*-*-* The Official TMDSAS Questions Thread 2011 *-*-*

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Has anyone got a friend or know somebody that got an interview with their new MCAT score but not with the old one?


I don't want schools rejecting me for an interview after looking at my first MCAT score
 
Hi everyone,

First question: My school doesn't have an English department per se, so we don't have any school-wide composition classes that we have to take. We do have a communications requirement, which is met by taking two writing-intensive classes out of several offered by different departments. For the AMCAS, I designated these classes under their respective categories (History, and Behavioral Sciences). I have been told by the prehealth office that during secondaries we can specify that these courses should satisfy schools' English/Writing requirements. However, as I'm filling out the TMDSAS, the categories available make it seem like they use this course list to weed out people that haven't completed the pre-req's. So should I list these two classes under "English", or under "Non Science"?

Never mind about the second question, I figured that one out. First question still stands though.
 
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moxche said:
Hi everyone,

First question: My school doesn't have an English department per se, so we don't have any school-wide composition classes that we have to take. We do have a communications requirement, which is met by taking two writing-intensive classes out of several offered by different departments.
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I was unaware of schools not having basic english classes. No eng 101 +102???
 
UNMorBUST said:
I was unaware of schools not having basic english classes. No eng 101 +102???
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Nope. Our only true composition/grammar courses are ESL classes I believe.
 
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AspiringDOC2010 said:
Just curious, how many here have been verified so far?
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I submitted May 13th and they sent my application out to the schools on June 1st... I already did my secondaries and paid for the ones that required payment. Still haven't heard anything from the schools, and some of the schools with online status pages have still not posted my primary as received yet.

BobbyT said:
Has anyone got a friend or know somebody that got an interview with their new MCAT score but not with the old one?


I don't want schools rejecting me for an interview after looking at my first MCAT score
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You wouldn't really know if this was what happened... I mean, they say that they put more weight on the newest score if that's what you are asking. I have a crap ton of terrible old MCAT scores, but my newest one is good, so I figure that they will not only put the most weight on the new one but also see how much I have improved. So just because your old MCAT score sucked doesn't mean it will hurt you.
 
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Are people still having issues with their GPA being miscalculated still? one of mine is too high and the other is too low?
 
I am having difficulty coming up with ideas for the Texas Tech hometown secondary essay (what do you like/dislike about your hometown). Any suggestions of what all I should focus on? How long should this essay be?
 
Bobcat 2006 said:
Are people still having issues with their GPA being miscalculated still? one of mine is too high and the other is too low?
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Same here, but I think that problem was resolved. Maybe we are under the wrong assumption of what constitutes science gpa.
 
locationsuit said:
I am having difficulty coming up with ideas for the Texas Tech hometown secondary essay (what do you like/dislike about your hometown). Any suggestions of what all I should focus on? How long should this essay be?
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I’m from Arlington TX, so I wrote about how my city was small and then grew to what it is today, the home of the new Cowboy’s stadium. Then I spoke about how it was great being raised in such a diverse area of Texas and how this has made me a better person. The dislike part of my essay was that it is now too crowded, I mentioned that I will likely move to a different part of Texas when I finish with school (that way they know I am going to be a Texas physician and also that I want to work in a more rural/smaller area of Texas).

My essay was just a paragraph, maybe 7-8 sentences. I don't really know why they even ask this question... Seems pointless to me.
 
TxBaby said:
I'm in a similar situation too. I plan on taking a later MCAT as well. My second time. So you brought up a good point dancingdoctor13 about waiting to submit secondaries until new scores have arrive. So I am assuming the schools won't review your application until your secondary are in? Correct? So you won't get rejecting on solely on your first MCAT scores.
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I just wanted to clarify. So if I was taking my test Aug. 5th (2nd time taking it), then I should submit my secondaries Sept 5? Will that hurt my chances for submitting the secondaries so late?
 
Did anyone fill out the "Indicate any hardship" part on A&M secondary?
I honestly don't think I have one that I call a real hardship and don't want to come up with something lame.

It seems as if not having any hardship or unique feature is a sin in med school application..

btw, am I the only one who finds it funny that A&M processing program is BAMF? lol
 
SweetRain said:
Did anyone fill out the "Indicate any hardship" part on A&M secondary?
I honestly don't think I have one that I call a real hardship and don't want to come up with something lame.

It seems as if not having any hardship or unique feature is a sin in med school application..

btw, am I the only one who finds it funny that A&M processing program is BAMF? lol
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i didn't check the box but i still wrote the essay for it. i dunno i didn't think my "hardship" was a big enough deal to be considered as having a hardship. does that make sense?

and ya i think it's hilarious! i wonder if any of the admin people know
 
How much do we need to pay TMDSAS for the verification? Should the money order be made payable to "TMDSAS"? Can we send out the money order before we click the submit button for the primary? Thanks!
 
peabody2 said:
How much do we need to pay TMDSAS for the verification? To whom should the money order be made payable? Thanks!
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Make payment to TMDSAS, and the amount due should be clear in the payment page. $145 if you applied to all schools.
 
Has anyone else had their stuff sent out to the schools? Has anyone heard anything from any of them yet? I have been waiting and waiting for the last two weeks since mine were sent out. I haven’t gotten anything from the schools nor have they posted having received my application on their status page. Figured they would send me a "you are complete" email by now...
 
noshie said:
Has anyone else had their stuff sent out to the schools? Has anyone heard anything from any of them yet? I have been waiting and waiting for the last two weeks since mine were sent out. I haven’t gotten anything from the schools nor have they posted having received my application on their status page. Figured they would send me a "you are complete" email by now...
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I think most of us haven't even been verified yet. At least on this thread, you should be the first one to receive a notice if anyone :laugh:
 
at what point are the apps sent out to schools? once transcripts and recs are in? mine says that everything is processed (as in, they've received my check) but my recs aren't in yet, and i'm waiting for one more transcript.
 
ball1313 said:
at what point are the apps sent out to schools? once transcripts and recs are in? mine says that everything is processed (as in, they've received my check) but my recs aren't in yet, and i'm waiting for one more transcript.
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They are sent to schools once your gpa is verified- in order for that to happen you must first have all your transcripts in. Apparently they take a while to process, at least much longer than AMCAS.

