Philadelphia COM - Philadelphia (PCOM) Discussion Thread 2016-2017

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kj8210 said:
I have been complete since 7/12 and still no secondary. Anyone else experiencing a similar problem?
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I would recommend emailing them to find out what's going on. I was verified later than you and got a secondary within 1 week of being verified.
 
Does the committee letter ever fill in as received or go away if you do the alternate 3 faculty letter option? I have all three letters in and received, but I have no idea if I am complete or not. I hate it when schools don't send you a complete email.
 
AnatomyGrey12 said:
Does the committee letter ever fill in as received or go away if you do the alternate 3 faculty letter option? I have all three letters in and received, but I have no idea if I am complete or not. I hate it when schools don't send you a complete email.
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I also sent in three faculty letters but my portal says that a committee letter was received for some reason.


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AnatomyGrey12 said:
Does the committee letter ever fill in as received or go away if you do the alternate 3 faculty letter option? I have all three letters in and received, but I have no idea if I am complete or not. I hate it when schools don't send you a complete email.
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here's how mine looks with individual letters
 
Ok maybe I need to call them. Mine still shows a committee letter is required even though in the additional info it has all my letters and there isn't anything to indicate that something is wrong with them. (I did have one letter resubmitted on a letter head but after the writer did that then it added the letter as recorded and removed the flag that was telling me to resubmit so I thought it was good)
 
😡PCOM is driving me crazy! I have never had so much trouble applying to a school before. They really need to re-code their application status website to make it even remotely understandable to someone who has never used their system before (95% of their applicants).
 
Greetings from PCOM Admissions!

Yes - We're here and willing to help answer questions that you might have throughout the admissions process.

In response to the questions about applications being "complete":

We do not notify candidates via email that an application has become complete. Instead, we do provide the Online Application Summary portal which is available to you 24-7.

In the portal, you will notice that there are two sections: Requirements and Additional Information Received. All items listed under Requirements must have a received date in order to be "complete", thus ready for Faculty Committee on Admission review.

IMPORTANT: The Pre-Health Advisor/Committee Letter will continue to remain in the Requirements area until ALL of the three alternative letters are marked as received. As a reminder, the alternative is defined below:

Three faculty letters of recommendation: Two of those three letters must be from BASIC SCIENCE professors (undergraduate, post-baccalaureate or graduate programs). Please note that the faculty letters must be from a professor that issued a grade in a course that appears on the applicant's institutional transcript. The course number and title must be noted in the letter.

We do ask that you understand that it can take up to 15 business days for items to be loaded to your record. We appreciate your patience as we receive, validate, evaluate and categorize the many letters we receive. The Admissions Team strives for efficiency and accuracy in all that we do.

We hope this is helpful to you and we wish you the best!
 
PCOM Admissions said:
Greetings from PCOM Admissions!

Yes - We're here and willing to help answer questions that you might have throughout the admissions process.

In response to the questions about applications being "complete":

We do not notify candidates via email that an application has become complete. Instead, we do provide the Online Application Summary portal which is available to you 24-7.

In the portal, you will notice that there are two sections: Requirements and Additional Information Received. All items listed under Requirements must have a received date in order to be "complete", thus ready for Faculty Committee on Admission review.

IMPORTANT: The Pre-Health Advisor/Committee Letter will continue to remain in the Requirements area until ALL of the three alternative letters are marked as received. As a reminder, the alternative is defined below:

Three faculty letters of recommendation: Two of those three letters must be from BASIC SCIENCE professors (undergraduate, post-baccalaureate or graduate programs). Please note that the faculty letters must be from a professor that issued a grade in a course that appears on the applicant's institutional transcript. The course number and title must be noted in the letter.


We do ask that you understand that it can take up to 15 business days for items to be loaded to your record. We appreciate your patience as we receive, validate, evaluate and categorize the many letters we receive. The Admissions Team strives for efficiency and accuracy in all that we do.

We hope this is helpful to you and we wish you the best!
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My committee letter has not been added to the "Requirements Area" even though it was submitted on August 1st. It has been more than 15 days, should I call the office to make sure that my application will be completed?
 
