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

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I asked a TA to write an LoR and have the Professor sign off on it, only now the professor asked me what that looks like and... I don't know? I feel incredibly stupid, but I couldn't find an answer to this question. How do I go about doing this?

Full disclosure: I asked the TA because she was the one that graded everything and to whom I asked specific questions. It was an online class, but it's my only recent science class. It was through a 4 year university and had an online lab. It was an unusual request, but I did strongly in the class and I know other students didn't do as well.

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gonnif said:
it looks like the faculty member of the course has trust in the opinion of the TAs who are working with the actual students
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Thanks. So does he just sign under the TA, or does she attach a statement from him that says "I trust the opinion of my TA," so the schools know? Sorry if this seems like a small detail, I just don't want to do anything to jeopardize my application.

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Hi all,

I am wondering about one of the hobbies I have on my Work and Activities draft. This may be a dumb question, but how good would you have to be at said hobby to write it down? For example, I love dance roller-skating, and I probably roller-skate at least 3 days a week, but I don't have any youtube videos or clips of me doing it and I'm certainly no master at it, but I enjoy doing it for stress relief with my friends. What do you think, put it in or leave it out?
 
So I went ahead and submitted my app, and have been working on my school list. A couple of the schools I'm considering have a physio/additional english prereq for matriculation, so if I decide to apply there and take these courses this coming fall at a CC what will this mean for my application? I did not place them as projected courses because I wasn't thinking about it/still am not sure that I want to do it. Will I need to do some sort of update/addition to AMCAS or is this something I can just tell the school that requires it later?
 
How do I classify courses about foreign cultures? I've taken courses in East Asian studies, Arabic studies, French studies, (all literature & writing intensive) but the classes and course work are taught in English. However they do count for foreign language majors/minors. For now, I have them listed in Foreign Language & Literature.
 
gonnif said:
1) AMCAS in not used to check prereqs
2) prereqs are typically checked until after you have an acceptance
3) there is no way to update AMCAS app after submission
4) you do not need to update the school on coursework
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thank you. I guess my concern is will this somehow be considered inaccurate reporting on the AMCAS if I go ahead and take these classes now, without having it on the AMCAS? I'm worried because it has the option to put projected courses and I did not.
 
Hey guys, hope everyone is doing okay with all of the added stresses of this application cycle.

I have a question about my transcript being received. I'm in Canada - originally I mailed my transcript on May 4 but it still hasn't been received by AMCAS. I kinda knew that might happen, so I also ordered a fax transcript last week. My school says it was completed on May 29, but I still haven't received any email or update on my application that it has been received. I see that on the main AMCAS page today, they are "Marking transcripts as "Received" that were delivered on May 21." Does this mean that even if they received it on May 29th, the day that it was sent, I shouldn't expect an update to my application for another 8 days or so? Is anyone else experiencing this who might have some insight that I don't?

Thanks guys and take care.
 
Im filling out the Schools Attended Section portion of the application and for some reason it keeps sayign my College section is incomplete and I dont know why. Does anyone else have this problem?
 
gonnif said:
Are there overlapping dates? transcript exceptions? did you do any college classes before finishing HS?
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There are some overlapping dates because I did take some community college classes during one of my undergrad semesters. However, I'm a reapplicant and that was the case last year as well, but I didn't have any of those problems. Since the data is imported from last year's im not very clear on why this is the case.
 
Realistically speaking, considering the circumstances this year due to Corona Virus and delays, by when do you think students would hear back about whether or not they got accepted into medical school? I know that under normal circumstances the earliest would be October 15th. Assuming you submitted your primary application early and got processed and your application gets sent to med schools by July 10th, your MCAT score gets released by July 21st, and you finish up secondaries by the 2nd week of August, how long after being interviewed do you think it will be before you hear about whether you got accepted or not? Mid October, Early September, Late September? I'm sure this depends on whether the school has a rolling admissions or not. I'm just trying to map all of this out in my mind.

On average based on students' experiences, when did you guys normally hear back about whether you got accepted or not? Thanks.
 
