*~*~*~*Official AMCAS Questions Thread 2015-2016*~*~*~*

[gonnif]

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Isn't that usually a trucking term?

Edit: A quick Google search shows that every non-dictionary website you get about the term is solely about trucking owner-operators, but Wikipedia and definition pages usually mention that it can be any business in passing before then talking only about owner-operators in the context of trucks. So technically it is any business, it just carries a heavy connotation of trucks.

Its a legal IRS classification as well as depr of labor. In terms of data doctors who file under sub(s) for purposes of taxes would be counted under owner-operator as would a dry cleaner, a deli owner or laywer who does the same

 

[gonnif]

My grades are a 3.8+ and no vital grades.

Was only going to do it for the extra units to show up/the belief that junior spring grades were needed.

They are required but are generally recommended and usually expected. However you might cause more trouble than its worth with AMCAS. I advise leave it alone

 

[mehc012]

Its a legal IRS classification as well as depr of labor. In terms of data doctors who file under sub(s) for purposes of taxes would be counted under owner-operator as would a dry cleaner, a deli owner or laywer who does the same

As I said, it's technically that...and so for a technical form, you use it.

Colloquially, it is inexorably associated with truckers. Thus my confusion.

 

[winterwind_23]

I'm having a Letter Packet sent to AMCAS through the Career Office of my undergraduate institution. Under "Additional authors" field, should I list the author of each of my letters within the packet? Thanks!

 

[mehc012]

I'm having a Letter Packet sent to AMCAS through the Career Office of my undergraduate institution. Under "Additional authors" field, should I list the author of each of my letters within the packet? Thanks!

It's optional, per p59 of the Instructions

If you have entered a Letter Packet, you will be prompted to enter additional authors included in the packet. This information is optional

My school does a Composite letter, and we were told, in no uncertain terms, to list the committee author and ONLY the committee author. However, I'm not sure what the standard protocol is for Letter Packets. Probably doesn't matter

 

[chemist_acs]

Registrar at my UG screwed up my transcript request and didn't include spring semester grades. I got a copy in the mail today which means AMCAS should be getting it any day now also. I've read that if you submit multiple transcripts your application will get delayed. I called AMCAS and they said that as long as the correct version gets to them before application is processed it will be ok. I then called registrar and they mailed another copy of correct transcript to AMCAS while i was on the phone with them. So theoretically there's enough time for them to get it by June 2. I'm still freaking out though. This process is complicated enough without this snag.
So do you guys think I'll be ok with the timing? Anything else i should do to speed this up?

 

[slatewater]

Might seem overly analytical, but my undergrad institution is 4-1-4 semester system. I took a class during the summer at a school that was regular semester system (fall/spring). For that summer class, I would list it as "semester system - summer", right? And not at "4-1-4 semester - summer"?

Also for summer classes I took before my junior year, would I say that that class applied to my sophomore or junior year?

Thanks!

 

[ChillDawg]

Do it by credit amounts as detailed in AMCAS instructions see page 36

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/182162/data/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf

Okay, so if someone goes to CC for 4+ years, then their university transfer grades from their actual junior and senior years at university will be lumped into the 'senior year' gpa along with the last year of community college?
This kinda sucks for me because my strong upward trend once I came to university would essentially be masked in my gpa table. <----Right?
Will acoms ever see/care about just my upper-division/university gpa? @LizzyM ?

 

[LizzyM]

Okay, so if someone goes to CC for 4+ years, then their university transfer grades from their actual junior and senior years at university will be lumped into the 'senior year' gpa along with the last year of community college?
This kinda sucks for me because my strong upward trend once I came to university would essentially be masked in my gpa table. <----Right?
Will acoms ever see/care about just my upper-division/university gpa? @LizzyM ?

AMCAS does it this way:
first ~30 credits = year 1
next ~ 30 credits = year 2
next ~ 30 credits = year 3
all credits beyond ~90 =year 4

If you went to CC part-time and took 14-16 credits per year for 4 years then the first two years would be called Year 1, and the next two years would be called years 2. If you took 28-33 credits per year in community college then, yes, your fourth year at community college plus your university years would all be lumped together as "year 4".

