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

[adrummingdog]

Hey guys, on the TCOM website it says you can submit a DO letter straight to the school, so Im assuming that this is not through TMDSAS but I thought I'd ask here. Anyone know how this works? Is it through the secondary?

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[BlueScar]

Hello, My transcript places a "Z" for some labs (such as biology lab), along with including 0 credits. However, the biology lecture is included as 4 credits and comes with the grade, A. The two courses are seperate on the transcript.

e.g.
general biology 1 lab - 0 credits- "z"
biology 1---------------4 credits- "A"

1. When I put in the Lab hours, should I put 0 credits as my transcript says?
2. When i put in the lab grade, what do i put? Indeed I got an A, but my transcript has put a Z in it. The A is actually attributed towards the lecture (of which is 4 total credits).

Thank you!

 

[charlie10]

My undergraduate institution has Fall, Spring and Summer semester terms but also has January and May interterms where we could take classes over the course of several weeks between the traditional semesters. If I took classes during these January and May interterms what semester should I include them under for "Terms Attended"? I looked at my official transcript and they didn't list these classes as part of the fall, spring and summer semesters but listed them as separate interterm semesters. If anyone has a similar experience I'd love some advice. Thank you!

 

[forbiddensalad]

Hello, My transcript places a "Z" for some labs (such as biology lab), along with including 0 credits. However, the biology lecture is included as 4 credits and comes with the grade, A. The two courses are seperate on the transcript.

e.g.
general biology 1 lab - 0 credits- "z"
biology 1---------------4 credits- "A"

1. When I put in the Lab hours, should I put 0 credits as my transcript says?
2. When i put in the lab grade, what do i put? Indeed I got an A, but my transcript has put a Z in it. The A is actually attributed towards the lecture (of which is 4 total credits).

Thank you!

This is from the TMDSAS Handbook page 25. The last bullet point says to omit 0 credit courses, and the system will not allow you to input 0 hours for a course (from personal experience).

You can classify the 4-credit biology class as lecture and lab from the course type dropdown, I believe, and then indicate that you received a A in the coursework.

My undergraduate institution has Fall, Spring and Summer semester terms but also has January and May interterms where we could take classes over the course of several weeks between the traditional semesters. If I took classes during these January and May interterms what semester should I include them under for "Terms Attended"? I looked at my official transcript and they didn't list these classes as part of the fall, spring and summer semesters but listed them as separate interterm semesters. If anyone has a similar experience I'd love some advice. Thank you!

I'm afraid that my institutions did not use this system, but have you tried to see if you can input this schedule in the terms section?

 

[harmony14]

For the LOR, it says one of the requirements of the LOR should be from a science faculty. I had a professor of neurology at UTSW write me an LOR but he wasn't my teacher. Would he still count as a science faculty? should I change his title to professor instead of Dr. (PhD not physician)?

 

[DK5555]

Can anyone tell me how you handle if you’ve got both undergrad and SMP/grad committee packets as you can only put one in.

 

[wysdoc]

My undergraduate institution has Fall, Spring and Summer semester terms but also has January and May interterms where we could take classes over the course of several weeks between the traditional semesters. If I took classes during these January and May interterms what semester should I include them under for "Terms Attended"? I looked at my official transcript and they didn't list these classes as part of the fall, spring and summer semesters but listed them as separate interterm semesters. If anyone has a similar experience I'd love some advice. Thank you!

Try looking at the TMDSAS Course Listings page under your university to see if there is any guidance.
If you have no luck, send a message with your question via the app. They do appreciate it if you try to find the answer yourself first!

Course Listings

Course Listings

www.tmdsas.com

 

[texasfight2020]

Residency question -

If I am taking an out of state gap year research position (12 months in length), how do I answer this question in the residency portion of the application?

"By Oct 1 of this year will you have lived in Texas continually for the last 12 months?*"

My start date for the position is in July and I will be leaving Texas for 12 months the first week of July. However, all my information will still be linked to my permanent home address in Texas. My license will also remain as Texas.