I have a question about entering AP coursework. If on my university transcript, the course name to my AP credit appears as "Departmental credit," do I enter this as the course name on AMCAS, or would I enter the actual AP course?
e.g. Course was Macroeconomics, on uni transcript it appears as: ECON 101X, Departmental
 
is there a consensus on when to submit to be part of the jul10 send out batch?
 
Let me rephrase my question more specifically: based on previous years' data about verification, and taking into account the new date for AMCAS transmission to schools, when is the latest one can submit and safely expect to be verified prior to July 10th?
 
Hi @gonnif

I noticed a small typo on my amcas.... for an most meaningful activity (educational science camp) I put the start date as A month in ‘15 rather than ‘16. This is an activity that I take part in 2-3 times annually over the weekends and so have a good amount of hours. I’m continuing this even today (virtually) and will continue till next year.

I received advice from others that there’s no need to update schools or write in secondaries to fix this, as I will 100% easily cover the hours i inputted ( completed + projected) by matriculation.

You’re very experienced so I wanted to get your verdict on the matter.... once again this is a camp activity so not a weekly thing of sorts. Do you know if I am asked about it, when that will likely be?
 
gonnif said:
1) As I tell all applicants, assume you will be rejected as 60% will be by the end of the cycle. Therefore you should continue enhancing your record starting right now.
2) As I also advise all applicants, at any individual school, at least 80% of applicants will be not get interviewed.
3) Schools CANNOT announce acceptance prior to Oct 15th. Most acceptances are NOT announced until next well after the new year as in late February or early March. This cycle I expect it will be later this cycle
4) It typically takes 4 to 16 weeks (1 to 4 months) for a school to screen, evaluate, and review applications. At best a school can evaluate and review 500 applications after they get up to full strength/speed, which is at least mid-August more likely after Labor day
5) Schools do not decide "acceptance/rejection." They decide "acceptance." A school is under no obligation to inform you of any action other than an interview invite or acceptance. Many applications will be reviewed and placed on "hold" and never move from there. Applicants may never hear back at all from a large fraction of schools
6) Instead of even speculating when you be told about being accepted, why dont you worry about even if you will be accepted.
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3. You’re suggesting that the majority of people or rather that most people don’t hear about acceptances until the following year? Additionally, you’re saying that we probably won’t hear back until sometime in March of next year as the whether we got accepted or not!?! Are there particular schools that are known for sending out acceptance letters a lot sooner than other schools? Waiting until February or March is a very long time and not very practical for me personally for my own reasons. Thank you.
 
Hello all! I feel very stupid for making this mistake, but I forgot to sign the transcript request form (from AAMC) that my school included with my transcript. Should I request another and have them send another with a signed copy of the form? Is this something that would prevent my transcript from being verified? I can't believe I made this mistake but I want to fix it ASAP if needed.
 
AquaticSunrise13 said:
3. You’re suggesting that the majority of people or rather that most people don’t hear about acceptances until the following year? Additionally, you’re saying that we probably won’t hear back until sometime in March of next year as the whether we got accepted or not!?! Are there particular schools that are known for sending out acceptance letters a lot sooner than other schools? Waiting until February or March is a very long time and not very practical for me personally for my own reasons. Thank you.
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Here's an easier and more realistic way to look at it: you're rejected until you get that Accept email in your Inbox. And until that time, you work on your Plan B. And for 60% of all applicants, that A never comes.

Also keep in mind that patience is a virtue; the need for instant gratification is not.
 
I participated in an orchestra in elementary school that is registered as a course from my local community college for some reason. Because I took a physics course from the same CC in high school and received college credit, I sent in my transcript from the CC. The orchestra "courses" show up on my transcript. I noticed when adding courses that the earliest "year in school" is high school. Does this mean I need to enter them into AMCAS, but should just put my "year in school" as high school? Or is it okay to not enter these courses in? I didn't receive college credit for these courses. Trying to avoid mistakes that would result in having to resubmit my application for verification. Thank you so much!
 