 

[ChillDawg]

Alright, then, thank you.

Would schools never see that I did much better in my last two years, at university?

AMCAS does it this way:
first ~30 credits = year 1
next ~ 30 credits = year 2
next ~ 30 credits = year 3
all credits beyond ~90 =year 4

If you went to CC part-time and took 14-16 credits per year for 4 years then the first two years would be called Year 1, and the next two years would be called years 2. If you took 28-33 credits per year in community college then, yes, your fourth year at community college plus your university years would all be lumped together as "year 4".

 

[LizzyM]

Alright, then, thank you.

Would schools never see that I did much better in my last two years, at university?

They will see every course and every grade if they want to look at the list. That list is shown chronologically so it would be obvious if someone wanted to take the time to look.

 

[pgh41]

A

 

[deleted642188]

A quick question too

my Statistics class gave me a grade for both recitation and lecture for rectitation, should I label my Stats' recitation class a lab class? and for math classes with recitations: are they counted as combined lecture and lab?

 

[gonnif]

I have a question about course classification on AMCAS. I spent freshman year in engineering and then transferred to a different major for my remaining three years. During that time I have several courses with titles such as:

Calculus for Engineers
Multivariable Calculus for Engineers
Engineering Chemistry

Do I count these as engineering courses as they were taken exclusively with engineering students as part of the engineering curriculum? Or should I count them as math/chemistry?

Finally, if I decide to classify these one way and AMCAS changes the designation, is record of that change recorded on my verified application and is it somehow looked at negatively by adcoms?

THANKS!

Classification is by content so Math and Chemistry above should be find for BCPM. And if AMCAS changes it, as long as there are 10 changes or less, it wont have a any delay. It wont be noted to adcoms.

It is a wholly non-issue.

 

[gonnif]

A quick question too

my Statistics class gave me a grade for both recitation and lecture for rectitation, should I label my Stats' recitation class a lab class? and for math classes with recitations: are they counted as combined lecture and lab?

It would seem to logical to list it as a lab

 

[grey_wind]

I geared up to apply last year and it took 4 days for one of my school's transcript to get to AMCAS.

On May 8th I requested the transcripts from the two schools I attended. Only one has arrived so far, and the one that took 4 days last year still hasn't arrived as of this morning. How long I should I give it before I request another copy be sent out? I want to apply as early as I can and this is bugging me so much!

 

[gonnif]

I geared up to apply last year and it took 4 days for one of my school's transcript to get to AMCAS.

On May 8th I requested the transcripts from the two schools I attended. Only one has arrived so far, and the one that took 4 days last year still hasn't arrived as of this morning. How long I should I give it before I request another copy be sent out? I want to apply as early as I can and this is bugging me so much!

Have you got confirmation that it has left your UG institution?

 

[grey_wind]

Have you got confirmation that it has left your UG institution?

Yes, registrar confirmed it was sent out May 8th

 

[gonnif]

Yes, registrar confirmed it was sent out May 8th

US Mail, Processing AMCAS, you need at least 10 business days, so 5/25 it should be processed. If you order another and they both show up it could delay more on confusion. That is, they will go thru one transcript and then put you back in workflow until you come up again and go thru the second completely. That is processing flow.

 

[-----MD]

Letter question:
As a non-traditional applicant, I have a couple of different areas that I received letter from. Is it alright if I currently have:

Committee Letter: This is all letters I got from things I was involved in during my undergrad years. Includes: Professors, Volunteer work, Community activism etc
Letter packet: From a paid clinical job. Includes letters from doctors, department chair etc
Individual letters:
- one from the PI of a research fellowship I did after undergrad
- one from a doctor who I am working with on a patient care advocacy project.

I am concerned that this is too much but I don't really have many other options.

Thoughts?