@PCOM Admissions, so I am complete with the following requirements filled in?
upload_2016-8-18_12-31-58.png
 
MDProspect said:
My committee letter has not been added to the "Requirements Area" even though it was submitted on August 1st. It has been more than 15 days, should I call the office to make sure that my application will be completed?
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Hi - yes - I would encourage you to email [email protected] with your full name, Banner ID# and recommender name/college if it has been more than 15 days and your portal does not specify a problem with a letter received.
 
MDProspect said:
My committee letter has not been added to the "Requirements Area" even though it was submitted on August 1st. It has been more than 15 days, should I call the office to make sure that my application will be completed?
Click to expand...

My apologies - 15 business days... 🙂
 
PCOM Admissions said:
Greetings from PCOM Admissions!

Yes - We're here and willing to help answer questions that you might have throughout the admissions process.

In response to the questions about applications being "complete":

We do not notify candidates via email that an application has become complete. Instead, we do provide the Online Application Summary portal which is available to you 24-7.

In the portal, you will notice that there are two sections: Requirements and Additional Information Received. All items listed under Requirements must have a received date in order to be "complete", thus ready for Faculty Committee on Admission review.

IMPORTANT: The Pre-Health Advisor/Committee Letter will continue to remain in the Requirements area until ALL of the three alternative letters are marked as received. As a reminder, the alternative is defined below:

Three faculty letters of recommendation: Two of those three letters must be from BASIC SCIENCE professors (undergraduate, post-baccalaureate or graduate programs). Please note that the faculty letters must be from a professor that issued a grade in a course that appears on the applicant's institutional transcript. The course number and title must be noted in the letter.

We do ask that you understand that it can take up to 15 business days for items to be loaded to your record. We appreciate your patience as we receive, validate, evaluate and categorize the many letters we receive. The Admissions Team strives for efficiency and accuracy in all that we do.

We hope this is helpful to you and we wish you the best!
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When do interviews generally start being offered?

Sent from my SM-N920V using SDN mobile
 
BoroPreMed92 said:
When do interviews generally start being offered?

Sent from my SM-N920V using SDN mobile
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Interviews begin in mid-September and continue through the end of March. A candidate can be chosen at ANY time once complete.
 
PCOM Admissions said:
Three faculty letters of recommendation: Two of those three letters must be from BASIC SCIENCE professors (undergraduate, post-baccalaureate or graduate programs). Please note that the faculty letters must be from a professor that issued a grade in a course that appears on the applicant's institutional transcript. The course number and title must be noted in the letter.
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Hello, so I emailed admissions a while back asking if my two science courses from my graduate program would be accepted under "basic sciences" and I was told that the committee would have to read them in order to decide.

Is it safe to assume that if those letters are listed with the received date and appropriate professors that they were deemed viable? Thanks.
 
sdhere1234 said:
Hello, so I emailed admissions a while back asking if my two science courses from my graduate program would be accepted under "basic sciences" and I was told that the committee would have to read them in order to decide.

Is it safe to assume that if those letters are listed with the received date and appropriate professors that they were deemed viable? Thanks.
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It is not at all common for us to post letters as received and label them as meeting a criteria if they have not been fully reviewed and approved. My guess, without looking at your individual file of course, is that those letters are acceptable. If they were not, you would see in the description area the issue (not on letterhead, no course noted, etc.)
 
I hope that you are finding these posts helpful. We won't be logged in every day but will do our best to help ease the concerns and anxieties of the application process to medical school. We understand how difficult it can be to go through all of these steps and then have to wait... but we encourage you to breathe, follow the instructions, try not to ruminate over the commentary/rumors/conjecturing of others, and to trust that there is an entire team of committed individuals who take this process and your futures very seriously. Warmest wishes to all of you! Chins up.
 
PCOM Admissions said:
I hope that you are finding these posts helpful. We won't be logged in every day but will do our best to help ease the concerns and anxieties of the application process to medical school. We understand how difficult it can be to go through all of these steps and then have to wait... but we encourage you to breathe, follow the instructions, try not to ruminate over the commentary/rumors/conjecturing of others, and to trust that there is an entire team of committed individuals who take this process and your futures very seriously. Warmest wishes to all of you! Chins up.
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We absolutely appreciate the updates and the information. Thank you!

Sent from my SM-N920V using SDN mobile
 
PCOM Admissions said:
You are most welcome!! I'm glad to be of help.
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Thanks for all of the help!
I have a question.

