*~*~*~*Official TMDSAS Questions Thread 2019-2020*~*~*~*

[wysdoc]

Welcome one and all, to the TMDSAS 2019-2020 application cycle!

I'm not going to repeat everything in the Application handbook but just some tips to save you from frustration.
DON'T use the back button on your browser while working on your application.
DON'T copy/paste your essays into the spaces with fancy formatting. Either type it into the application, OR copy/paste from a VERY primitive application like "notes" or "notepad".
DO SAVE each page as you finish it.
YOU CAN work on parts of it, save what you have so far, log out, and come back another day to work more.

* * * * *
The 2019-2020 TMDSAS application handbook is now available for download: TMDSAS Applicant Resources
1. Download that thing and read read read it before you start filling in any blanks! Keep it on the desktop of your computer to refer to, or if you're like me, print it out so you can turn pages.

2. PRINT OUT page 11 of the handbook: Application checklist.

3. Get yourself an OFFICIAL copy of your college (or multiple colleges) transcript. You will need that by your side as you fill out the TMDSAS app. Yes, you will be hand-entering every single class you ever took into the application, and you need to know the EXACT course titles, credit hours, and course numbers.

4. In addition to ENTERING the course information, you will be CATEGORIZING the course information as well. Is that bio course considered Biology, Biochemistry, or "other science"? LUCKILY there is a tool for that! Find your college on the list here, look up your course numbers, and it will help you categorize all your science courses. Course Listings Page

5. Just doing steps 2 and 3 accurately will speed the verification of your application. If your college isn't listed on that course listings tool, do your best and TMDSAS will fix that for you.

6. There is no substitute for following the directions in the handbook, but if you have a question and you already tried to look it up, then TMDSAS staff is very helpful and responsive.

7. A few things have to be done in a certain order, for the online app to work for you:
A. Before you can enter your courses, you need to enter the names of your colleges and which terms and years you attended each.
B. Before you can have people send in letters of recommendation for you, you have to enter their name, email, phone #, relation to you etc. on your TMDSAS app. TMDSAS will then send the evaluator and email with a link over which they can submit their letter directly to TMDSAS. For other modes of sending letters, and for fuller info, please see pages 42-45 of the Application Handbook.
C. On the section for activities, you are expected to account for all your time from high school graduation to August 2020.
When you entered your college work, the TMDSAS online app already noted those dates in your lifeline. What about summers? Each summer did you: spend it vacationing, job (dates) volunteer work (dates) summer classes (dates). If you are taking a gap year, what are you doing? Chart this out for yourself and spend some time thinking about it. Only when you are ALL DONE with entering everything, (ARE YOU SURE? Go think again!) should you click the Compile Chronology of Activities thing, because the app will only do this for you ONCE. If you now realize you left something out, you have to enter it manually. In other words, Do this LAST, after all the rest of your app is filled out but before you pay and hit submit.

8. Resources: Go use the heck out of that TMDSAS site!
They have PODCASTS on almost any topic you could imagine, very helpful.


Hey Wait! Due to many questions on some sections, TMDSAS has made some updates to their online handbook.
Based on applicant feedback, we've made some updates and clarifications to the TMDSAS Application Handbook
(available at: https://www.tmdsas.com/Forms/ApplicationHandbook.pdf).
1) When activities might qualify for more than one section (p. 32)
-Added example of how applicants can make the best determination on which category to enter their activities.
2) Defining Current and Planned Activities (p. 32)
-Current Activities = any activity - completed, ongoing, or not yet started - that will take place by October 2019. List any cumulative hours up to this date.
-Planned Activities = any activity that will take place after October 2019. This includes new activities and those that carry over from previously entered current activities. List projected hours from this date.
3) Published Research Activities (p. 33)
-If research culminated in any publications, abstracts, or posters, do not list the end product and research separately. Create one entry that describes both the research itself and whatever was produced as a result.
4) AP/IB/CLEP Credit and Where to Enter It (p. 33)
- No assigned term: If test credit was awarded by your institution and appears on your transcript, but not in a specific term, list these courses in your first undergraduate term. For most applicants, this will be the Fall of their freshman year.
-Specific term: If test credit is awarded under specific terms, include them with your regular coursework for those terms.
-How to enter: In either case, the Academic Status that you enter should be PF (Pre-Freshman) and the grade should be CR (credit).
5) Transfer Credit (p. 24)
-If your university transcript shows transfer credit from a community college (or other institution), do NOT enter these as transfer credits under your university. Instead, list the community college and as a separate [College Attended] and list any corresponding coursework at this institution.
6) Application Fee Payable by Credit Card Only (p. 11, 46, 49)
You can pay the application fee by credit card only; electronic funds transfer/ACH, money order/cashier’s
check, or personal checks are not accepted.