 

[gonnif]

Will your committee accept letters from outside the campus. If so, you may want them included in the committee.

If not, I dont think you have too much.

 

[winterwind_23]

Does anyone know when AMCAS will begin sending out verified primary applications to medical schools? My undergraduate's pre-health site has the date as July 1, but I couldn't find the information on the AMCAS website!

 

[mehc012]

Does anyone know when AMCAS will begin sending out verified primary applications to medical schools? My undergraduate's pre-health site has the date as July 1, but I couldn't find the information on the AMCAS website!

July 1.
They buried it pretty well...I had a hard time finding it, but it's in the full Important Dates list (which conveniently is not hyperlinked from the partial Important Dates list on the side of most pages.)

https://www.aamc.org/admissions/processingtools/409866/importantdates.html

What you're looking for is the "2016 Data Delivery and Supplemental Products begin" on July 1.

 

[gonnif]

July 1st is scheduled first transmittal from AMCAS to medical schools

 

[TwitchBeGone]

My school allowed us to take Writing Intensive courses to satisfy our English requirement. As a result, I did not take English courses-- rather, I took classes with W in the course name, like HIST 6W and COMP LIT 5W. My transcript designates "WRITING INTENSIVE" under each "W" course. How do I signify this on my AMCAS application?

 

[mehc012]

I have a kind of confusing question; I think I may just be overthinking things too much out of nerves... So I took part in a study abroad in undergrad but faculty from my US college came with me. Thus, I never attended a foreign institution. The study abroad course/grade earned/credits earned is included in my undergrad transcript. There is no separate transcript. I did what the amcas manual instructed for faculty led study abroad programs, which was to add a second entry under schools attended as [college name] - study abroad - country. Now my question is, should I select yes for transcript required? Or not? I've already spoken to two reps and one told me to select yes it is required while the other told me to select no. My concern is that if I select yes for transcript required, when my app is being verified it will get delayed because I have no separate transcript to send to amcas... it's all included on my undergrad transcript. And if I select no, what would the exception reason be??

Apply for a transcript exemption for the foreign school. This is not unusual...pretty much all study abroad courses require you to apply for a transcript exemption, with the reason being "Credit transferred to home institution" or something like that.

This would fall under the following:

Study Abroad Program Sponsored by a U.S. or Canadian Institution:
List the sponsoring institution and the foreign institution in the Schools Attended section. Request a transcript exception for the foreign institution and select the reason, “Foreign institution or study abroad program sponsored by U.S., U.S. territorial or Canadian institution—Credits transferred”. When asked if credit from the foreign school was transferred select “Yes” and enter the name of the sponsoring school in the required field.

...

List study abroad coursework under the foreign college, the foreign listing of your home institution, or the organization at which it was attempted, exactly as it appears on the sponsoring U.S. or Canadian institution's transcript. Do not enter the coursework twice.
 If the sponsoring U.S. or Canadian institution provides letter grades (e.g., A, B, C, etc.) and credit hours convertible to semester hours for each course on their transcript: Enter all required course data. AMCAS will include this coursework in your AMCAS GPAs.
 If the sponsoring U.S. or Canadian institution does not provide letter grades other than Pass/Fail:
Indicate "Pass/Fail" as the Special Course Type and provide all other required course data, entering the transcript grade exactly as it appears on the official transcript of the U.S. or Canadian sponsoring institution.

So you have to list both your home school and the foreign school, but you may request a Transcript Exemption for the foreign one and just list the credits under it as they appear on the transcript of the sponsoring US school.

Hope that helps!

Edit: After reading the post more carefully, I think it sounds more like Faculty-Led Study Abroad. More discussion below by multiple people. For anyone reading the thread for info on this, keep going!

 

[mehc012]

My school allowed us to take Writing Intensive courses to satisfy our English requirement. As a result, I did not take English courses-- rather, I took classes with W in the course name, like HIST 6W and COMP LIT 5W. My transcript designates "WRITING INTENSIVE" under each "W" course. How do I signify this on my AMCAS application?

