SDN flashback archive: AMCAS debacle of 2001

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Socrates25

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I decided to randomly check in on my premed days a long time ago. I applied to med school during the infamous AMCAS debacle of 2001. It was the first electronic-based med school application and it was a total freaking disaster. Prior to 2001, AMCAS used a paper application that you submitted to AMCAS which they reformulated and distributed to the various schools. 2001 AMCAS was supposed to be a "game changer."

The internet-based application was so unstable and chaotic that many of the med schools gave up on AMCAS and went back to using their own paper apps for that year until the glitches got worked out.

There were so many pissed off premeds on this board back then it was unbelievable!

The SDN community was a lot smaller at that time and it had a much more intimate feel at that time.


Here is a listing of all the posts on the pre-allo forum in early July 2001 (notice all the AMCAS error related messages):
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/for...rt=lastpost&order=desc&daysprune=-1&page=2945

Angry premeds considering lawsuit against AAMC in 2001:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=11391

Lee (moderator) asking people's opinions about AMCAS 2001 for a NY Times reporter:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=2191

Premeds beg AMCAS to give up on their fancy web-based system and go back to paper apps:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=3239
 
That debacle sounds similar to my frustration with all the schools' online secondaries. I have noticed that alot of schools use the same web developer that makes the one of the nicest online secondaries I've seen so far. I say all the schools should contract for 1 universal secondary.
 
MuAgonist said:
That debacle sounds similar to my frustration with all the schools' online secondaries. I have noticed that alot of schools use the same web developer that makes the one of the nicest online secondaries I've seen so far. I say all the schools should contract for 1 universal secondary.
Click to expand...

Or get rid of secondaries altogether. It's a money scam.
 
I wonder if he would have eaten a poop hotdog to get AMCAS to send out paper applications.
 
MuAgonist said:
That debacle sounds similar to my frustration with all the schools' online secondaries. I have noticed that alot of schools use the same web developer that makes the one of the nicest online secondaries I've seen so far. I say all the schools should contract for 1 universal secondary.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think Medical College of Wisconsin has had the most user friendly secondary of all the ones I have filled out. And it included when your LORs had been downloaded, which was a nice bonus.

I bet a web developer could make some money if they tried selling a secondary app program to a bunch of schools that gave them flexibility in the questions they asked and stuff.
 
DAPI said:
Yeah, I think Medical College of Wisconsin has had the most user friendly secondary of all the ones I have filled out. And it included when your LORs had been downloaded, which was a nice bonus.
Click to expand...

+1. The MCW app was pretty nice. I think the SLU secondary is also from the same developer.
 
TheWeeIceMan said:
+1. The MCW app was pretty nice. I think the SLU secondary is also from the same developer.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but they did not include when your LORs where downloaded so -1 point for them.
 
I remember that ugly year.... but I wasn't on SDN, yet. To compound the problem, many people used FedEx and other overnight courriers to deliver secondaries and after 9/11, air traffic ground to a halt for about a week meaning another delay for applicants anxious to have completed files ready for review. And... we could see the list of schools where you had applied. It was a fiasco!
 
13 weeks to be verified!?😱
 
That's pretty interesting, thanks for digging that up 👍 I can imagine people were going crazy, especially since casual usage of the internet even then was nothing like it is now where we're very comfortable with all kinds of important documents being handled electronically.
 
MuAgonist said:
That debacle sounds similar to my frustration with all the schools' online secondaries. I have noticed that alot of schools use the same web developer that makes the one of the nicest online secondaries I've seen so far. I say all the schools should contract for 1 universal secondary.
Click to expand...

Why not have the secondaries built into AMCAS? That's what the Ontario med school application system does, and it's so much easier to consolidate all your submissions and payments in one place. It'd save all the schools from having to commission their own secondary websites, and it'd probably streamline the FAP process.

They could take it even further -- in Ontario, the same application through which you submit your application is also where acceptances are issued and accepted/declined. Imagine having status updates, "complete" notifications, interview invites, acceptances, application updates, etc. all streamlined through the AMCAS application. SO much simpler than the current system -- even the process of withdrawing from schools around May 15 is so unnecessarily complicated, you have to email each school individually.
 
jjesque said:
Why not have the secondaries built into AMCAS? That's what the Ontario med school application system does, and it's so much easier to consolidate all your submissions and payments in one place. It'd save all the schools from having to commission their own secondary websites, and it'd probably streamline the FAP process.

They could take it even further -- in Ontario, the same application through which you submit your application is also where acceptances are issued and accepted/declined. Imagine having status updates, "complete" notifications, interview invites, acceptances, application updates, etc. all streamlined through the AMCAS application. SO much simpler than the current system -- even the process of withdrawing from schools around May 15 is so unnecessarily complicated, you have to email each school individually.
Click to expand...

Life is SO HARD. 🙁
 
LizzyM said:
I remember that ugly year.... but I wasn't on SDN, yet. To compound the problem, many people used FedEx and other overnight courriers to deliver secondaries and after 9/11, air traffic ground to a halt for about a week meaning another delay for applicants anxious to have completed files ready for review. And... we could see the list of schools where you had applied. It was a fiasco!
Click to expand...

Wow... why wouldn't they get rid of that before they sent it out to the other schools...
 
That was also the same year as the start of the epic Jalby v. Georgetown thread
 
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