*~*~*~*Official AMCAS Questions Thread 2018-2019*~*~*~*

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Members don't see this ad.
Dancing247 said:
Regarding "Year in School" designation: If I hit 35 credits in the spring of my Freshmen year, but still have one other courses to add for that quarter, do I list the year in school as "Sophomore" for the one remaining course?

Also, a course with "Incomplete" (e.g. "2.0/I") is or is not counted in the credit count? It counted towards the GPA.
Click to expand...
Once I hit 30 credits (middle of the spring semester of my FR year), I classified the rest of those credits (until 59) as SO credits.
🙂
 
Premed0523 said:
Does anyone know how I am supposed to enter my degrees if I am receiving both a BS in chem and an AS in business on May 2018 from the same school? Do I have to enter the school twice, or can I put both of them under the same school entry. If I put them under the same school entry how can I designate which major is for which degree?
Click to expand...

You can put more than one degree per school. You can designate which major corresponds to which degree as well. I did this. Just add a degree to the same school entry and it should make sense.
 
buckoh24 said:
I had the same situation. Since you didnt have a HS diploma yet, its still considered high school. I would say to designate it as such and start your fall 2016 semester as sophomore semester. I had 2 years of duel enrollment and went 4 years after that but my AMCAS had High School while my first year at my 4 year school was designated as being a junior on my transcripts when I started.
Click to expand...

That makes a lot of sense, thank you so much! So I'll just start out as a sophomore for the AP courses and for my first actual semester in college.
 
gonnif said:
I dont think you do, and it is unlikely to cause an issue
Click to expand...

Yeah I checked with AMCAS as well and they said you don't have to attach a transcript request form for institutions who are approved to send electronic versions of your transcript.
 
If 5/6 of my letters that are being submitted are dated recently (i.e. April or May 2018), but 1 letter (letter from shadowing a physician) is dated from last year (i.e. April 2017), would that look weird since that letter is 1 year older in comparison to the other ones, or not really? I know your application has to be "fresh" and "balanced" overall, but was wondering if that would be something minor and nothing to stress about. Thanks
 
gonnif said:
I am afraid I do not have an answer on this. The new applicant guide talks about every post-secondary institution, not just accredited colleges anymore. It also has a section on if institution is closed, you need something official (see page 16 applicant guide). Since the credits were transferred, you may need this. I would suggest that if you have the former business name, you can search within the state you went to this program for business listing (usually under the state govt department of state and/or business entity search) to show its closed and the state dept of education may have the records
Click to expand...

In case anyone else runs into this situation, here’s what I got from amcas when I called:

If you attended a school that closed, there will be some sort of archived records at the state dept of education (or the dept of labor and commerce in nj). You call that dept and ask them to look it up for you. Then they will give you a transcript request form to send them (which you send along with the amcas transcript request form). If there is an archived transcript, they will send it. If there is not (which is my case), they will draft a letter saying that no transcript is available.
 
So I will maybe or maybe not be taking classes this summer. Since I am not sure, should I still include them in my future coursework? Say I am taking a class this July-August... should I send AMCAS a new transcript after verification with these courses or do I need to send medical schools the new transcript with the new grades for them to consider me for II?
 
Also, am I supposed to include myself in this question? lol: How many people lived in your primary household during the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen?
 
I have taken a few DSSTs and one CLEP since I’ve been in. I have the transcript order form to send wherever it needs to go. However, do I list these under JST even though Air Force doesn’t technically have a JST?
 
gonnif said:
No dont include; there is no requirement to have them
Click to expand...

Okay, but what about for classes that are required or recommended by med schools prior to matriculation? For example, I see some schools want a computer science or ethics course to be taken. I did not take these in undergrad so I have to do them as non-degree before matriculation. Should I include these on AMCAS so that those schools know I will be doing them and won't reject me based on the fact that I haven't taken them?
 
gonnif said:
No that is it not how it works.

You need to have these DSST and CLEP exam credits to be sent to a college where credit be awarded by the school and put on that school’s transcript. This is the transcript you would need to request.

The good news is if you havent done the above or no school has given you credit, you do not need to report them on AMCAS
Click to expand...

Two of the courses were used for the completion of my CCAF. So would all I have to do is send AMCAS my CCAF transcript? Also, if I obtained my CCAF after my undergraduate degree, would I list it as a post-bac undergrad?
 
So my university granted me credits from my military service; my transcript lists it under "Transfer, Test, and/or Study Abroad Credit Applied: Armed Forces."

How should I report this? Life Experience credit?
 
1. Based on some of the stuff you're saying gonnif, after being verified by one school (throwaway school), there's no point in even adding other actual schools you want to/would like to attend until you have your MCAT score uploaded to AMCAS? I ask because I won't know my MCAT score till Mid-July, but am trying to send in my application ASAP so by the first week of June, I have everything in my application (minus MCAT score and possibly 1-2 letters of recommendation).