I am not changing my residency at all, however I will be living out of state for 12 months. This should not impact my Texas residency correct?

 

[wysdoc]

Residency question -

If I am taking an out of state gap year research position (12 months in length), how do I answer this question in the residency portion of the application?

"By Oct 1 of this year will you have lived in Texas continually for the last 12 months?*"

My start date for the position is in July and I will be leaving Texas for 12 months the first week of July. However, all my information will still be linked to my permanent home address in Texas. My license will also remain as Texas.

I am not changing my residency at all, however I will be living out of state for 12 months. This should not impact my Texas residency correct?

Would this year of a research position be primarily educational or primarily a job? If you leave primarily for education it will not change your residency status.

 

[texasfight2020]

Would this year of a research position be primarily educational or primarily a job? If you leave primarily for education it will not change your residency status.

It is a paid position however I am taking it primarily at a learning opportunity as it is a 12 month program is a very expensive city (NYC) and the pay is not high. I don't think it will impact my residency status if thinking this way, thoughts?

Also, how do you think I should answer the question - ""By Oct 1 of this year will you have lived in Texas continually for the last 12 months?*" on TMDSAS considering I am leaving Texas in July?

Thanks!!

 

[wysdoc]

It is a paid position however I am taking it primarily at a learning opportunity as it is a 12 month program is a very expensive city (NYC) and the pay is not high. I don't think it will impact my residency status if thinking this way, thoughts?

Also, how do you think I should answer the question - ""By Oct 1 of this year will you have lived in Texas continually for the last 12 months?*" on TMDSAS considering I am leaving Texas in July?

Thanks!!

List it in your activities as a research fellowship or some such title, and also you can message TMDSAS staff on the app (even before you submit) to ask your questions. They are really good about answering such things. I am 99% sure this research gap year job won't lose you the TX resident status, but I'm not the decider 🙂

 

[vv1997]

For leadership roles, should we put the total number of hours spent, especially if it was a labor-intensive role?

 

[wysdoc]

On

For leadership roles, should we put the total number of hours spent, especially if it was a labor-intensive role?

the leadership category doesn’t really have a drop down menu for hours, but you can mention that in the description

 

[vv1997]

1. Could a publication count as academic recognition?
2. If we had multiple abstracts accepted at national conferences (2nd author tho) , should we list them, even if we didn't present them (my PI did)

thank you so much!!

 

[wysdoc]

1. Could a publication count as academic recognition?
2. If we had multiple abstracts accepted at national conferences (2nd author tho) , should we list them, even if we didn't present them (my PI did)

thank you so much!!

Both of those might fit more in Research category, but if your academic honor category is looking a little empty to you, you could list the abstracts accepted for a conference there

 

[BlueScar]

Most of the links from the TMDSAS Liason are not working.

My question is regarding inputting AP scores:
1) Do we classify them under "FR" or "PF"?
2) What transcript grade do we provide- is it "CR"?

Thanks!

 

[wysdoc]

Most of the links from the TMDSAS Liason are not working.

My question is regarding inputting AP scores:
1) Do we classify them under "FR" or "PF"?
2) What transcript grade do we provide- is it "CR"?

Thanks!

Yes, that is the way to do it, see the blue box on page 27 of Handbook.

You are right, the link in the box doesn't work, I will try to check in on that.

 

[BlueScar]

Yes, that is the way to do it, see the blue box on page 27 of Handbook.

You are right, the link in the box doesn't work, I will try to check in on that.

Thanks for the reply- just to make sure, we put AP course credit as "FR" for Freshman or "PF" for pre-freshman?

 

[wysdoc]

Thanks for the reply- just to make sure, we put AP course credit as "FR" for Freshman or "PF" for pre-freshman?

I would choose PF

 

[BlueScar]

My question is regarding employment vs. activity vs leadership:

I took the management position for my father's business for two years due to his declining health. I am not paid anything; so according to TMDSAS I don't think I can put this under "employment". Should I put this position under "leadership" ? I do not want to put this under "extracurricular/lesiure". This was a real job with a bunch of responsibilities. Only thing is I never wanted to be paid a wage/salary and I did it solely to help my father.