AMCAS doesn't ask to see whether you fulfilled your English requirement, so there is no need for you to do so.

I imagine you're concerned about this for med schools which require English courses...that seems like something you'd have to discuss with them on a case-by-case basis, probably after being accepted.

 

[gonnif]

Apply for a transcript exemption for the foreign school. This is not unusual...pretty much all study abroad courses require you to apply for a transcript exemption, with the reason being "Credit transferred to home institution" or something like that.

This would fall under the following:

So you have to list both your home school and the foreign school, but you may request a Transcript Exemption for the foreign one and just list the credits under it as they appear on the transcript of the sponsoring US school.

Hope that helps!

It sounds like it was not a foreign but study abroad from his home school. Its on the transcript and should be part of the regular UG. No separate entry

 

[mehc012]

Rule 1: Take A Breath

If your study abroad was sponsored and/or part of home college, it is NOT study abroad (see below).
It is just another semester at your regular college. Do make a separate entry for it.
Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars
Do take a swipe at the Valium salt lick I keep in the student waiting area


American Colleges Overseas
Some schools, although not physically located in the United States or Canada,
have received accreditation from the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, and are thus
not considered foreign institutions and transcripts are required. Courses should be listed
on the AMCAS materials like all other U.S. coursework. U.S. institutions with campuses
overseas (such as the “University of Maryland at Munich”) are considered U.S. colleges
for which transcripts are required and all coursework must be listed

If it was sponsored by the home college, it's still Study Abroad.
If it was a foreign campus of an American college, it was an ACO.

It sounds like it was not a foreign but study abroad from his home school. Its on the transcript and should be part of the regular UG. No separate entry

What they described sounds more like the following:

Faculty-Led Study Abroad Program This scenario applies to coursework you completed while traveling abroad with professors from your home institution for which you received credit. To differentiate between courses taken at your home institution and credits earned while studying abroad, list your home institution twice in the Schools Attended section. Modify the second entry to include your school’s name, the term ‘Study Abroad’ and the city where your study abroad program was completed (i.e. “Georgetown University – Study Abroad – Rome”). An official transcript is required for this coursework

Edit: they beat me to it, sorry!

 

[gonnif]

AMCAS doesn't ask to see whether you fulfilled your English requirement, so there is no need for you to do so.

I imagine you're concerned about this for med schools which require English courses...that seems like something you'd have to discuss with them on a case-by-case basis, probably after being accepted.

I concur; each school has its own prerequisite standards. Those are not checked until after you have taken an offer of acceptance. Some specifically require English and are strict. Others easily waived. I had a nontrad professional journalist, text book editor, and writer for a medical specialty academy accepted at one school that wanted her to take freshman comp. She then got WL into an Ivy which waived the requirement over the phone. Luck of the draw.

Worst that code happen is you are stuck in a class summer before medical school.

 

[gonnif]

If it was sponsored by the home college, it's still Study Abroad.
If it was a foreign campus of an American college, it was an ACO.

I stand corrected by the Right Honorable Gentleman, Billy Goat Gruff. Mr. Speaker, I yield the floor

 

[mehc012]

I stand corrected by the Right Honorable Gentleman, Billy Goat Gruff. Mr. Speaker, I yield the floor

Sorry! I get wayyyy too into rulebooks and instruction manuals. I'll tone it down.

 

[gonnif]

Hmmm... maybe I shouldn't make a separate entry then? The only reason I attempted to was because of pg 51 in the amcas manual -

Faculty-Led Study Abroad Program
This scenario applies to coursework you completed while traveling abroad with professors from your home institution for which you received credit. To differentiate between courses taken at your home institution and credits earned while studying abroad, list your home institution twice in the Schools Attended section. Modify the second entry to include your school’s name, the term ‘Study Abroad’ and the city where your study abroad program was completed (i.e. “Georgetown University – Study Abroad – Rome”). An official transcript is required for this coursework.