2. Having said that, let's say I submit it by June 1st and have everything processed and verified by Mid june (ideally), once again at that point I won't know which schools to add to my school list since I won't know my MCAT score right? The only way to guess what schools I'd apply to is by gauging how "I think I did" on my MCAT exam right?

3. Typically when do secondary applications get sent out after you submit your application and get verified/processed?

Thanks in advance
 
Quick Question - I work as a medical assistant in a private practice, which I've classified as paid employment under medical/clinical. The thing is, those hours are also a significant portion of my "shadowing" hours, since I spend a good part of my job observing and following the doctors, as well as being involved / privy to their diagnoses and thought processes. Will it look bad that I don't have as many hours actually classified under "Physican Shadowing/Clinical Observation"? Or will it be self-explanatory based on what I put in the description for the job?
 
gonnif said:
1) while you are right in how this will be processsed, you do not get into medical school because you are first,you get in because you are good. Therefore focusing on getting AMCAS in when you should focusing on MCAT prep is having priorities out of order.

2) adding schools to an application based on how you THINK you did on MCAT instead of waiting until you KNOW how you did is risky at best and is one of top ten premed mistakes

3) Secondaries can be sent anytime from when you submit (prior to verification) to 3 months for schools that do full screening. Additionally no school will do an initial screen nor begin any evaluation without MCAT score.
Click to expand...

I see, okay thank you gonnif. For the one "throwaway" school that we apply to for verification purposes, should we upload letters of recommendation to that school when applying, or no since you're just using that as a means to verify your application? I would assume however that regardless if you're using it get to verified or not, the majority of med schools will still require some letters of recommendation, so I think I may have just answered my own question hah. Please verify when you can, thank you.
 
gonnif said:
You do not need letters for having AMCAS verified. You would need letters only if you are sending in secondary. And you should have no reason to pay the fee and file a secondary to a throwaway school that you arent going to attend. That would simply dumb
Click to expand...
Yeah that makes sense, I forgot that you don't need to have your letters uploaded for verification purposes. Okay so I'll just apply to that one throwaway school without assigning any letters of recommendation to it even if I happen to have all of my letters already uploaded to AMCAS by that point. Thanks gonnif
 
Ok so this is my first time hearing about having a throwaway school, but that makes sense.

Should I still have a throwaway school even if I'm getting my MCAT score back in a couple weeks?
 
gonnif said:
No that is ridiculous. You cant even START to submit the AMCAS for nearly a month
Click to expand...

Never mind, disregard my question. I didn’t realize that the throwaway-school thing only applies to people receiving a late MCAT score.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
I transferred from a community college to a 4 year, then went back and took anatomy at the community college after graduation. Since there was a 2 year gap in between, how should I input it in the schools attended section?

Also, is community college under "undergrad" or "junior college" ?
 
Hello just 2 clarifying questions after listening to the amcas general coursework tips


1. my transcript states general chemistry as "Gen'l Chemistry" am i supposed to enter it with this abbreviation or write general chemistry

2. The video makes no mention of this but the guide does, when entering course number if my class is "BIO 100" am i adding just the 100 or the BIO prefix as well

Thanks in advance
 
Last edited:
I know we're supposed to put down classes in the order they appear in the transcript, which is what I've been doing. But for some reason certain semesters in AMCAS have classes that are out of order... is this fine? All of my semesters are still in chronological order, it's just that a few of the classes have been rearranged for some reason.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
initialize said:
I know we're supposed to put down classes in the order they appear in the transcript, which is what I've been doing. But for some reason certain semesters in AMCAS have classes that are out of order... is this fine? All of my semesters are still in chronological order, it's just that a few of the classes have been rearranged for some reason.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...
i notice mine is doing this as well, i have one class taken in the 1st semester which is showing up grouped with the second semester classes and obviously have been putting them in chronological order
 
How would I go about marking down a course that was a summer internship that my school gave me credit for? It was a degree requirement and was given 1 credit and a grade for it
 
gonnif said:
I am not sure what your question is? just mark it as it says on transcript
Click to expand...

Sorry, to specify, the "did this course include a lab" section. The internship was neither lecture nor lab since it was at an outside company.
 
Sorry these questions might have been addressed already but just to confirm... on my transcript AP shows up as a lump of credit under "Advance Placement", should I just put one entry under first year, first quarter, course name "Advance Placement", classify it as "other" (I took a bunch of AP exams in different subjects, only psych and calc were accepted to replace pre-reqs but that's only shown on my degree audit but not transcript) and how ever many AP credits is shown on my transcript, i.e 30 or 40?
Also, I know we're supposed to enter courses in the order listed on our transcript... but is it okay if I entered AP last, even tho they were listed separately before first quarter grades? It's currently showing up after my first quarter grades for some reason (just wondering if I can be spared from re-entering everything >_<) Thank you very much!!
 