Thanks to anyone who replies!

 

[wysdoc]

My question is regarding employment vs. activity vs leadership:

I took the management position for my father's business for two years due to his declining health. I am not paid anything; so according to TMDSAS I don't think I can put this under "employment". Should I put this position under "leadership" ? I do not want to put this under "extracurricular/lesiure". This was a real job with a bunch of responsibilities. Only thing is I never wanted to be paid a wage/salary and I did it solely to help my father.

Thanks to anyone who replies!

Definitely not a leisure activity! - you were working a real job with major responsibilities, as you said.
You should list it under employment and maybe in one of your essays talk about it. On TMDSAS there is an optional essay available for this, if you didn't feature your responsibility for doing this while you were in school in one of your other essays.

 

[JustAUser]

Hey guys, on the TCOM website it says you can submit a DO letter straight to the school, so Im assuming that this is not through TMDSAS but I thought I'd ask here. Anyone know how this works? Is it through the secondary?

That is correct. It is not required but you do have the chance to submit that. I, myself, did not send in a DO letter.

Source: applied last year

(I'm not sure how it had to be submitted, also since it's been a while, but I believe you were able to enter an email and that would send the letter writer a link. Or you could also link it with Interfolio, perhaps. You can probably ask the people on last year's school thread maybe.)

 

[vv1997]

Hi! I had a couple of questions!
1. For one of my research activities I had a publication and multiple abstracts and presentations. I'm citing the publication in the extra publication 500 character section, but I don't have space to put in all my abstracts and presentations. Should I just put them under academic recognitions, and mention the number of abstracts in the description box?
2. I served in multiple leadership positions in my school's student association, and I was wondering if I could put the positions under leadership (with hours in the descp), and then also extracurriculars and say I served in multiple positions. I wanted to do this because I wanted to put being part of the organization as one of my most meaningful activities, and I wanted to talk about all my positions in it, not just one position.
3. If I had a clinical research activity, should I put it under healthcare or research? There was a lot of patient interaction which is why I want to put healthcare, but if I put it under research, then I get extra space to talk about my publication and poster, which I need.
Thank you so much!

 

[whosehouse]

Quick question about current/planned activities.

I'm filling out the chronology - when I input my current activities that are finishing in May 2021 (when I graduate), it's saying that year must not exceed current, so I gave October 2020 as my end date.

Does this mean that in the planned activities section I have to relist every activity for the October 2020 - May 2021 period?

 

[wysdoc]

Quick question about current/planned activities.

I'm filling out the chronology - when I input my current activities that are finishing in May 2021 (when I graduate), it's saying that year must not exceed current, so I gave October 2020 as my end date.

Does this mean that in the planned activities section I have to relist every activity for the October 2020 - May 2021 period?

Yes, you will need to re-list ongoing activities as Planned Activities, from Oct 2020 to May 2021. You can have an end date as late as Aug 2021 on those if you will continue them. If they are things you only do at college, don't forget to subtract out the hours you are not there (Christmas break, spring break, etc.) Are they all going to continue, or will you change to some different activities?

 

[wysdoc]

Hi! I had a couple of questions!
1. For one of my research activities I had a publication and multiple abstracts and presentations. I'm citing the publication in the extra publication 500 character section, but I don't have space to put in all my abstracts and presentations. Should I just put them under academic recognitions, and mention the number of abstracts in the description box?
2. I served in multiple leadership positions in my school's student association, and I was wondering if I could put the positions under leadership (with hours in the descp), and then also extracurriculars and say I served in multiple positions. I wanted to do this because I wanted to put being part of the organization as one of my most meaningful activities, and I wanted to talk about all my positions in it, not just one position.
3. If I had a clinical research activity, should I put it under healthcare or research? There was a lot of patient interaction which is why I want to put healthcare, but if I put it under research, then I get extra space to talk about my publication and poster, which I need.
Thank you so much!