I stand corrected, follow the above.

 

[TwitchBeGone]

I concur; each school has its own prerequisite standards. Those are not checked until after you have taken an offer of acceptance. Some specifically require English and are strict. Others easily waived. I had a nontrad professional journalist, text book editor, and writer for a medical specialty academy accepted at one school that wanted her to take freshman comp. She then got WL into an Ivy which waived the requirement over the phone. Luck of the draw.

Worst that code happen is you are stuck in a class summer before medical school.

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[gonnif]

Yay for instruction manuals!!

Since I have no separate transcript for the study abroad, I'm still leaning towards selecting No transcript required & using the reason "Foreign Institution or Study abroad program sponsored by U.S., U.S. territorial or Canadian institution- Credits transferred." then selecting credits transferred to my US school... what do you guys think? I can also send an email to aamc asking this question again, and hopefully they wouldnt give me a third different answer 😵

Edit - I guess my concern is just that if I select transcript required, they will be wondering where that transcript is, since I have nothing to send in to them

Thats why I lean to just list your UG if its all on one transcript. I really dont think any adcom will care. The only advantage would be it might appear as a separate entry for adcom showing you went abroad.

 

[fishingsaint]

I originally emailed AMCAS and asked this question about course work, but I do not completely understand the response; hopefully some one here can help me out. I played college football , so consequently I went to school for 4.5 years (9 semesters) and I am a little confused as to what to assign for my year in college for the last semester. I was thinking I should say I was a senior for semesters 7, 8, and 9. Would you agree? Below is the response from AMCAS. This is a dumb question, but I just don't get exactly what they are saying. Thank you


Once your undergraduate Year in School (FR, SO, JR, SR) has advanced, do not assign the previous status, continue to enter your coursework completed from that point.

 

[mehc012]

I originally emailed AMCAS and asked this question about course work, but I do not completely understand the response; hopefully some one here can help me out. I played college football , so consequently I went to school for 4.5 years (9 semesters) and I am a little confused as to what to assign for my year in college for the last semester. I was thinking I should say I was a senior for semesters 7, 8, and 9. Would you agree? Below is the response from AMCAS. This is a dumb question, but I just don't get exactly what they are saying. Thank you


Once your undergraduate Year in School (FR, SO, JR, SR) has advanced, do not assign the previous status, continue to enter your coursework completed from that point.

Put your first year work as FR, your second as SO, your third as JR, and anything further as SR.

 

[gonnif]

Put your first year work as FR, your second as SO, your third as JR, and anything further as SR.

As he said above for "time" (see below) or do it by credit totals . Either way is acceptable

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/182162/data/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf (p37)
Courses for a Bachelor's degree earned in more than four years should be assigned
statuses of Freshman (FR), Sophomore (SO), Junior (JR), Senior (SR), Senior
(SR), etc

 

[comealongpond12]

Question about Advanced Placement entry: my transcript doesn't lump all AP credit together; it lists them as separate courses (the ones that I got to skip). For the grade for these classes, it says "TCR," for Transfer Credit. When I enter these into AMCAS, should I put "TCR" as per my transcript, or just leave the grade field blank? I'm leaning towards filling it in as "TCR," but I want to make sure it won't cause a problem.

 

[gonnif]

Question about Advanced Placement entry: my transcript doesn't lump all AP credit together; it lists them as separate courses (the ones that I got to skip). For the grade for these classes, it says "TCR," for Transfer Credit. When I enter these into AMCAS, should I put "TCR" as per my transcript, or just leave the grade field blank? I'm leaning towards filling it in as "TCR," but I want to make sure it won't cause a problem.

Leaving it blank when it has something on the transcript would be an issue. Having a "TCR" without defining it would be a problem. On the first AP course put something like (TCR=Transfer Credit)

 

[comealongpond12]

Leaving it blank when it has something on the transcript would be an issue. Having a "TCR" without defining it would be a problem. On the first AP course put something like (TCR=Transfer Credit)

Yeah, I thought I might have to define TCR somehow. Makes sense, thanks.