I attended a school for undergrad from 2012-2016, then returned this year to the exact same school to complete some pre-reqs (spring 2018, and will be taking more this fall). On the AMCAS "Colleges Attended" Section, do I list these as separate entries? Because it asks for program type and undergraduate and post baccalaureate undergraduate are both options. So would I list the institution once as "2012-2018", as in TMDSAS, or list it twice, once for 2012-2016 and once for 2018?

If I list them separately, it will generate 2 different ID numbers and transcript requirements, right? I'm a bit confused by this, since on TMDSAS I simply listed the institution and the years attended regardless of gaps, then filled in terms.

Thanks!
 
When filling out coursework information, the 2019 amcas applicant guide says "If you have been enrolled part-time or have had interrupted attendance, you should use the following ranges to determine your appropriate status for each term":

High School (HS) College-level coursework taken while in high school
Freshman (FR) 0 through 35 semester hours
Sophomore (SO) 36 through 65 semester hours
Junior (JR) 66 through 95 semester hours
Senior (SR) 96+ semester hours

My question is are we supposed to keep track of how many combined units we've had up until that point in our academic career when considering the status (i.e. FR, SO, JR, SR), or do we just determine the status for that particular college based on how many units we've earned at that particular college? What I mean is let's say I started college in 2006 and I took for instance 45 units at one community college, but then went on to another community college and continued my coursework there. Would I have to be keeping track of the total units since inception in order to determine what "status" it would fall into, or would I simply consider the amount of units I've only taken at that particular college for that particular time period? Let me know if this makes sense. I'm thinking I would have to be keeping track of how many units I had taken up until that particular time period.

Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
gonnif said:
You can use credits to establish status or you can use academic year overall, not per college

So if you have 45 credits across three colleges in one academic year (summer, fall, spring in that order)right out of HS, you can call that all freshman year or mostly freshman and partly sophomore.
Click to expand...
I think I get what you're saying, yeah. I ended up following that rubric that they showed and went from freshmen all the way to senior and Post-Bacc.
 
I have another question about course entry. One of the classes I took is stated like this on my transcript and was wondering what to assign for credit hours and how to fill it out perhaps.

PSY 301 PSY PREPROFESSION UA: 0.0, UE: 1.0, GP: 0.0, GR: CR

UA = Units attempted
UE = Unites earned
GP = Grade points
GR= Grade
 
I have a question about letters of recommendation. I had a doctor that I shadowed write me a letter but when I went to interfolio to see what they checked for, everything is good, but it says that the letter head that it's on is non-official. I'm wondering if this would be a big deal when processing my application and for moving through the application verification process. I have reached out to the doctor a couple of times but he's very busy and doesn't have the time to resubmit the letter again and was wondering if I should be worried about something like this, or no?
 
So since it's not an an official letterhead, then it has "less impact" even if it's a great letter according to the letter writer? I'm still planning on submitting it but if I was to reach out to him again it might be an issue since he's so busy and I'd have to make him go through the process of submitting it online again. You wouldn't submit it if you were in my position?
 
Under work/activities section when you input "start date to end date", let's say you did volunteer work at a hospice for 4 years, but you're technically still part of the hospice staff but not actively doing volunteer work beyond that 4th year, would you incorporate the time that you're not actively seeing patients as part of the end date (i.e. Saying you volunteered until May of 2018) since you're still technically a volunteer there, or would you only incorporate the time frame in which you were an active volunteer (i.e. saying you volunteered until May of 2017)?

Thanks
 
gonnif said:
1) the lack of letter is least important issue
2) even if it is an utterly great letter that isnt the most important
3) it is from a doctor you shadowed, which usually are short, passive observational activties

Virtually all shadowing letters are utterly great in praise for applicant with absolutely no evidence of any length or depth of relationship or interaction with candidate. Most are just worthless to an adcom
Click to expand...
Ah, I see, thank you very much. In regards to letters of recommendation you know how it's suggested to submit 2 science letters and 1 non-science letter, or so some schools say? If you get a letter from a science professor with whom you had a great relationship with and took 2 consecutive classes with him, would it be an issue if you ended up receiving a B in both classes? I'm aware that the quality of the letter outweighs the quantity of letters and since adcom members can already see the grade you received on your transcripts, the letter can speak volumes more. With this logic, I would assume that it's okay to get a letter from a professor even if you received a B in both consecutive classes. Please give me your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.
 
