Strategy for future applicants re: late grade releases

[Jepstein30]

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Brought this up in the verification thread but figured I could share it more publicly.

Many people take classes at colleges that don't release their grades until early/mid June.. making it very hard if not impossible for transcripts to be sent to AMCAS in time for verification in the 'early' group.

If you REALLY want to be part of that first group, here's what you need to do:
1) In May, once AMCAS begins accepting transcripts, send one from all your required schools.. even though it won't end up having your current classes.

2) Plan to submit as early as possible. AMCAS's system will recognize that all your transcripts are in (it doesn't realize that one is incomplete) and put you in the verification queue
*MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE GRADES FOR YOUR CURRENT CLASSES, EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO MAKE THEM UP (AMCAS will change them if they are wrong).

3) Once the grades are released, send in your updated transcript. AMCAS will not update your place in the verification queue and when it comes time to verify your transcript, they will use the most recent transcript = the one that you just got in.

Now, beware.. I'm not sure what happens if you misjudge the timing here. Let's say you send your application in day one and a verifier gets to it.. and sees your current classes are missing. I'm going to assume they will either 1) remove those grades and verify it or 2) return the application to you.. Neither of those two things are advantageous so I would recommend submitting in the late afternoon of day one.

I'm not sure whether AMCAS will insert grades into your application if they appear on your updated transcript and are marked as current in the course work section. I suppose if you were to just put in random grades for those classes, AMCAS would change them as they would with any other grades though.. so this could also be used as a strategy for getting in those last few grades from summer classes.

 

[osprey099]

Another tip: for a class that is kinda vague in terms of whether it is "science" or "non-science", designate it to whichever way is advantageous for you. Sometimes you get a lazy verifier and they leave it as be. This happened to me and it gave me an extra 0.07 science GPA points.

 

[muddyduck7]

Another tip: for a class that is kinda vague in terms of whether it is "science" or "non-science", designate it to whichever way is advantageous for you. Sometimes you get a lazy verifier and they leave it as be. This happened to me and it gave me an extra 0.07 science GPA points.

That sounds pretty dishonest... For anything that is "kinda vague," I would list it exactly how it was designated at your school.

 

[osprey099]

Well it's offered in a non-science department but the class can really go both ways.

 

[274631]

That sounds pretty dishonest... For anything that is "kinda vague," I would list it exactly how it was designated at your school.

I don't think it's necessarily dishonest. What about a class that is cross listed with both a science department and a non-science department? To me that falls in the vague category. For example I had a class that was cross listed with Anthropology and Neuroscience. On my transcript it shows up as an anthro class but I put it as biology. My school even classifies it as a science course for GER purposes.

Imo it'll only be dishonest if the class clearly does not fit the description of whatever category you're trying to fit it into.

 

[alerk323]

That sounds pretty dishonest... For anything that is "kinda vague," I would list it exactly how it was designated at your school.

oh please, over-sensitivity to "dishonesty" as you see it is going to cause more stress than it's worth, the med school application process is largely a game, don't hate the playa