After speaking with one of my letter writers, I found out the letter she had uploaded was not on letterhead. I don't see anything about the letter being present on my portal. If she sends the updated letter on letterhead to [email protected] is that the best way to correct it?
I also have applied to the GA campus. If she indicates in her email that I applied to both will that be sufficient or should she send multiple emails?
 
allanMED15 said:
Thanks for all of the help!
I have a question.

After speaking with one of my letter writers, I found out the letter she had uploaded was not on letterhead. I don't see anything about the letter being present on my portal. If she sends the updated letter on letterhead to [email protected] is that the best way to correct it?
I also have applied to the GA campus. If she indicates in her email that I applied to both will that be sufficient or should she send multiple emails?
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The best way for it to be corrected is for it to be emailed once to [email protected] - because you are a dual-applicant, the letter will be posted to both records.
 
Scrubs101 said:
I have a 124 and got one, but i could have just been naively taxed. If that's true it could be bad for me since PCOM is strict on rules and cutoffs, so I have no idea if it's possible to get past the secondary stage. But you should get a secondary


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...

Just chiming in here...

All candidates applying to PCOM get the link to submit the Supplemental Application (Secondary).

Als0 - we do not have cut-offs for interview selection or admission regarding MCAT or GPA results. We use a holistic review process.
 
PCOM Admissions said:
I hope that you are finding these posts helpful. We won't be logged in every day but will do our best to help ease the concerns and anxieties of the application process to medical school. We understand how difficult it can be to go through all of these steps and then have to wait... but we encourage you to breathe, follow the instructions, try not to ruminate over the commentary/rumors/conjecturing of others, and to trust that there is an entire team of committed individuals who take this process and your futures very seriously. Warmest wishes to all of you! Chins up.
Click to expand...

This is awesome^^

Thank you for clearing things up!!!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
PCOM Admissions said:
Just chiming in here...

All candidates applying to PCOM get the link to submit the Supplemental Application (Secondary).

Als0 - we do not have cut-offs for interview selection or admission regarding MCAT or GPA results. We use a holistic review process.
Click to expand...

On the portal will we find all MCAT scores(test dates) received or will it only show one test date even if we may have more than one test?
 
LutGholein said:
On the portal will we find all MCAT scores(test dates) received or will it only show one test date even if we may have more than one test?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately - it will only display one score date, the first exam date, unless it has expired. We are hoping to be able to reprogram this. Stay tuned.
 
PCOM Admissions said:
Unfortunately - it will only display one score date, the first exam date, unless it has expired. We are hoping to be able to reprogram this. Stay tuned.
Click to expand...
So if I only see my expired score's test date and not my new score's date, that means there is a problem?
 
summergirl said:
So if I only see my expired score's test date and not my new score's date, that means there is a problem?
Click to expand...

The easy answer to this question is... If you submitted your official scores from AAMC to AACOMAS and they have been verified, we will receive them through an upload that we conduct weekly. If you recently submitted this information to AACOMAS, give them some time to verify. If you only self-reported your scores, we will NOT upload them to our database.

Expired scores = anything BEFORE August 1st, 2014.

You should not be seeing expired scores with a received date in our portal.

If you know you submitted official unexpired scores to AACOMAS and it's been a few weeks, I encourage you to email us at [email protected] with your Banner ID and we will look into things for you.
 
PCOM Admissions said:
Greetings from PCOM Admissions!

Yes - We're here and willing to help answer questions that you might have throughout the admissions process.

In response to the questions about applications being "complete":

We do not notify candidates via email that an application has become complete. Instead, we do provide the Online Application Summary portal which is available to you 24-7.

In the portal, you will notice that there are two sections: Requirements and Additional Information Received. All items listed under Requirements must have a received date in order to be "complete", thus ready for Faculty Committee on Admission review.

IMPORTANT: The Pre-Health Advisor/Committee Letter will continue to remain in the Requirements area until ALL of the three alternative letters are marked as received. As a reminder, the alternative is defined below:

Three faculty letters of recommendation: Two of those three letters must be from BASIC SCIENCE professors (undergraduate, post-baccalaureate or graduate programs). Please note that the faculty letters must be from a professor that issued a grade in a course that appears on the applicant's institutional transcript. The course number and title must be noted in the letter.