After witnessing the significant delays from institutions sending transcripts to AAMC on top of their delays in receiving and processing all kinds of transcripts, I will not be surprised to see AAMC announcing soon another delay in their applications transmissions plans beyond the July 10 anticipated date.., which may pressure schools to delay the cycle even further to enable adequate time for reviewing and interviewing applicants!!
 
A few questions:

I took classes at a community college and they transferred to my undergrad institution. Am I correct in listing them on my AMCAS as transfer credits under my undergrad institution and as courses under the other institution that I took them at? AMCAS should be receiving both transcripts.

EDIT: I see that AMCAS instructs not to list the course information twice. The course information should be listed only for the original institution that it was taken at. So I should only list the community college information under the community college it was taken at, and not also as transfer credit at my undergrad. One question I have to this then is, for the entry for my year in school, do I put the class standing of the concurrent undergrad enrollment and do not base it off the number of credit hours I had at the community college institution? For example, the last community college course I took was during my junior year in undergrad. Even though I only had <10 credit hours at the community college, I would still list class standing as junior? (keep in mind this is an entry under the community college institution)

Also, I have questions about AP credit.
For some reason, for one of my AP Exams, my institution listed it as two separate repeated entries (see biology entry below). Should I just list it as it is written on the transcript, meaning I input the same information twice? So enter it as Biology for 6 credits twice? Or list it as biology once but for 12 credits (add them together)?

This is what I mean, I see this:
TRANSFER CREDIT INFORMATION
ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM
Spring 2009 English___04.00
Spring 2010 Biology___06.00
______________Biology___06.00
______________Math______08.00
Applicable credits: _____24.00


Also, according to the AMCAS guide and videos, I'm supposed to list AP credit with academic year, term, and year in school being Fall of my freshman year since that is when the AP credit applied.

However, on my transcript, it lists the AP credit under transfer credit (as shown above), and lists the terms when I took the exams in high school. Should I list them as applying in my freshman year according to AMCAS instructions, or as shown on the transcript? If putting them as shown on my transcript, that would mean I would put high school information. For example:

For English from above, I would put
Academic year: 2008-2009
Academic Term: Spring 2009
Year in school: High school

I know AMCAS says to list AP credit with information starting your freshman year, but I just wasn't sure if this was assuming the transcript information appears strictly as AP credit and not under transfer credit.

In addition, my University used a special notation to mark all general education courses. They put a tilde next to the course name. Do this need to be included when writing out the course names?
 
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JFwoman96 said:
@gonnif @Catalystik @Goro
Do you think schools are pretty strict about the non-science professor LoR addressing class activities?
I have a letter from a SSHA professor at a different university but was the leader of a project that I was involved heavily in. I don't think they addressed the class activities because the class was just a research credits formality class.
Click to expand...
Haven't a clue
 
gonnif said:
1. You answered about listing transfer credits
2. List the CC class as junior year
3. If tilde is in title on transcript write it EXACTLY same
4. List AP credits as on transcript even if listed twice
5. List as freshman year
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have one other question. One of the classes I took at the community college was in the winter term. I can't remember whether I took this during my junior or senior year of undergrad. On the community college transcript, it says Winter 2016, and on the undergrad transcript, it designates the class as Winter 2015. It seems the schools differ in how they determine what year the winter term is, since it splits up between December and January when the year changes.


Alright, so based on this, it seems that I took this in the 2015/2016 academic year. Should I list it as 2015 or 2016 since the two transcripts differ in how they display it? I'm guessing 2016 since that how it appears on the community college transcript?
 
Hi there. It looks like I got some bad advice from my pre-health advisor on entering a repeat course on the AMCAS application. I originally had both classes (the first attempt and the second one) listed as repeats but she told me just the second one should be listed as a repeat so I changed it. I've already submitted my application. Will they correct it from their end or send it back to me for correction?
 
