*~*~*~* Official AMCAS Questions Thread 2020-2021 *~*~*~*

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patronj said:
Hi all I fked up and I didn't separate out my graduate and undergraduate programs into two different institutions and listed them under one college with multiple degrees earned. I sent one transcript for this which includes both my graduate and undergraduate grades sent on May 19. Maybe they are just delayed like what people are experiencing above. Should I separate them out and resend a transcript for both programs? I cannot get ahold of AMCAS. Thanks
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This is probably not a very helpful answer, but I would recommend separating them.. I believe it says to do so in the instruction guide. However, maybe once your application is being verified, AMCAS will automatically fix this. In my opinion, this isn't a huge deal, but hopefully someone else with more experience in this can provide better guidance.
 
Hi all, I'm currently scheduled to take the MCAT on 8/1 for an expedited score release of 8/18 (pushed from 8/15 as of this morning). All MCAT dates for the remainder of the 2020 testing year will have expedited score releases.

I'm thinking of pushing my date out to 8/14 (for a score release date of 9/1 instead of 8/18); do you think two weeks makes a substantial difference/is disadvantageous? Thanks so much!
 
fishberry said:
This is probably not a very helpful answer, but I would recommend separating them.. I believe it says to do so in the instruction guide. However, maybe once your application is being verified, AMCAS will automatically fix this. In my opinion, this isn't a huge deal, but hopefully someone else with more experience in this can provide better guidance.
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Thanks for the input I will try to get ahold of amcas
 
gonnif said:
Have all ready submitted your application?
1) If yes, there is nothing you can do. If you try to withdraw your application you forfeit your right to apply this term (and all your money_
2) If no, just separate them on the application and put a transcript exception for the graduate. There is no need to get another transcript
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No it's not submitted yet. Thank you I will do option number two. AMCAS needs to hire you.
 
gonnif said:
Please explain to me in any way, shape or form that you would do what you think is "better" even though they directly contradict the actual instructions, which makes me wonder if you bothered reading them? Or that you dont bother asking these questions before you submit your applications? Or that first you have to make it past the verifiers before the school ever see the application? or that medical school's who see thousands of applications wouldnt be able to make out what GEN CHEM was?

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Sorry, I was confused before. I thought the “exactly as it appears on the official transcript” part referred to course number only and that the course name meant what is in the catalog. Some classes are independent-study abbreviations of obscure topics. But if we are supposed to abbreviate then I will. Thank you
 
for my preferred address, should I put the post office where my PO Box is? and for permanent just put my condo that I live in? My condo does not receive mail directly, so that's why I would include PO Box address under "preferred".
 
@premedprepa I had the same issue. My PO box is set up where I could have mail sent to it in that way (see https://www.usps.com/pobox/customer-agreement-for-premium-po-box-service-enhancements.pdf for street addressing). AMCAS stated that both are acceptable when I had asked (I also did not know what they meant by both, possibly in the secondary address line?) but I placed it as exactly how USPS instructed and mail was sent in that way (i.e. if AMCAS or schools would send mail I should receive it). I do not think we would receive any mail though, so I would not worry too much.

If you have mail sent to your PO box as usual, I would just have it set up in the way you indicated in your post.
 
Hey! My MCAT is scheduled for July 31st currently with score release August 18th. I haven't submitted my primary yet and will most likely send it after I take my exam. So with a primary submission of August 10th ish and pre-writing secondaries will I be able to squeeze into the back end of "on time" ? I have a competitive GPA, above average E.C's, MCAT FL avg of 510, and have all my LORs ready and waiting if that makes any difference. I apologize if this has been asked an infinite number of times already. Feeling extremely neurotic at the moment. Thank you for any advice.
 
gonnif said:
Submit your primary NOW to a SINGLE THROWAWAY school. Either a school that you would never attend (like an OOS) or a very high reach that if you get a utter fantastic MCAT score you might have a shot. You do this for verification only. Then you can add other schools AFTER MCAT score.
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I'm sorry I should've clarified. My primary isn't complete yet. I still have the PS and work/activities to work on. When I said I would be sending it August 10th, those days would be entirely dedicated to finishing my application. Unless I should shift focus toward finishing my Primary over my MCAT studying?
 
Sounds good. Immediately after my MCAT I will get the primary in quickly and cross my fingers verification doesn't take the potential 8 weeks I saw. Thanks!
 
If I am starting an SMP this fall, how would I indicate that on my application? Should I include it in to the schools attended section?
 
gonnif said:
If you are staring an SMP this fall, why are you applying to medical school prior to having any done work in it to show you are improving? You should apply AFTER you have done significant work in the SMP. In some ways, I would consider expressing that you are starting one reason to lean to pre-II rejection as you do not have the evidence to show you can academically handle medical school. Why should a school take the resources and time to consider you this year when next year they will have the evidence?
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The sentence I bolded above, not sure what you mean by that.