Do you Facebook?
They have 2 Closed Facebook Groups where staff from TMDSAS promptly answer your general questions.
1. TMDSAS Hub for all current applicants
2. Non-Traditional Applicants Group for, ya know, non-trads.

Do You Tweet?
Follow these two Twitter accounts:
Follow @tmdsas
Follow @tmdsassupport

That's all for now, Texans and wanna-be Texans. To quote Lyle Lovett,
"That's right you're not from Texas
But Texas wants you anyway"

You don't know Lyle Lovett? Are you sure you wanna-be Texan?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[wysdoc]

That sounds good, make sure you emphasize how the delays/ responsibilities affected your maturity, determination, etc and spend more time on that part than listing the reasons.
Deep in the heart Of Texas

 

[tulsajoe94]

.

 

[Domdus]

Does anybody know if we need to do a course unit conversion to quarter hours for UC Irvine? If so, do you know the conversion?

 

[wysdoc]

Does anybody know if we need to do a course unit conversion to quarter hours for UC Irvine? If so, do you know the conversion?

Yes you do need to convert. Here is what UC Irvine says: https://ce.uci.edu/pdfs/courses/UCI_OnlineFAQ.pdf

Other Do's and Don't's for Course Entries
1. Do enter all the colleges you have attended, and which terms/years attended, before you are allowed to start entering your courses one by one.
2. Do get yourself an OFFICIAL transcript from each of your colleges to have at your side while filling out the TMDSAS App.
Not only will it jog your memory, but you need to enter the EXACT course title for faster verification after submitting your app.
3. Go and use this tool from the TMDSAS page, because you also have to categorize each course by its content.
You look up the course number and the tool will tell you if it's bio, chem, "other science" etc.
TMDSAS Course Listings Tool

 

[AmaranthMoor]

Hey all!! Anyone know if the activities in activity section have to be in any specific order within their categories (like, oldest or newest first?) Thanks!

 

[wysdoc]

Hey all!! Anyone know if the activities in activity section have to be in any specific order within their categories (like, oldest or newest first?) Thanks!

Nope! and this year there is a new option to write a short blurb about your 3 most meaningful activities.

 

[tiny turtle]

Hi I’m a lil confused about the coursework section. If I took a class for dual credit at a community college, and then subsequently claimed AP for the same class at my university, should I select “no” for “Last Taken” for the dual credit class?

 

[wysdoc]

Hi I’m a lil confused about the coursework section. If I took a class for dual credit at a community college, and then subsequently claimed AP for the same class at my university, should I select “no” for “Last Taken” for the dual credit class?

@tiny turtle I'm not sure how you could have claimed "AP" credit for a dual-enrollment class, unless it was somehow an AP high school class that you had as dual-enrollment course at a community college. Since you did not take the class again (repeat it) at your 4-year university I think you should say it was last taken at the community college. You will need transcripts from the community college to document any dual-enrollment courses.
If my description does not match your situation please email or call TMDSAS for an answer to your question.

 

[tiny turtle]

@tiny turtle I'm not sure how you could have claimed "AP" credit for a dual-enrollment class, unless it was somehow an AP high school class that you had as dual-enrollment course at a community college. Since you did not take the class again (repeat it) at your 4-year university I think you should say it was last taken at the community college. You will need transcripts from the community college to document any dual-enrollment courses.
If my description does not match your situation please email or call TMDSAS for an answer to your question.

Thank you for the advice! I took the class dual credit and also took the AP exam. The classes appear on my community college transcript and concurrently appear on my university transcript as a credit-by-AP course. I did this because it was significantly less work to claim AP credit than to transfer dual credit.

 

[deleted927529]

As far as the chronology goes, should I be making an effort to put anything in particular in the first 50 characters of activity descriptions? Is it fine if even a succinct description doesn't fit within those 50 characters?

