Suggestions to improve AACOMAS and secondary applications

[jcharness]

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My name is Justin Charness, I am currently working as an intern at the AACOM in Chevy Chase, MD. I have been assigned to help modify the AACOMAS application as well as secondary applications for Osteopathic Medical schools. My goal is to make the applications easier to comprehend for the prospective student. I also want to modify the application so that it will really portray the student as a person and not just as a bunch of numbers. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions of ways that both the AACOM and the DO schools could make their application geared more towards learning about their applicant. Thanks for your time!



Justin Charness
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
5550 Friendship Blvd., Ste. 310
Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7231
[email protected]
voice: 301-943-8794

 

[poormansDO]

My name is Justin Charness, I am currently working as an intern at the AACOM in Chevy Chase, MD. I have been assigned to help modify the AACOMAS application as well as secondary applications for Osteopathic Medical schools. My goal is to make the applications easier to comprehend for the prospective student. I also want to modify the application so that it will really portray the student as a person and not just as a bunch of numbers. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions of ways that both the AACOM and the DO schools could make their application geared more towards learning about their applicant. Thanks for your time!



Justin Charness
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
5550 Friendship Blvd., Ste. 310
Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7231
[email protected]
voice: 301-943-8794

when do u predict that you will mail out the first batch of AACOMAS applications to designated schools?

 

[Raven Feather]

My name is Justin Charness, I am currently working as an intern at the AACOM in Chevy Chase, MD. I have been assigned to help modify the AACOMAS application as well as secondary applications for Osteopathic Medical schools. My goal is to make the applications easier to comprehend for the prospective student. I also want to modify the application so that it will really portray the student as a person and not just as a bunch of numbers. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions of ways that both the AACOM and the DO schools could make their application geared more towards learning about their applicant. Thanks for your time!



Justin Charness
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
5550 Friendship Blvd., Ste. 310
Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7231
[email protected]
voice: 301-943-8794

I think the space for the personal statement could be lengthened.

I think the ways in which you would like any course repeats to be entered on the application be better explained.

I think AACOM should notify applicants when their transcripts are received (like AMCAS does) via email. In this way, people don't wait to find out their transcripts have been lost (like I did last year) which delays the verification and therefore, the whole application process.

That is all I can remember.

 

[Barts]

My name is Justin Charness, I am currently working as an intern at the AACOM in Chevy Chase, MD. I have been assigned to help modify the AACOMAS application as well as secondary applications for Osteopathic Medical schools. My goal is to make the applications easier to comprehend for the prospective student. I also want to modify the application so that it will really portray the student as a person and not just as a bunch of numbers. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions of ways that both the AACOM and the DO schools could make their application geared more towards learning about their applicant. Thanks for your time!



Justin Charness
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
5550 Friendship Blvd., Ste. 310
Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7231
[email protected]
voice: 301-943-8794

I can tell you one thing I didn't like--how the order of (semesters)grades is put into the application. The semesters seemed out of order, it would be much easier to just have applicants list their courses exactly as they appear on their transcripts-and list the semesters as they were taken. It might also be nice to give the applicants an idea of when they will be complete and apps. sent. Instead of me checking for a GPA to calculated every day for the last 2 weeks, an estimated date that each step will be complete could be listed-- and/or as the above poster said, perhaps an email letting us know that everything has been received and our application is just waiting on AACOMAS for completion.

 

[HunterGatherer]

awesome! You came to the right place. 😀

 

[noshie]

I also agree with the idea of giving us an idea of when things will happen. I hate looking on there everyday, sometimes 3-4 times a day to see if anything is happening. I had a problem explaining my duties in the space provided for some of my jobs and volunteer work. I think that the instructions that are given on the web site could be more simple and also more explanitory. Another thing that I disliked was that I called AACOMAS to answer a question that I could not find on the website and they called me back like 5 days later, by then I had already submitted so it was too late, thankfully I did the right thing so it did not matter. This also happened when I sent an email, it took 3-4 days to get a reply. This can be frustrating, but I also realize that you are busy this time of year also. Maybe an automated email that says "we have recieved your email and someone will be replying to you in 24-48 hours."

 

[dr.z]

I think AACOM should notify applicants when their transcripts are received (like AMCAS does) via email. In this way, people don't wait to find out their transcripts have been lost (like I did last year) which delays the verification and therefore, the whole application process.

I think this will help a lot of applicants.

 

[HunterGatherer]

Not sure if the OP is still at AACOM but if you have suggestions to improve the application process please post here. In the meantime I will see if the OP is still available or if someone else has taken the position.

My suggestion would be to include the help file (included in the application program) on a web page as a pdf. A lot of the more complicated questions regarding the application could only be answered by going to parts of the application and checking the help file . The help file included in the application is much more detailed than anything found on the website when I last applied. A detailed table of contents in outline form would make the pdf or online help file easier to navigate.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Bump!