@vv1997
1. You don't want to list the SAME publication in two places, but if they are different, yes, use the extra 500 characters in the Research category to talk about your publication, and you could list abstracts accepted in the Academic recognition category.
2. List this organization only once, make your choice of Leadership or EC. Of course - if you are the leader of a club you will also tend to participate in its activities. They still want you to use your best judgement and decide where it goes in your application. Choosing it as one of your 3 most meaningful gives you more room to discuss.
3. Again, you have to choose where to put it. Take a look at the discussion of activities over here on the AMCAS thread, you will get some ideas about how to choose where. Catalystik is the moderator over there and addresses this issue very well. *~*~*~* Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2020-2021 *~*~*~*

 

[shepersisted]

For academic recognition, is it recommended to put all the times you were on the Dean's List? If I did this would you recommend putting one entry and in the description mentioning each semester when I was on it, or doing separate entries for each semester I was on it? I don't want it to look repetitive by putting the same thing over and over again, but also do not want to sell myself short if everyone else is doing separate entries for every semester.

 

[wysdoc]

For academic recognition, is it recommended to put all the times you were on the Dean's List? If I did this would you recommend putting one entry and in the description mentioning each semester when I was on it, or doing separate entries for each semester I was on it? I don't want it to look repetitive by putting the same thing over and over again, but also do not want to sell myself short if everyone else is doing separate entries for every semester.

Since your space is limited, it might make sense to say "I made the Dean's list every semester during college". Your grades and transcript will reinforce that as well. Other things that could go in that category would be any certificates you earned (for instance UT has a business certificate or a Pre-health certificate) or any special Honors Programs you were a part of.

 

[texaswannabedoc]

Hi guys. Do we need to list mcat dates that were no shows? And do medical schools see these?. Wondering since the application says to list only MCATS that were taken

 

[wysdoc]

Hi guys. Do we need to list mcat dates that were no shows? And do medical schools see these?. Wondering since the application says to list only MCATS that were taken

You didn’t show, or they cancelled it on you?

 

[texaswannabedoc]

You didn’t show, or they cancelled it on you?

Didn't show, was unable to attend my appointment due to a a family emergency. I have read that voided exams and no shows are not visible to adcoms, but wanted to make sure if iIm supposed to include it

 

[wysdoc]

Didn't show, was unable to attend my appointment due to a a family emergency. I have read that voided exams and no shows are not visible to adcoms, but wanted to make sure if iIm supposed to include it

ok, sorry to hear that. It's only tests that were scored that you have to list.

 

[whosehouse]

Yes, you will need to re-list ongoing activities as Planned Activities, from Oct 2020 to May 2021. You can have an end date as late as Aug 2021 on those if you will continue them. If they are things you only do at college, don't forget to subtract out the hours you are not there (Christmas break, spring break, etc.) Are they all going to continue, or will you change to some different activities?

So if my planned activity is starting in August, would I put August as my start date in the planned activities section, or put the start date as October?

 

[wysdoc]

So if my planned activity is starting in August, would I put August as my start date in the planned activities section, or put the start date as October?

You will list this as
Current activity August 2020 to Oct 2020
And also as Planned Activity Oct 2020 to August 2021 (or whenever you plan to end it )

 

[deleted938578]

.

 

[wysdoc]

Quick question regarding letters of recommendation - is a non-science letter a hard requirement at TMDSAS schools? I have been unable to ascertain this from their websites or from the guide.

The TMDSAS application handbook does not specify who should write your letters. You might have to go through the tedious step of seeing if any of the TX schools require a non-science letter by going to each Admissions web page.

 

[DK5555]

Just wanted to bump up my question. Apologies if this was answered before as i didn't see it. What do you do if you've got two committee packets - one undergrad and one grad (SMP) since you can only upload one? Thx.

 

[wysdoc]

Just wanted to bump up my question. Apologies if this was answered before as i didn't see it. What do you do if you've got two committee packets - one undergrad and one grad (SMP) since you can only upload one? Thx.

