAS that I've already submitted. Am I SOL or is there a way to contact AMCAS and get that fixed?
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I would just call AAMC and ask. Yesterday, I had to call re: an issue and they were very nice and very helpful.
You won't really know that they have transmitted your primary. However, you can assume that they will transmit it very shortly after it is verified.
You will receive secondaries via email. Schools will email you with a link to their portals, websites, etc.
Hello! Posted the question below in the official LoR thread but I think I'd get an answer faster here.
When a letter author submits their letter to the AMCAS, do they personally designate the course for which the letter is written, or what type of letter it is? (As in science or non-science)
I'm wondering because on my Virginia Commonwealth U secondary, it has all three of my letters designated as "Science", including one professor who I intended to be my non-science letter. The class that this professor taught me definitely does not fall under BCPM (more like community health/public health classes). I'm kind of worried that I no longer have the required two science and one non-science.
When a letter author submits their letter to the AMCAS, do they personally designate the course for which the letter is written, or what type of letter it is? (As in science or non-science)
I'm wondering because on my Virginia Commonwealth U secondary, it has all three of my letters designated as "Science", including one professor who I intended to be my non-science letter. The class that this professor taught me definitely does not fall under BCPM (more like community health/public health classes). I'm kind of worried that I no longer have the required two science and one non-science.
Do you mean like in the activities section? If something was required for a class, it can't be listed as an activity.
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Has anyone asked AMCAS to recheck/recalculate their transcripts? I was wondering how this affect your status as verified and how long it would take for them to do this.
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Oh man i really messed up. for some reason a paid research job of mine was submitted as community service. Am I doomed to rejection now? Who do I contact to get this fixed? I put down a correct description of it and I am getting an LOR from my director.
Crap. did i shoot myself in the foot???
Crap. did i shoot myself in the foot???
I need help !
So my LORs were received by AMCAS on July 28th (via interfolio), and on that day I started submitting secondaries. It has been a few weeks, and all of those schools are saying that my LORs are missing/not received. I called each individual school and most of them say they cannot view my letters from AMCAS (as if they are not there). I called AMCAs and confirmed that my letters are indeed stored in the AMCAS system. So, the stafff at AMCAS suggested me to ask each individual school to directly contact AMCAS for my LORs, and I have been doing that. I am calling each individual school to ask them to contact AMCAS direclty, but many representatives sounded quite skeptical on the phone....... IS anyone else experience this program ? What can I do at this point ?
Edit: oh god i think I found the problem.......After sending my LORs to AMCAS, I didn't go in and designated the letters to be sent to each school.......
So my LORs were received by AMCAS on July 28th (via interfolio), and on that day I started submitting secondaries. It has been a few weeks, and all of those schools are saying that my LORs are missing/not received. I called each individual school and most of them say they cannot view my letters from AMCAS (as if they are not there). I called AMCAs and confirmed that my letters are indeed stored in the AMCAS system. So, the stafff at AMCAS suggested me to ask each individual school to directly contact AMCAS for my LORs, and I have been doing that. I am calling each individual school to ask them to contact AMCAS direclty, but many representatives sounded quite skeptical on the phone....... IS anyone else experience this program ? What can I do at this point ?
Edit: oh god i think I found the problem.......After sending my LORs to AMCAS, I didn't go in and designated the letters to be sent to each school.......
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Well mistakes happen. You can contact AMCAS but they will likely not help (strict "no change after submission" policy). It sounds like you should be ok since your description covered the necessary info. I wouldn't worry about it because there's little you can do, but perhaps you can fit this info correctly in your secondaries (in cases where it is applicable).
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I need advice on whether I should submit an academic change request or not. I had listed one of my graduate school courses as health sciences (doesn't count towards BCPM), and found out after I submitted it that it can actually be listed as biology (counts towards BCPM). My AMCAS graduate BCPM is currently listed as 3.79 but would be 3.81 if that course were listed as BCPM. It is a small difference but changes it from the 3.7 range to 3.8 range. Also, my undergrad science GPA was only a 3.38, so I need all the help I can get. BUT I know submitting an academic change request will delay my secondary applications, and it's getting late in the cycle. Should I bother? Also, due to working full time in a lab and another 30 hours at another job, I have only been able to complete 4 secondary applications, so it will obviously take some time to complete the others I have become inundated with today after my AMCAS verification. So should I submit an academic change request since it will take time to complete my remaining secondaries? Or just try to submit ASAP?
This is a matter of opinion and only you can make the final decision, but I would not recommend submitting the request. As you said, we're getting later into the process, and you don't want to wait too long to be complete. Additionally, I think you're overestimating the benefit you will get if this course were to be counted toward BCPM. I know many tables that list admission statistics do so by range (for example, 3.60-3.79), so we tend to think in ranges, but this is not how adcoms read things. In reality, an adcom sees a 3.79 as basically being a 3.8. They also see a 3.81 as basically being a 3.8. Going from a 3.79 to a 3.81 is really not going to have any impact on how your GPA is viewed.
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