 

[ChillDawg]

@LizzyM @Goro @gyngyn could one of you please help me with this?

For parental info for Biographic Information, what should I put for one of my parents?
(S)he went to a Technicum in the former Soviet Union (Russian SSR) and got some certification or whatever from that. (Assembling sewing machines or something like that.) It's akin to a vocational school I suppose, but I don't think its quite a 'degree'.
What should I put for education level?
High school graduate? (They graduated high school in USSR)
Some college?

I want to keep it honest, but don't want to overstate their education (the other parent didn't graduate high school)

 

[LizzyM]

For parental info for Biographic Information, what should I put for one of my parents?
(S)he went to a Technicum in the former Soviet Union (Russian SSR) and got some certification or whatever from that. (Assembling sewing machines or something like that.) It's akin to a vocational school I suppose, but I don't think its quite a 'degree'.
What should I put for education level?
High school graduate? (They graduated high school in USSR)
Some college?

I want to keep it honest, but don't want to overstate their education (the other parent didn't graduate high school)

I think you could go with "high school" or "some college" and list the name of the school. From what I've read about Russian education, secondary school ends at age 15 (so after freshman year) and then there can be that 4 year technical school which would seem more like HS age if not HS level material. After a Technicum one can go on to university. I think that makes it similar to vo-tech HS.

 

[dannybht]

Hey guys,

I have a problem with the coursework info. So I went to undergrad from 2010-2014. When I put academic year as 2010-2011 and then put in the "Year in School", I can only select High School while "freshman, sophmore, etc..is grayed out". Anyone with this problem?

 

[mehc012]

Hey guys,

I have a problem with the coursework info. So I went to undergrad from 2010-2014. When I put academic year as 2010-2011 and then put in the "Year in School", I can only select High School while "freshman, sophmore, etc..is grayed out". Anyone with this problem?

Check your High School entry and make sure your graduation date is correct.

 

[ChillDawg]

Yes, I believe that's how it worked according to my parents. Thanks LizzyM!

I think you could go with "high school" or "some college" and list the name of the school. From what I've read about Russian education, secondary school ends at age 15 (so after freshman year) and then there can be that 4 year technical school which would seem more like HS age if not HS level material. After a Technicum one can go on to university. I think that makes it similar to vo-tech HS.

 

[dannybht]

Check your High School entry and make sure your graduation date is correct.

Thanks that was the problem!

 

[noflag]

hey all, so part of that app asks for highest education level of your parent. Does that mean the location where my parent did their medical residency? Just wondering if i should put that under the school since they did their actual medical education in another country.

Also, are there places on secondaries to fill out connections to a school through legacy? is it on most schools secondaries?

 

[gonnif]

hey all, so part of that app asks for highest education level of your parent. Does that mean the location where my parent did their medical residency? Just wondering if i should put that under the school since they did their actual medical education in another country.

Usually highest degree would be MD; residency is typically referred to as training .

Also, are there places on secondaries to fill out connections to a school through legacy? is it on most schools secondaries?

It would be on secondaries if any where

 

[mehc012]

So in case anyone is in this situation in the future (probably unlikely except at my school), here's what happened - I called an amcas rep again and she said that I should make a second listing under schools attended as [college name] - study abroad - country and then list the courses taken abroad here. Then, say that no transcript is needed with the exception reason being consortium/cross-registration program, no separate transcript available and then select that no credits were transferred to a different institution.

That makes a lot of sense, but it's nice to hear AMCAS specifically say that. I think it's a bit of a hole in their Instruction manual. They tell you what to do for other foreign coursework listed on your home institution's transcript, but not in this specific instance (which, I would imagine, is one of the times where it would be most common to have the grades on your home transcript). They definitely did not clarify 100% with their manual and it is going to be a stretch for anyone else to advise you against what is stated in that document. Thank you for coming back and sharing the info!