Where/ how do I list CLEP/DANTES exams? They show up on my university transcripts only as transfer credits.
 
gonnif said:
You only list them as the transfer credits and enter a reasonable title for what exam it was : see special course types
https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fast..._amcas_2021_applicant_guide_42220.pdf#page=37

PS which son are you?
Click to expand...

I took 2 three-credit DSST exams, which from what I can tell makes them a part of DANTES. Part of my transcripts says "TRANSFER CREDIT" after one of my semesters but nothing else. Should I list these exams by name in that semester? Or should they be at the end of my undergrad courses?

Thank you
 
gonnif said:
I would list them where/when they appear on official transcript but add name/subject of exam in parenteses to course description (ie TRANSFER CREDIT (DDST exam math)
Click to expand...

And I list this as an AP exam or CLEP exam under Special Course Type?

Thank you
 
hi @gonnif

my primary had been submitted but like a few posts have already mentioned I didn’t differentiate my completed and future hours.

My plan is to either use a schools secondary or an small update before processing date (JULY 10th) to basically say these are the few activities whose hours I joined and....... here are the Total number of hours that I completed by the time of applying.

Would this be welcomed or do you think it’s pointless and won’t be looked at?

Would your answer change if I decide to include this info on secondaries that asks if there is something more you want to tell us, where I can basically say here are the hours I completed for these activities and since applying I’ve been continuing so and so for X hours/ week ? Compared to maybe an update before or after a secondary submission?
 
gonnif said:
I think anything that points out something relatively trivial just 1) brings attention to something they may not have noticed and/or 2) to show sloppy and not attention to detail. Most attempts to correct something carry for unintended risk than help, so leave it alone
Click to expand...
I really think AMCAS should address the issue on grouping completed and future projected hours together because there is so much conflicting information from everywhere. Prolific adcoms online are suggesting that there's no need to separate and that we should go until our projected end date.

It's just unfair because some of us have stories to tell in the description and unless we're explicitly told to include hours completed in the description- it makes no sense to waste that space. Having said that, it also doesn't make sense to list hours that you are projecting..... but this is something AMCAS should actively look to elucidate because currently they just say to join them both and project.
 
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Does the "Paid for Post-Secondary Education" section include only tuition? I had a full tuition scholarship and used loans to pay for housing and meal plans. But throughout college, my parents would make the minimum payments on the loans and give me money for groceries. I put 90% academic scholarship and 10% student loans. Should I adjust family contribution from 0% to a higher percentage?
 
Hi @gonnif
I failed a poli sci course and then had to retake it. For the first attempt should I put 0 units (as it says on my transcript) and then 3 units for the second attempt (as it says on my transcript)? I've read that you have to put the attempted units for the first attempt (even though that is not written on the transcript). Would it be the same for AACOMAS? Thanks!
 
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Hopefulpremed123 said:
I really think AMCAS should address the issue on grouping completed and future projected hours together because there is so much conflicting information from everywhere. Prolific adcoms online are suggesting that there's no need to separate and that we should go until our projected end date.

It's just unfair because some of us have stories to tell in the description and unless we're explicitly told to include hours completed in the description- it makes no sense to waste that space. Having said that, it also doesn't make sense to list hours that you are projecting..... but this is something AMCAS should actively look to elucidate because currently they just say to join them both and project.
Click to expand...

Relax... not differentiating these hours is not going to make or break an application so you’re fine. It’s not like AMCAS has a strict policy on what needs to be done in this case, otherwise they would have been more explicit about it. Like with a lot of other things, we’re expected to use discretion. Maybe it’s slightly more optimal for an application to do one over the other, but it’s hardly unfair. Everyone fills out the same application with access to relatively similar resources. Just my .02, but I’m not an adcom member.
 
I'm having issue with the personal essay text editor. It says I still have "7 characters left of 5300" but I'm unable to type anymore. Not even a space or enter to create a new paragraph. I know it's a small issue, and I can just cut out a few more characters. But am I crazy?? Is this happening to anyone else?
 
gonnif said:
did you type this directly into AMCAS or cut and paste from another source?
Click to expand...