I have evidence of improvement. My GPA is low-ish, sure, but also comes with a huge upward trend. The rest of my application is strong. I have quality ECs, essays, and a solid MCAT score. This SMP offers a guaranteed interview for this cycle, which if successful would allow me to matriculate in fall 2021. I've taken gap years, gained experience. Personally, I am just ready to apply.
 
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gonnif said:
1) is your goal to simply apply to medical school or is your goal to actually be accepted and become a doctor?
2) Does the SMP guarantee interviews if you have certain GPA/MCAT, which assumes you will maintain those goals
3) an admissions committee (outside of this SMP) wont make those assumptions nor will they spend time / resources to take a chance on you until you have those grades as part of your record, which will not be with this cycle. Hence, an adcom must reject 80%+ pre-II and a weak applicant that is just starting SMP does not yet have the evidence to show that he/she will be successful. I would wait for what they achieve in the SMP before I would invest limited resources into them.
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Interview is guaranteed with certain GPA/MCAT. I will not have a problem with that aspect. I will have first semester grade updates by December. With how delayed the current cycle seems to be, I don't even expect to hear back from some schools until after the new year, especially since I will most likely be complete mid-August. I don't see too much of an issue with that

Also have a friend from my undergrad with same exact GPA (without the upward grade trend I have), lower MCAT than mine, and similar ECs that got an acceptance at a pretty solid mid-tier MD school on the west coast, which is honestly one of my top choices. N=1, I know, but that is just proof to me that there are a lot of other things that go into selecting applicants besides GPA. I feel that the rest of my app will be enough to at least stand a chance. I'll give it to you having an incomplete SMP may not help my chances, but it certainly will not HURT them
 
Is it possible to reassign letters of recommendation? I just realized that one of my letters does not fit a school's requirements so I would like to change it. However, I can only add letters, but cannot replace them? What is the best course of action for this? I have already submitted amcas
 
Hey @gonnif!

Two questions:

1) I have a Master's degree in Medical Science with a collaborative specializaiton program in Cardiovascular Sciences. Do I put any of the Med Sci/Cardio. Sci in the Major/Minor sections on AMCAS or do I simply leave it as Master of Science without any details?

2) A few weeks into my shadowing, my doctor asked if I would be comfortable taking patient history under his supervision and I agreed. Is taking patient history frowned upon by adcomms? I was wondering if I should talk about it since I'm thinking of including the experience as one of my most meaningful since I had patient interactions rather than passively observe a physician.
 
Hey everyone!
I have a question about fee assistance program. Unfortunately I found out about this program after my AMCAS application was submitted (now verified). My family does qualify for the FAP and it has been granted to me. However, since my app was submitted, the FAP can't be used for the primary (even if I want to add additional designations). My question is though, will schools know I have received FAP? I am hoping that my secondary fees could be reduced as the cost of those was limiting factor last year in terms of the number of apps I was able to submit. Would I have to send proof of my FAP to the schools individually or will the AAMC automatically send this information to them?
 
Im submitting my primary on Monday, will it be considered late this cycle? I was waiting on my transcripts getting received and I also have my MCAT mid-July.
 
Can anyone tell me how I would list a future SMP on my application. Trying to submit today
 
gonnif said:
You cant; besides submitting before you actually have any grades from the SMP makes no sense
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I understand that you think it makes no sense. Aside from that point:

Couldn't I add it under colleges attended/include future coursework and mark "transcripts not required" so that my app can be verified, and then just update individual schools with my fall semester grades in December?
 
Can I still apply to 20 schools for free with FAP if I do the 1 school verification initially? I already have been approved for FAP but just waiting on MCAT.
 
I'm having serious issues with my transcripts. I sent 2 parchment electronic transcripts in early May which are still not received by AMCAS. I've pretty much have given up on those after getting them to "escalate" it a few times. I've also had an issue where they told me that they made a mistake with associating my transcripts with the wrong school and had to "re-associate" my transcripts. Has anyone heard of this? I thought they fixed this issue, but weeks later they're telling me the same thing. They're saying I have to wait 15 business days to request a transcript re-association, which I don't get why I have to wait all of this time and quite frankly don't know why they never fixed it. I am so fed up with this. What am I supposed to do? It literally looks like I won't be able to get into med school because of their incompetence.
 