 

[wysdoc]

As far as the chronology goes, should I be making an effort to put anything in particular in the first 50 characters of activity descriptions? Is it fine if even a succinct description doesn't fit within those 50 characters?

Word it so that the reader can tell what it is, before they click to read the complete text. So by that I mean jump right in to your important words.
"Guided 12 boy scouts on a 12 mile hike" rather than "As an eagle scout, I was involved...."
Vary your wording. Don't have every entry start out with the same few words.
Carry on!

 

[wysdoc]

Application Tips Part 2 : Changes from last year's application

This list will be helpful to everyone, but especially for re-applicants who will notice that the date guidelines for Activities have been changed. You probably will have to revise your Current/Planned activities sections because of this change.

The Application handbook explains everything in detail. This is meant to be a quick list of changes for the 20129-2020 app.

1. Activities
Current Activities: Dates run from High School graduation to October, 2019.
Planned Activities: Dates must be between Nov, 2019 and August 1 2020. (in other words, what will you be doing between the TMDSAS application deadline and the time you might start med school ? ) If you are going to continue some of your current activities during that time, enter them again as planned activities. You might have some different things planned, or still be in school, or be working a job. No vague future activities such as "I want to raise goats and make my own goat cheese someday". You still can do that, it just doesn't belong on the TMDSAS activities section. 😉
Most Meaningful Activities: Identify 1 to 3 activities as your most meaningful and expound, in 500 characters or less each. ONLY past or current activities can be used.

2. Cross-posting of activities in more than one category is no longer allowed, EXCEPT that Healthcare Experiences and Employment may list the same activity in both places. Decide whether an activity best fits under leadership or community service, for instance.

3. Military Experience: there is a new section to write briefly about your military experience if you have it, and you may also upload your JST or SMART transcript.

4. Nontraditional Students: If you consider yourself a non-traditional student, write a short essay about it and your path to applying to med school. This is found in the new section "education and training history", see page 30 of application manual. How did you get here and how did the path impact you? 1000 characters essay, required of those who mark "non-trad".

5. Timing: May 1 the application opens. Don't be too rushed, because you can't change it after you submit.
You can't submit until you have your Spring Term 2019 grades.
SAVE each page as you complete it
You must read and sign the applicant responsibilities statement before starting work on the app.
Last thing you should do is the Chronology of Activities.
Your payment info must be added and sent.
AFTER you pay, you STILL need to hit "SUBMIT".

6. Processing: Can occur even without your transcripts, letters, test scores. You should send those ASAP though because the official transcript will be compared to your hand-entered courses. TMDSAS will send the transcript to the med schools, you don't need to also send it to them until you are accepted, at which time the med school will want your final college transcript.

 

[tiny turtle]

Is it acceptable to include high school hospital volunteering under health care activities? I noticed in the TMDSAS official EY2020 handbook, all the other activities categories (leadership, community service, research, etc.) say "List any [category of activity] since beginning college to the present." However under Healthcare Activities it only says "List all direct healthcare related activities." Am I being neurotic here? lmfao. on page 33-34 of the handbook btw

And if no, is it alright to have an activity that says "Hospital Volunteering During High School" or something to that effect? Basically I just want to show a trend of health care experience since prior to college.

 

[wysdoc]

Is it acceptable to include high school hospital volunteering under health care activities? I noticed in the TMDSAS official EY2020 handbook, all the other activities categories (leadership, community service, research, etc.) say "List any [category of activity] since beginning college to the present." However under Healthcare Activities it only says "List all direct healthcare related activities." Am I being neurotic here? lmfao. on page 33-34 of the handbook btw

And if no, is it alright to have an activity that says "Hospital Volunteering During High School" or something to that effect? Basically I just want to show a trend of health care experience since prior to college.

High school activities don't count unfortunately, but they probably helped shape your interest in medicine. You can start listing activities happening after HS graduation. Maybe you kept Volunteering at the same place. You can bring it up in one of your essays.

 

[Fourier_997523]

High school activities don't count unfortunately, but they probably helped shape your interest in medicine. You can start listing activities happening after HS graduation. Maybe you kept Volunteering at the same place. You can bring it up in one of your essays.

I have research that resulted in a publication from highschool. Can I list the publication even though the research did not continue into college?