AquaticSunrise13 said:
So let's say I'm taking my MCAT on June 16th 2018 and I won't be receiving my results until July 18th 2018. Assuming I have everything else input into my primary application and only 1 "throwaway school for verification", I'm planning on submitting it as soon as I can in June so it can get processed and verified.

1. For the throwaway school, should it be a school you don't really plan on attending since you're terming it a "throwaway school", and so it'll just be used for the purposes of verifying your application, or should it be considered a school you want to attend?

2. Considering this is my particular situation, do you recommend sending in everything (minus the MCAT score and maybe a couple of letters of recommendation) as early in June as possible, or what would be the most practical and efficient timeline to submit everything?

3. Do you happen to know which majority of med schools have an automated process for screening your application based on solely MCAT and GPA? I've heard this is pretty common among the UC med schools in California, as well as the top tier ones in California (i.e. Stanford).

4. Based on your bolded comment I should just go ahead and submit my application without an MCAT score, and only use one school as a throwaway school so I can get my application verified right?
Click to expand...
Just out of curiosity, why is better to submit an application without an MCAT score vs with an MCAT score (assuming you have one by the first week of June for instance)?
 
gonnif said:
Its not. There is little difference in the time there with no benefit. This would be only beneficial to soothe neurotic premed minds
Click to expand...
Oh ok, I was asking because in a previous comment on this thread you said that "Submitting an application with an MCAT score is one of most common and worst mistakes a premed can make", so I was curious as to why.
 
gonnif said:
It should have read WITHOUT MCAT SCORE
Click to expand...

Oh wow that definitely makes that statement different then! I'm planning on submitting my application (primary) without an MCAT score since I won't have the results until July 18th (as I've mentioned in a previous post).

But if that's the case then perhaps I should wait until mid-July to see my results and THEN add the other med schools I want to apply to.

1. That would be better since you don't waste time filling our secondaries to schools you may not be accepted into since your MCAT score might not be in the range of what they're looking for right?

2. At the same time, however, by waiting till mid July to get your scores, you'll be under a bigger time crunch for filling out secondaries right?
 
For the biographic/self-identification question (aka stating that I am white), AMCAS states that I should not fill out the section if I reside in the European Union. I will be living here until after I plan to submit the application, though I am a US citizen, and therefore shouldn't fill it out according EU law (I presume?). Will not filling out the section cause any issues with admissions committees?
 
If you listed a particular experience you had as one of your most meaningful under your work and activities section should you be getting a letter of recommendation from that organization/supervisor , or not necessarily?
 
Hello, this is my first time posting.
I am a nontraditional and have a few questions regarding the schools attended part. Sorry it's a little bit confusing but hopefully you can fallow...
So I took an undergraduate class in high school at university X. After HS, I went to university Y for one semester. After the first semester I transferred to university Z, and studied 2 semesters there. Then I took a 4 year gap and returned to university Z to finish an associate degree. Finally, I transferred back to university X where I completed my bachelors.

Questions:
1) From previous post I understand that I should list university X twice. One for the high school class and one for my final undergraduate degree. Correct?
2) Should I also list university Z twice? one before the 4 year gap and one after when I returned to complete my associate?

Thanks in advance!
 
One big question:

***I have just completed a post-bacc at the same institution I did my graduate degree (several years ago). All of my coursework, graduate and post-bacc, is listed on a single transcript. However, I have two separate entries for schools attended on AMCAS, and two different Transcript IDs. Do I need to submit my transcript from this institution twice? One for graduate coursework and one for post-bacc?
 
gonnif said:
No, do a transcript exception for the second entry
Click to expand...

Okay, so I've changed the second college entry and given the proper reason for the exception request. Now the college entry says "Transcript required: No". Is this all I needed to do? I don't see any link to a "request form" as it's referenced in the applicant guide...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

chilly_md
  • Sticky
*~*~*~* Official AMCAS Questions Thread 2025-2026 *~*~*~*
2
Replies
82
Views
9K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
wysdoc
  • Sticky
*~*~*~* Official TMDSAS Questions Thread 2025-2026 *~*~*~*~*
2 3
Replies
115
Views
7K
fishbonehole
F
chilly_md
*~*~*~* Official AMCAS Questions Thread 2024-2025 *~*~*~*
Replies
24
Views
9K
diltiazemm
diltiazemm
chilly_md
~*~*~*~*~* Official Letters of Evaluation Questions Thread 2025-2026 *~*~*~*~*~
2
Replies
70
Views
4K
chilly_md
chilly_md
wysdoc
  • Locked
*~*~*~* Official TMDSAS Questions Thread 2024-2025 *~*~*~*~*
5 6 7 8 9
Replies
443
Views
69K
wysdoc
wysdoc
Top