Question about Letter Writer Title!
One of my letter writers is a professor I had my sophomore year at X University and has since moved to Y University (where she is currently). In AMCAS, should I put her title, office address and University affiliation as the school where I interacted with her? Or her current title and school affiliation? I assumed that I should put the one that is relevant to our interaction (X University) but wanted to double check. Not sure if this matters also but the school where we had a relationship and interacted is much more "prestigious" than the school she is at now but she has a much higher position at the new school (chair of a department).
 
gonnif said:
where you had affiliation is fine
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Thank you for your response!! One more question - when she does her letterhead for the letter, should I ask her to use her affiliation from the school where we interacted or her current one? I would assume to use her current title/affiliation, but again wanted to double check. Thank you again for taking the time to respond!!!
 
Question about Research entries in Work/Activities section!

During one summer, I worked on 2 different clinical studies in the same lab because neither had full-time positions but both had part-time positions. I was wondering if I should include these in 2 separate entries for the Work and Activities section? I was confused on what to do because they were both in the same lab during the same summer and I played minor roles in both. I tried writing a 700 character description including both and its hard to fit both in and do them justice. The studies were completely separate from one another and had different PI's. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks in advance!
 
I have IB credits that were transferred and accepted by the us institution. The official transcript doesn’t list courses that the credit was awarded for but it does include the number of hours transferred and GPA for all IB courses. I have a WES evaluation, should I send it to Amcas too?
 
I requested a transcript from one of my schools in the middle of may. On june 19th I received an email from amcas stating that my transcript was received on 2nd of June. Does that mean my verification process will started on the 19th of june or the 2nd of june when it was received? Thanks in advance.
 
Not sure if this has been pointed out in the thread but should we expect a dip this year given the circumstances? I'd imagine theres some historical data for dips after other economic crisis' etc.
 
Hey all, I just had a question about how to go about designating a chemistry lecture and lab I had as repeats on the AMCAS. So my first semester I took CHEM 1 Lecture as an Audited class, and CHEM 1Lab for a grade, with a B-, however, this has been replaced on my transcript with 'R' in place of the grade.

The following semester I took them again, CHEM 1 now for grade with an A, and CHEM 1Lab again for a grade with an A.

Now for denoting them on the AMCAS, should I denote both attempts for each course as "Repeat (R)?" or should I just denote the second attempt of each one. Additionally, can I double check does the AMCAS even consider an Audited course to be a 'repeat,' I know it doesn't for withdraws?
 
@gonnif I already turned in my application for this cycle, and it was verified. However, I was just taken off the waitlist at a school recently. How do I withdraw my amcas application for this year? It says that I'm unable to since it's already verified.
 
So when I submitted AMCAS I was supposed to move in a week so I put down the address I was moving to (just a few blocks away). However, I ended up not moving there. I may stay where I am and I may move elsewhere (still same neighborhood). So I have no idea what my address will be most of the cycle. What should I do? I could put down my parents’ address so I don’t miss anything important, but it’s a different state than I’m in and claiming residency in.
 
Submitted my primary two weeks ago, andI just realized I forgot to put "and lab" with my science courses that were combined lecture/lab. I did check the box for this option, though; just didn't include it in the course title. Is this something I should mention in secondaries that have "update us/things you didn't include in your AMCAS" questions? Will AMCAS fix it when they verify?
 
Justapremedguy said:
So when I submitted AMCAS I was supposed to move in a week so I put down the address I was moving to (just a few blocks away). However, I ended up not moving there. I may stay where I am and I may move elsewhere (still same neighborhood). So I have no idea what my address will be most of the cycle. What should I do? I could put down my parents’ address so I don’t miss anything important, but it’s a different state than I’m in and claiming residency in.
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Mailing address is one of the few things you can update on your app, so do that when you know your new address.
 
gonnif said:
1) With the Pandemic, timing and just how a normal cycle usually goes can not applied this year. Put your expectations aside
2) schools understand how difficult this cycle will be from getting transcripts from UG to AMCAS and then getting applications processed thru AMCAS
3) Schools do not evaluate, review, or issue interview invites based on some first come, first served basis nor do they hand they all interviews out at once. Reviews and interview invites are based on quality and competitiveness of the applicant with stronger applicants looked at earlier
4) At best, when admissions is operating at full capacity (which isnt until at least mid-August until early September) schools can only evaluate and review a few to several hundred applications a week. With several thousands applications, it can take up to 4-16 weeks (1-4 months) after your application is complete for evaluation and review to occur
5) With several schools already noting the interview cycle with go thru March 2021, I would suggest that being complete by Oct 1 this cycle is still ontime for solid applicants across most programs and frankly beyond, I would also suggest 20%-25% of interview invites will go out after the new year
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Hi Gonnif! Would complete by mid-sept still be ok for applicants with mediocre stats?
 
This is a question regarding combined transcripts.