 

[wysdoc]

I think you can!

 

[deleted928969]

hi @wysdoc! Does the new cross-posting rule apply also to the leadership section?
For ex. I was on the student board of a community service club, so I thought to have 2 entries, 1 in leadership & 1 in community service.
Would I now have to choose one section?

 

[wysdoc]

Yes you will now need to choose which category it fits best, or, which category you want to look less empty! Don’t worry, they will still read them all.

 

[deleted928969]

Thanks so much for your quick reply! I was hoping to cross-post as my activity descriptions often run over 300 characters. Any suggestions? (i.e. cut out the reflection aspect, bullet point/resume-link sentences...)

 

[wysdoc]

Thanks so much for your quick reply! I was hoping to cross-post as my activity descriptions often run over 300 characters. Any suggestions? (i.e. cut out the reflection aspect, bullet point/resume-link sentences...)

There is now a section to let you talk more about your 3 most meaningful activities. The rest will have to be brief.

 

[DracoDormiens]

Hi! For the activities section, if I have an activity I'm doing through the rest of this summer (but I'm submitting my app later this month), should those hours be included under the normal activities? Or should they be left out of the cumulative hour calculation? Just wanted to clarify since intuitively it doesn't seem like I should put them under the cumulative hours of the current activities, but the application handbook says the planned activities should only include activities from October 2019 onward.

 

[wysdoc]

Hello! If I'll be 25 in a few month and have been out of school, working a full time job for 2.5 years in marketing, should I consider myself a non-trad? I did apply last year and said I was a traditional student because I was only about 1.5 years out of school, but I'm wondering when the line becomes more obvious? Am I still pretty young, but I feel like working for three years in a field completely non-medical has definitely given me a lot of perspective someone who goes straight into med school or does a "fun" gap year might not have...

Hey I hope it's OK to share your happy news on this thread: @tulsajoe94 was not only offered an admission late this cycle but a scholarship too, so they do not have to be a re-applicant!

 

[beowulf007]

Can anyone offer some clarification on the TMDSAS application stats in the figures below:

https://www.tmdsas.com/img/Newsroom/EY17,18-ApplyingEarlyTMDSAS_Page_5.png

https://www.tmdsas.com/img/Newsroom/EY17,18-ApplyingEarlyTMDSAS_Page_6.png

For the "% interviewed based on submission date," does this chart show the % of applicant that received an interview based on the month they applied, or does it show the % of the total interviews available that went to applicants from a certain month? eg. 15% of applications were submitted in May, did 30% of this group recieve interviews or did 30% of the available interview spots go to this group?

https://www.tmdsas.com/Forms/EY18MedicalTest-GPAMatrix.pdf

https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

Does the TMDSAS MCAT-GPA matrix not take into consideration students that matriculated outside of texas? According to the TMDSAS matrix, applicants with MCAT scores above 517 matriculate at a rate of 33.7%, while the AAMC matrix shows that applicants with a 517 and above are accepted at a rate of 83.7%.
The trend in the TMDSAS table seems to be as you do worse on the MCAT from 528 down to 508, your chances of matriculating rise, peaking in the 508-513 range. This is inconsistent with the AAMC table showing that as applicant MCAT scores rise, their acceptance rates rise as well.

 

[wysdoc]

Can anyone offer some clarification on the TMDSAS application stats in the figures below:


For the "% interviewed based on submission date," does this chart show the % of applicant that received an interview based on the month they applied, or does it show the % of the total interviews available that went to applicants from a certain month? eg. 15% of applications were submitted in May, did 30% of this group recieve interviews or did 30% of the available interview spots go to this group?

It's best to think of the graphs worded this way: (and I substituted NEWER DATA for the graphs that you linked.)

IN THE EY2018 CYCLE, THESE ARE THE MONTHS IN WHICH APPLICANTS SUBMITTED THEIR APPLICATIONS:

HOWEVER< and this is very important, because applying to med school is NOT like applying to college, when you could hit that submit button at 11:30 PM on the day of the deadline and still be just fine...

read this graph to say,
"Of all application invitations, 30% went to those who submitted their app in May, 42% to those who submitted in June" etc.
See those guys (30%) who submitted in August & September? They only got 11% of the interviews.

Sorry the graphs are so big but I wanted you to be able to see them.