We do ask that you understand that it can take up to 15 business days for items to be loaded to your record. We appreciate your patience as we receive, validate, evaluate and categorize the many letters we receive. The Admissions Team strives for efficiency and accuracy in all that we do.

We hope this is helpful to you and we wish you the best!
Click to expand...
Is it okay for one of the three letters to be from a research supervisor who is affiliated with my university but has not issued a grade in any course?
 
pizza1994 said:
Is it okay for one of the three letters to be from a research supervisor who is affiliated with my university but has not issued a grade in any course?
Click to expand...

Unless there is a graded course listed in the letter, it cannot serve as any of the 'faculty' letters. Sorry.
 
2 of my letters that are not from graded faculty and are NOT showing up under additional material in my secondary application status. One is a community service letter and the other is from my research professor. It was submitted through AACOMAS. Does PCOM still have them and will they be read by the committee?
 
is the course number on the rec letters a strict requirement? I'm having trouble getting into contact with my professors to revise their letters
 
BatmanDoc said:
2 of my letters that are not from graded faculty and are NOT showing up under additional material in my secondary application status. One is a community service letter and the other is from my research professor. It was submitted through AACOMAS. Does PCOM still have them and will they be read by the committee?
Click to expand...

Letters that do not meet criteria for completion will not show up on the portal. Be assured that the letters are in your file if they were submitted to AACOMAS before you received the acknowledgement email from PCOM that your application was processed.
 
futurenjdoc said:
is the course number on the rec letters a strict requirement? I'm having trouble getting into contact with my professors to revise their letters
Click to expand...

It is. Sorry. My advice would be to seek another similar recommender type to ensure that you will meet the letter criteria.
 
Hey all, I read through this thread but wanted to make sure. The site says that they don't notify you via email of your status. So as long as all of our requirement boxes have dates in them then we are complete, right? And we can just hope for an II after that.
 
Dr. wait for it... said:
Hey all, I read through this thread but wanted to make sure. The site says that they don't notify you via email of your status. So as long as all of our requirement boxes have dates in them then we are complete, right? And we can just hope for an II after that.
Click to expand...

I believe that is correct.
 
So we have to have the person writing our letter include the course that they taught? I've already had these submitted a while ago, would I have to email them and have them re-upload their letters? Also is it even worth doing since I only have two letter writers that issued me a grade? My third was from a faculty member at my undergrad university but I didn't take a course with them. Kinda bummed with these requirements, this was my top choice
 
PCOM Admissions said:
Greetings from PCOM Admissions!

Yes - We're here and willing to help answer questions that you might have throughout the admissions process.

In response to the questions about applications being "complete":

We do not notify candidates via email that an application has become complete. Instead, we do provide the Online Application Summary portal which is available to you 24-7.

In the portal, you will notice that there are two sections: Requirements and Additional Information Received. All items listed under Requirements must have a received date in order to be "complete", thus ready for Faculty Committee on Admission review.

IMPORTANT: The Pre-Health Advisor/Committee Letter will continue to remain in the Requirements area until ALL of the three alternative letters are marked as received. As a reminder, the alternative is defined below:

Three faculty letters of recommendation: Two of those three letters must be from BASIC SCIENCE professors (undergraduate, post-baccalaureate or graduate programs). Please note that the faculty letters must be from a professor that issued a grade in a course that appears on the applicant's institutional transcript. The course number and title must be noted in the letter.

We do ask that you understand that it can take up to 15 business days for items to be loaded to your record. We appreciate your patience as we receive, validate, evaluate and categorize the many letters we receive. The Admissions Team strives for efficiency and accuracy in all that we do.

We hope this is helpful to you and we wish you the best!
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that if you're a nontraditional applicant you could use 2 basic science letters and a work LOR? I could've sworn I read that on the school website at some point. I've submitted 2 science, 1 work, and a DO letter and everything says received except the committee letter. It has been well over 15 days so would emailing admissions help or am I out of luck?
 