I have taken classes from 2 community colleges (mesa cc and chandler gilbert cc) and have listed both schools on my application. Both the schools are in the the maricopa community colleges network which only sends out a combined transcript (my transcripts for both schools would be on this transcript). I sent amcas this transcript, but my application main page indicates that the transcript for only one of the colleges has been received. Is this cause for concern? Should I send AMCAS two copies of the same transcript? I scoured through the AMCAS applicant guide but couldn't find anything. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I think I have to request a transcript exception.
 
Thank you @gonnif . I have not yet submitted my application. If I request a transcript exception on one of the colleges, should I send a second copy of the transcript?
 
Does anybody know if any medical schools are conducting virtual interviews this cycle due to coronavirus? If so, what medical school schools are currently doing that for this cycle?
 
gonnif said:
Assume all medical schools will be doing so for the 2020=2021 cycle
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Great. Thank you. Also, just to confirm, if you resubmit your application since you have to add another letter of recommendation that does not change your queue in line for verification right? You’re still at the same position?
 
For the activities section I want to describe my clinical volunteering I've done at a few hospitals. I volunteered at around 3 locations pretty evenly, and I've amassed around ~300 hours. How should I go about consolidating them into one activity for the AMCAS? Should I just have a general description of volunteering (it was pretty much the same responsibilities at each facility) and should I just pick the most recent hospital to list as the contact? I'm just concerned that no one volunteer coordinator could confirm my 300 hours, since I've done around 100 each for each hospital.
 
UnPocoLoco said:
For the activities section I want to describe my clinical volunteering I've done at a few hospitals. I volunteered at around 3 locations pretty evenly, and I've amassed around ~300 hours. How should I go about consolidating them into one activity for the AMCAS? Should I just have a general description of volunteering (it was pretty much the same responsibilities at each facility) and should I just pick the most recent hospital to list as the contact? I'm just concerned that no one volunteer coordinator could confirm my 300 hours, since I've done around 100 each for each hospital.
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gonnif said:
You can do this a few ways. I suggest if they are all similar you somehow title/heading/organization with all hospitals (eg Hospital A/Hospital B), put total hours, you can use the repeat the function for dates or simply overall beginning and end dates. Open with
"Volunteered with similar duties at:
Hospital A (dates / hourses
Hospital B (dates/hours contact name/phone
Hospital C (dates/hours contact name/phone

Then describe
@Catalystik can likely give a better way to do this
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-Title: Multiple Hospital Volunteer Positions.
-Dates in the header can be all inclusive for all the gigs. Total Hours in the header is the total for all three.
-Header info should have most recent hospital and contact

-Narrative: Give general description that applies to all the positions.

-At the end (in reverse chronological order):
Hospital A (dates /sub-total hours
Also:
Hospital B (dates/sub-hours, contact name/phone
Hospital C (dates/sub-hours, contact name/phone

If you have space, you could mention the department you volunteered in, too.
 
gonnif said:
that is correct
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Do you have to resubmit your application if you added one more letter of recommendation? If so, how do you do that? AMCAS says they received my letter of recommendation, but there's no place to resubmit it; when I hover over it, it doesn't allow me to resubmit it. FYI I originally submitted my application on 6/18 and it has been marked "Review for review" since then. Thanks.
 
Hi all, so I'm running into an issue with a letter writer. I have 4 letters but am waiting for a science letter to come in, he said he'll have it in today but I'm worried by the time its sent in and received by AMCAS it'll be too late for the first wave of apps sent out. Is it possible to assign the letters I have to schools and submit those ones to schools and then add his on to schools that require 2 science letters?

Or should they mainly just be in by the time secondaries are submitted? i.e in a week or so
 
Due to coronavirus this year, what's considered "early" for having your application verified and processed? Just because 1 of my schools took forever to send out my transcript, my application is way behind. Everything besides that was great. At this rate it doesn't look like I'll be verified until August 14th. Where does that place me in terms of a scale that goes from early, okay, late, really delayed?
 
On the part of the AMCAS app about "Childhood Information", am I correct in interpreting the yes/no question about "Family Assistance Programs" as pertaining to the childhood period of the applicant, not to that of his/her parents?
 
Hi! On secondaries, would you recommend that abbreviations be redefined in each individual essay for a particular school, or is okay to write out something like "emergency department (ED)" in the first essay and then use only "ED" if/when I include it in another essay from the same school? Thanks!
 
Hi! So at the time of my primary application, I didn't put projected hours on my work and activities for a research position I began in February because I ended up being furloughed in June because of COVID 19 (date to be brought back was TBD at the time & didn't want to lie..). I was recently told that I'd be brought back and I'll be working full time again...how should I describe this / the expected hours I plan on completing in my secondaries? And will this hurt me because I didn't put the projected hours? Thanks!
 
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