Take-home lesson:
1. Submit as early as you can, while still doing a quality job on your application.
2. Realize that timeliness and organization are qualities sought for in doctors, and if your application is a hot mess AND late, you are doing yourself a disservice.
3. Why doesn't submitting even earlier get me more chance at an interview?
A. You can't submit until you have your spring semester grades, so few can submit in early May.
B. Early May submissions might have lots of errors (don't rush your work).
C. Early May submissions might include some who just came out of an unsuccessful app cycle from the year before, and essentially turned in the same app with few improvements. This is not recommended.


As far as your second questions, I don't venture into meta-analysis, but I can say that these statistics are for TMDSAS applicants and do not include Texas applications to OOS med schools.

 

[rune2h]

Also, does TMDSAS really wanna see *every* job I've had since high school? I'm gonna be hitting 8+ entries in there, and don't want to have it needlessly cluttered (maybe I shouldn't worry about this at all since there isn't an activity limit?)

 

[wysdoc]

I have a quick question about age of LoRs. I recently moved from Texas last year, and before I left I asked my profs (in person), for the letters, and they submitted them all to interfolio in 2018. Should I recontact them and get letters dated 2019, or are the 2018 sufficient?

@rune2h if they are from within the year and you are not a re-applicant, the dates should be fine.

 

[spunkarillo]

Y'all are awesome! I got two questions:

1) Most Meaningful Activities. I guess I was expecting a clear way to actually link or indicate which activities we wanted to designate as most meaningful, so the adcoms could quickly see without ambiguity which activities we were discussing further. In the apparent absence of that, are we just supposed to write our blurbs and hope adcoms correctly infer which experience we are discussing? How are ya'll approaching this?

2) Guidelines for Claiming Non Traditional Status. I appreciate TMDSAS allows us to "self identify" as non-trad or not, though the absence of any guidelines makes this a tricky call for me. I've taken around 4 years from UG to anticipated start of med school, though that time has been spent on pretty traditional pre-med activities, like sci/med related grad school/work, without interruptions. I feel borderline on non-trad status. Anyone want to weigh in here?

 

[TXscholar]

Has anyone tried to edit the chronology to add a new “planned future” activity? The system gives an error message (“valid year equal to or earlier than current year is required“) when I try to add a planned future activity with start date of Oct 2019 and end date of Aug 2020. However, the application instructions say that planned future activities must be included through Aug 2020.

 

[wysdoc]

Has anyone tried to edit the chronology to add a new “planned future” activity? The system gives an error message (“valid year equal to or earlier than current year is required“) when I try to add a planned future activity with start date of Oct 2019 and end date of Aug 2020. However, the application instructions say that planned future activities must be included through Aug 2020.

Try starting your activity with Nov 2019 start date. The latest an end date can be is August 2020. If this doesn't work, you might have already asked the application to import your Chronology of Activities, which can only be done once and should be one of the last things you do after double-checking your dates. (see page 46 of manual)
Changes can be made manually if you have left something out like that before submitting, but I don't know the exact mechanics of entering changes manually. If you need help with this use the internal messaging function of the app to ask TMDSAS to contact you and walk you through it.

 

[givesumacceptpls]

If for future dates I plan to start a job, but then end up in another, how will that work? Do I have to send updates to tmdsas or schools, or no one is going to care?

 

[wysdoc]

If for future dates I plan to start a job, but then end up in another, how will that work? Do I have to send updates to tmdsas or schools, or no one is going to care?

If you're not sure you'll get a job, I would leave it blank for now. You mainly need to account for all your time between HS graduation and October 2019 as you submit your app.

 

[TEEJ2324]

Would it be best to list health care activities in the "most meaningful activities" section? I guess I am just wondering what they are really looking for here... something that we are passionate about or something that they are expecting/want you to list here? Is there an expectation on what order to list the activities? i.e. does the admissions committee want to see your ability to place things of importance in a "correct" order? Thank you in advance.

 

[thegrind33]

Anyone’s mcat still saying not received after sending the scores?

 

[wysdoc]

Would it be best to list health care activities in the "most meaningful activities" section? I guess I am just wondering what they are really looking for here... something that we are passionate about or something that they are expecting/want you to list here? Is there an expectation on what order to list the activities? i.e. does the admissions committee want to see your ability to place things of importance in a "correct" order? Thank you in advance.