@DK5555 I don't know the answer, sorry, because I didn't know an SMP would offer to do a committee letter. I would say if you are a reapplicant, and are in the SMP to show your capability and are doing well, the SMP letter might be of more help.
If you use Facebook, join a private group called TMDSAS Hub and ask the question there. Any premed, pre-dent, or pre-vet can join. The Admins of the group are the real staff who process the apps and their answers will be the official stance.

 

[shepersisted]

Hey guys, on the TCOM website it says you can submit a DO letter straight to the school, so Im assuming that this is not through TMDSAS but I thought I'd ask here. Anyone know how this works? Is it through the secondary?

I emailed TCOM admissions about this and they said that the letter can just be directly emailed to the admissions office, but they recommended to me that I do not submit it until I have completed the primary and secondary so that the letter can go straight into my file and isn't in an "orphan file." I hope that helps!

 

[vv1997]

Hello! If I did clinical research (non-paid), can I put it under research and healthcare (lots of patient contact)?

 

[wysdoc]

Hello! If I did clinical research (non-paid), can I put it under research and healthcare (lots of patient contact)?

Choose which category you want it in, you are not allowed to put one activity in 2 places. You can describe it.
Only health care and employment can be listed in 2 places.

 

[vv1997]

Thank you! I know for the Activities Sections Descriptions for AMCAS many people, like Dr. Gray for MedSchool HQ, recommend telling a story vs just describing the role. Since the character count for TMDSAS descriptions are significantly shorter, should we just stick to descriptions and save the story for our most meaningful experiences?

 

[wysdoc]

Thank you! I know for the Activities Sections Descriptions for AMCAS many people, like Dr. Gray for MedSchool HQ, recommend telling a story vs just describing the role. Since the character count for TMDSAS descriptions are significantly shorter, should we just stick to descriptions and save the story for our most meaningful experiences?

Yes but you can choose words for your description that give some flavor

 

[adrummingdog]

I emailed TCOM admissions about this and they said that the letter can just be directly emailed to the admissions office, but they recommended to me that I do not submit it until I have completed the primary and secondary so that the letter can go straight into my file and isn't in an "orphan file." I hope that helps!

Thank you!

 

[BlueScar]

I did a certain extracurricular activity for 3 years, but only during the summers. How do I fill that info out in the activities section when it only asks for a start and end date?

 

[wysdoc]

I did a certain extracurricular activity for 3 years, but only during the summers. How do I fill that info out in the activities section when it only asks for a start and end date?

That's a good question. I don't know how to do that on TMDSAS without using up an activity slot for each summer. AMCAS has a "repeated" button on their app for just this situation, that allows you to input each summer's start and end dates. I'll see what i can find out.

 

[BlueScar]

I feel like an idiot. I submitted my application without saving any of the correction I had made. Now as I am looking at the PDF, I am in a state of shock. Since TMDSAS is not transmitting the aplications until June 1 this year due to Covid, is there anyway I can receive this application back?

 

[wysdoc]

I feel like an idiot. I submitted my application without saving any of the correction I had made. Now as I am looking at the PDF, I am in a state of shock. Since TMDSAS is not transmitting the aplications until June 1 this year due to Covid, is there anyway I can receive this application back?

Oh, dear.
Please y'all, print-preview before hitting that submit button.
It's sometimes easier to proofread on paper than on the screen.
Don't be in a rush because they are not going to transmit your app to med schools until June 7 this year anyhow.

@BlueScar try messaging TMDSAS via the app tomorrow and throw yourself on their mercy, saying that you made corrections but didn't save each page. They might help you out since you haven't transmitted your app yet.
The rest of y'all, Proofread and save each page after you make changes, print-preview, submit only when you are sure!

 

[wysdoc]

I did a certain extracurricular activity for 3 years, but only during the summers. How do I fill that info out in the activities section when it only asks for a start and end date?

Here is what TMDSAS staff said in answer to that question:

" I would actually say that you can enter each instance of that activity - there's no limit. Entering them as a lump activity might inflate your hours since there is a length of time where you weren't engaged in that activity (along with any changes you've faced in that role such as new position, duties, etc.)."

 

[vv1997]

How long does TMDSAS verification take since we're not submitting our transcripts with our apps right now?