I copied and pasted from a word doc -- the entire essay at first, and then paragraph by paragraph to ensure there wasn't extra spaces between each paragraph. I still run into the same issue of having 7 characters left but unable to type anymore. Should I type my essay directly into the text box?

Edit: Never mind! The issue resolved when I switched my browser to Google Chrome. I had been using Safari. Really bizarre.
 
I'm having a difficult time reaching AMCAS via phone, I was wondering if anyone else was experiencing this? I am not put into a queue, rather the phone call simply ends after I enter in the extensions and my AAMC ID.
 
gonnif said:
Just sign it
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer all of these questions. The TA has written the letter, so I asked the Professor if I could send the letter request to him and he could submit it with his signature under hers (the TAs), and he said he's never heard of doing that before. This was his response: "Also, is there a reason that you cannot send the request through [TA]? I've never heard of someone other than the person who wrote the letter submitting it. I'm happy to add my note to the bottom when I receive a copy of it." I'm not sure what to say in response to that.

Like I said before, I know these are little things but they're stressful and I'm a nontrad without a pre-med advisor to ask these questions to. I really do appreciate you taking the time to answer these!
 
Hello,

I see that there are threads from previous years in which applicants post the date they submitted and the date they were verified. Can we do that in this thread? Or will another thread be started for that purpose?
 
fishberry said:
Hello,

I see that there are threads from previous years in which applicants post the date they submitted and the date they were verified. Can we do that in this thread? Or will another thread be started for that purpose?
Click to expand...
forums.studentdoctor.net

2020-2021 Official AMCAS Verification Thread

Hey y’all. Following the yearly tradition, here is a thread for people to monitor how AMCAS is doing on verifying applications. example: L (S:5/28, V: 5/28, Delayed or had to resubmit? No)
forums.studentdoctor.net forums.studentdoctor.net
 
Will schools send interview invites without an MCAT score? My MCAT is rescheduled for late July -> score return in early August. I might try to take it sooner if my app won't get reviewed until they have it, since interview invites are very much on a rolling basis.
 
mdphd123j said:
Will schools send interview invites without an MCAT score? My MCAT is rescheduled for late July -> score return in early August. I might try to take it sooner if my app won't get reviewed until they have it, since interview invites are very much on a rolling basis.
Click to expand...
All the schools who have made an announcement about it have said they will not decide on interviews without an MCAT score.
 
Is there an official secondaries thread yet? Or where could we find which schools tend to repeat secondaries or not?
 
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this but I accidentally did not enter the course code for one course in my application (all other information was entered correctly including name, type of class, year, etc). If my application was already submitted, how does this affect me? can it be fixed? will schools see this mistake? should I call in?
 
gonnif said:
they will catch it at verification. I would call/email the issue in
Click to expand...

I noticed one other mistake being that one course entered was out of order in comparison to my transcript (correct year and semester entered on the application though and still bundled with courses from the right semester). are these things that would get the application sent back to me? And would schools be aware I made these mistakes? (also thank you for your help)
 
While we are on the subject of transcript verification, will proofreaders object to my typing out abbreviations? E.g. transcript says Gen Chemistry —> I type out “General Chemistry” so it reflects what it is in the course catalog. That’s a very simple example, but some of the abbreviations borderline don’t make sense, and I think my way is a lot easier to read/understand. As long as the expansion matches the abbreviation exactly, will they object/change it? And if I take my chances, would it look bad to have all my course titles say they were “corrected” at verification?
 
should we list jobs that we are starting this summer on amcas? like a scribe or such?
also, i had my transcripts (paper) sent on June 1st and they still have not been recieved yet. anyone else in the same boat?
 
medstudentreapp said:
should we list jobs that we are starting this summer on amcas? like a scribe or such?
also, i had my transcripts (paper) sent on June 1st and they still have not been recieved yet. anyone else in the same boat?
Click to expand...
Same boat. Mine were sent around May 20th and they still have not been received. Super frustrating.
 
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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