Be sincere about it and don’t second-guess yourself. 🙂

 

[wysdoc]

oops duplicate

 

[MedThatLovesBed]

Regarding the change this year about not cross-listing activities, what if I have multiple leadership roles for a community service organization? From what I've read and heard, it's recommended to create separate entries for each leadership role if significant/distinct enough; correct me if I'm wrong! While ultimately this particular experience is more about community service, I will likely not have the space to elaborate on each leadership position if I list it so, a dilemma that led me to making this post. Appreciate any input and advice 🙂

 

[wysdoc]

Regarding the change this year about not cross-listing activities, what if I have multiple leadership roles for a community service organization? From what I've read and heard, it's recommended to create separate entries for each leadership role if significant/distinct enough; correct me if I'm wrong! While ultimately this particular experience is more about community service, I will likely not have the space to elaborate on each leadership position if I list it so, a dilemma that led me to making this post. Appreciate any input and advice 🙂

Someone recently asked this question to Enrique Jasso Jr. of TMDSAS and he said-
Q: If you have held multiple different positions of leadership within an organization, should each be entered separately or as 1 entity under the organization name?

A: enter each position separately so you can discuss the roles thoroughly (or as thoroughly as you can in 300 characters.)

I'm going add my comment though, to use your judgement. Do you have something substantially different to say about each role, OR does it come across as padding to fill in lots of blanks?
Were you a member of Brony Club, then secretary of Brony Club, and then finally President Brony? Could you reasonably lump them and talk about the club's purpose and what you learned?

 

[TXscholar]

What are other people doing for high school dates in the chronology? The application only ever asks for the date of high school graduation, so the automatically generated chronology says high school is "from" May 2016 "to" May 2016 (when I graduated). Should I manually edit the start date to when I actually began high school in 2012 or leave it as is because that's what is automatically done?

Thanks!!

 

[appropriatepeanut]

If I took summer courses the summer after my sophomore year would I, when entering my coursework, count myself as a sophomore or junior for those summer hours?

Thank you so much for the help!

 

[appropriatepeanut]

Hi! For the activities section, if I have an activity I'm doing through the rest of this summer (but I'm submitting my app later this month), should those hours be included under the normal activities? Or should they be left out of the cumulative hour calculation? Just wanted to clarify since intuitively it doesn't seem like I should put them under the cumulative hours of the current activities, but the application handbook says the planned activities should only include activities from October 2019 onward.

I have the same question! Were you able to figure out what to do on the part?

 

[wysdoc]

If I took summer courses the summer after my sophomore year would I, when entering my coursework, count myself as a sophomore or junior for those summer hours?

Thank you so much for the help!

On the AMCAS application, they consider the academic year to start in the summer, so in those courses you would be a Junior.
I have put in an inquiry to someone at TMDSAS to see if they handle it the same, and will update my answer when I hear back.

Mainly on the TMDSAS or AMCAS >>> before you start entering individual courses, be sure to fill out the "colleges attended" section and say what college you attended for every single term (fall, spring, summer) that you took courses.

Hoo Boy, was she fast with her answer!
I asked, "for a summer term course (for instance between freshman & sophomore year of college) would you call it Freshman status or Sophomore status? Thanks!"

She answered, "you can do either, just be consistent! If you choose sophomore and took classes the following summer, you would say Junior."

 

[appropriatepeanut]

On the AMCAS application, they consider the academic year to start in the summer, so in those courses you would be a Junior.
I have put in an inquiry to someone at TMDSAS to see if they handle it the same, and will update my answer when I hear back.

Mainly on the TMDSAS or AMCAS >>> before you start entering individual courses, be sure to fill out the "colleges attended" section and say what college you attended for every single term (fall, spring, summer) that you took courses.

Hoo Boy, was she fast with her answer!
I asked, "for a summer term course (for instance between freshman & sophomore year of college) would you call it Freshman status or Sophomore status? Thanks!"

She answered, "you can do either, just be consistent! If you choose sophomore and took classes the following summer, you would say Junior."

Thank you so much for your timely help! I really appreciate it.