Straw Hat said:
I was under the impression that if you're a nontraditional applicant you could use 2 basic science letters and a work LOR? I could've sworn I read that on the school website at some point. I've submitted 2 science, 1 work, and a DO letter and everything says received except the committee letter. It has been well over 15 days so would emailing admissions help or am I out of luck?
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I hope this is true. Non trad also and there's no way I'm getting another faculty LOR
 
Straw Hat said:
I was under the impression that if you're a nontraditional applicant you could use 2 basic science letters and a work LOR? I could've sworn I read that on the school website at some point. I've submitted 2 science, 1 work, and a DO letter and everything says received except the committee letter. It has been well over 15 days so would emailing admissions help or am I out of luck?
Click to expand...
They are really strict with letter requirement and have never accepted letters from employers.
 
futurexray said:
They are really strict with letter requirement and have never accepted letters from employers.
Click to expand...

That's pretty crazy if true. I would think taking a random non science class just to get a letter vs. an employer who works in the healthcare field (I'm an RN) vouch for my ability to succeed in a professional/healthcare environment would provide more insight about me instead of a third academic letter. I've been jumping through all the hoops so far but most schools allow 2 science letters and a work letter if you're non traditional. The last non science class listed on my transcript is actually probably 5 years old. I'd be pretty disappointed if that's the case.

Would you say this is true for PCOM as a whole or is GA potentially different? I'll probably end up calling or emailing them but I'd like to get some answers here before I do in case they aren't receptive to calls. Their portal says we don't do application updates via email or phone so it's a bit confusing... So I'll wait for PCOM Admissions answer too.
 
Last edited:
Straw Hat said:
That's pretty crazy if so. Doesn't sound too holistic either Why should I take a random non science class just to get a letter when I can have an employer who works in the healthcare field (I'm an RN) vouch for my ability to succeed in a professional/healthcare environment? I've been jumping through all the hoops so far but most schools allow 2 science letters and a work letter if you're non traditional. The last non science class listed on my transcript is actually probably 5 years old. I'd be pretty disappointed if that's the case.

Would you say this is true for PCOM as a whole or is GA potentially different? I'll probably end up calling or emailing them but I'd like to get some answers here before I do in case they aren't receptive to calls. Their portal says we don't do application updates via email or phone so it's a bit confusing... So I'll wait for PCOM Admissions answer too.
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They follow the same rules because I think that Philadelphia does all the applications. They are not receptive to phone calls, prefer emails but I can tell you they will not make an exception. I had the same problem and finally got a letter in to complete the application.
 
I apologize in advance if this has been addressed previously, but could anyone give advice if I should put my application in if I only have 1 science letter (the other letter could be considered science but not categorized as a hard science)
 
3member said:
I apologize in advance if this has been addressed previously, but could anyone give advice if I should put my application in if I only have 1 science letter (the other letter could be considered science but not categorized as a hard science)
Click to expand...
Your best bet is to email them. They are pretty helpful at answering or directing you.
 
Jeetu93 said:
Your best bet is to email them. They are pretty helpful at answering or directing you.
Click to expand...
thanks much, i'll email them asap. hopefully will come back with good news!
 
Wolfpack93 said:
I hope this is true. Non trad also and there's no way I'm getting another faculty LOR
Click to expand...

Confirmed. Pretty disappointing. It's my own fault for not reading the LOR requirements carefully enough but quite a lot of schools allo and osteo allow work substitutions for nontraditional students.
 
AnatomyGrey12 said:
Does the committee letter ever fill in as received or go away if you do the alternate 3 faculty letter option? I have all three letters in and received, but I have no idea if I am complete or not. I hate it when schools don't send you a complete email.
Click to expand...

Hey, so I was wondering the same thing. After checking my portal today, it went away. Also, something else I found interesting was that there's no physician LOR necessary for PCOM? My DO LOR fell under the category of additional LORs.
 
Good morning. Just chiming in regarding a few comments above.

First, as we do prefer email correspondence, we are absolutely receptive to phone calls. We only ask that a candidate review their applicant portal, read the emails sent to them from PCOM Admissions, and be aware of the requirements posted to our website prior to calling. We often receive calls from candidates who have not taken the time to review the information provided to them. This drains the resources we have set up to process the many applications, recommendations, etc. received each day.

Additionally, we are absolutely a non-traditional student friendly institution and seek candidates with varied backgrounds, interests, talents and exposures. The letter of recommendation requirements are set to ensure the academic prowess of the individual. We certainly do accept and in a way expect letters of recommendation from other individuals such as physicians, supervisors and mentors. We simply do not require them.

I hope this is helpful.
 
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