 

[appropriatepeanut]

I was working on my actives section of TMDSAS and just had a couple questions about some of the things I am entering.
1. I have received the Dean's List award at my school multiple times. For each semester I have received it, would I enter it in as a separate academic award or do I only list it once and in the description put all of the semesters I received it?
2. My grades have come out for this semester and I will be on Dean's List for this spring's semester. Since the list isn't officially published until June I should not list it as an academic achievement yet, correct?
3. I am a biochem TA for the summer 2019 semester and the semester begins next Thursday. Since the starting date is so close would I count this as a planned/future activity or could I go ahead and put it in my leadership section right now?

Thank you again for all the help! It is greatly appreciated.

 

[wysdoc]

What are other people doing for high school dates in the chronology? The application only ever asks for the date of high school graduation, so the automatically generated chronology says high school is "from" May 2016 "to" May 2016 (when I graduated). Should I manually edit the start date to when I actually began high school in 2012 or leave it as is because that's what is automatically done?

Thanks!!

@TXscholar, the TMDSAS application does not seek out information about your activities during high school at all. Anything after HS graduation is fair game. I realize that might make you feel that you did all that cool stuff in HS for no reason, but applying to med school is about who you are NOW, an adult. You would list any courses you took in HS Dual enrollment by the college/community college where they gained credit. You may have developed an interest in pursuing medicine during HS, but again that was then, why are you still interested now?

 

[TXscholar]

@TXscholar, the TMDSAS application does not seek out information about your activities during high school at all. Anything after HS graduation is fair game. I realize that might make you feel that you did all that cool stuff in HS for no reason, but applying to med school is about who you are NOW, an adult. You would list any courses you took in HS Dual enrollment by the college/community college where they gained credit. You may have developed an interest in pursuing medicine during HS, but again that was then, why are you still interested now?

No, I’m not trying to add activities from high school, the chronology automatically adds the date you went to high school, the same way they automatically add the dates that you went to college. I just don’t know if I should edit it so that it has a start date for high school, because it automatically generates “from” (date of graduation) “to” (date of graduation).

Thanks for replying!

 

[wysdoc]

No, I’m not trying to add activities from high school, the chronology automatically adds the date you went to high school, the same way they automatically add the dates that you went to college. I just don’t know if I should edit it so that it has a start date for high school, because it automatically generates “from” (date of graduation) “to” (date of graduation).

Thanks for replying!

Got it, sorry for misunderstanding.

 

[Ricer7]

No, I’m not trying to add activities from high school, the chronology automatically adds the date you went to high school, the same way they automatically add the dates that you went to college. I just don’t know if I should edit it so that it has a start date for high school, because it automatically generates “from” (date of graduation) “to” (date of graduation).

Thanks for replying!

Honestly, I don't think they care. I think they will understand that you didn't attend high school for one month 😉 I personally, changed to start date, but I don't think it matters one way or the other!

 

[Constantius]

Hey everyone! I had a critical STEM letter of rec writer flake on me recently and tell me he can't provide a letter of rec anytime earlier than July, and I was wondering how much it would matter if I just save him for AAMC schools and leave him off for TMDSAS. My school provides a committee letter, but even if I were to submit three individual letters instead I would still have one from my PI (STEM faculty), a humanities faculty, and a doctor who's served as my mentor. I can't find anywhere on TMDSAS or individual school websites that two science faculty writers are required, so would this be okay?

 

[wysdoc]

Hey everyone! I had a critical STEM letter of rec writer flake on me recently and tell me he can't provide a letter of rec anytime earlier than July, and I was wondering how much it would matter if I just save him for AAMC schools and leave him off for TMDSAS. My school provides a committee letter, but even if I were to submit three individual letters instead I would still have one from my PI (STEM faculty), a humanities faculty, and a doctor who's served as my mentor. I can't find anywhere on TMDSAS or individual school websites that two science faculty writers are required, so would this be okay?

@Constantius You would be fine sending your Committee letter/committee packet for your letters of evaluation requirement.
If the STEM letter writer comes through later on, you may add one additional letter to your TMDSAS file.

*** However, since you're not 100% sure about that letter, don't add the writer's name and info as a place-holder now, because the system will consider your app incomplete until that letter comes in.
Better to treat it as a happy bonus later and you can later add his information to the TMDSAS app as an extra recommender.
Details about this are on pages 42-45 of the TMDSAS application handbook.