Your LORs dont have to be in to be verified though. I think they are needed once you start your secondaries, or maybe when you complete your secondaries....im not sure, but you dont need them in order to get your primary app submitted.
 
noshie said:
Has anyone else had their stuff sent out to the schools? Has anyone heard anything from any of them yet? I have been waiting and waiting for the last two weeks since mine were sent out. I haven’t gotten anything from the schools nor have they posted having received my application on their status page. Figured they would send me a "you are complete" email by now...
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My primary application was sent to schools last week as well, and I completed all my secondaries except for Tech. I still haven't heard anything from any schools thus far. I guess we are in the same boat.
 
Does anyone know how the personal statement is formatted when viewed by the admissions committee members? Is it actually as it appears on our "view entire application" format?
 
I submitted on June 4th, and it stills says "TMDSAS Processing" ... they were quick to accept/verify everything, but transmitting seems to be taking awhile.
I haven't even bothered doing the secondaries yet :/
 
Democritus said:
Does anyone know how the personal statement is formatted when viewed by the admissions committee members? Is it actually as it appears on our "view entire application" format?
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Its pretty much like blocked text. You can put a line between paragraphs and that's it...

dusk2don said:
Hey all, I have a question regarding the UTSW and Texas Tech secondaries. The first question on both tells you to check the boxes that interest you, list the related experiences, etc. I want to work in an underserved community. The thing is, I THOUGHT I had shadowed a physician in an underserved community. (Just because the neighborhood wasn't as affluent compared to some of the others I've seen. Bad assumption, I know.) I did some research on the Health Resources and Services Administration website, and I found out the clinic wasn't in an underserved area. So my question is, should I still include my shadowing experience on the secondaries because I *thought* it was in an underprivileged community? Thanks for the help.
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I would just say that you want to do this and then give the activity you thought was with an underserved community. The only reason you don't think it was underserved is because of what you looked up online. However, you felt like it was underserved when you were there, because I am assuming it gave you that feeling... So just list it and give yourself a break. It really won't hurt your application.
 
"A Texas A&M medical student is a professional who exhibits leadership, honesty, integrity, compassion, respect and self-discipline." Please briefly discuss what activities or personal attributes demonstrate best that you would be a good custodian of our honor code.

Does anyone know how to attack this question? I feel like honesty and integrity are things that are seen not written about and thus I am lost.
 
Bobcat 2006 said:
"A Texas A&M medical student is a professional who exhibits leadership, honesty, integrity, compassion, respect and self-discipline." Please briefly discuss what activities or personal attributes demonstrate best that you would be a good custodian of our honor code.

Does anyone know how to attack this question? I feel like honesty and integrity are things that are seen not written about and thus I am lost.
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I hated that question... I can't even explain how I attacked it, so I PMed you the response that I submitted. Hope this helps!
 
Thanks Noshie! I think what you wrote is really good and impressive.
 
Noshie! Can you also PM me what you wrote? I struggled with this last year, and wrote something, but it wasn't any good. (2nd time applying)
 
Bobcat 2006 said:
Thanks Noshie! I think what you wrote is really good and impressive.
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Thanks! But I think you are being much too kind 🙂 The more I read it, the more I think it’s a little too much... I tried to highlight many different qualities in one short essay, did you think this made it sound like a non-cohesive essay? I already submitted it though so nothing I can do now I guess... 😳
 
i submitted 5/20, my payment was received 5/24, and my app was transmitted to schools on 6/9
 
does anyone know how long it takes for them to receive transcripts? I sent mine out on 6/8 and they still haven't received it.
 
...I'm having trouble tackling the A&M secondary essays as well, especially since there isn't a character limit. I don't know how long of an essay they're expecting. what do you guys think?

I also don't know how we're supposed to write about our character (honesty/integrity,etc) for the honor code essay without sounding full of it. 🙄 i mean it is our own opinion of ourselves..haha 🙂
 
stuffy said:
...I'm having trouble tackling the A&M secondary essays as well, especially since there isn't a character limit. I don't know how long of an essay they're expecting. what do you guys think?

I also don't know how we're supposed to write about our character (honesty/integrity,etc) for the honor code essay without sounding full of it. 🙄 i mean it is our own opinion of ourselves..haha 🙂
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i currently go to a&m as an undergrad and i tied it in with our university honor code and things like that
 
ColeOnTheRoll said:
Anyone gotten out of "processing" hell recently? If so, when did you submit?
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submitted/paid on may 19th, transmitted to the schools on june 8th. sure took them awhile to get everything in order! plus they apparently just approved of those transcripts and received the LORs
 
I sent my transcripts in a while back. Does "pending" mean that they have been received but are just being processed?
 
CardiacArrest said:
I sent my transcripts in a while back. Does "pending" mean that they have been received but are just being processed?
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There will be a date listed when they actually receive it... So they don't have your transcripts yet if there is no date.
 
Apologize if this has already been asked, but what's the general consensus on the length of answers for secondaries? They don't want an essay, right? Keep it brief and concise, just as long as it addresses the question?
 
Hanzo Hasashi said:
Apologize if this has already been asked, but what's the general consensus on the length of answers for secondaries? They don't want an essay, right? Keep it brief and concise, just as long as it addresses the question?
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None of them took more than half a page to write for me. If anyone needs help answering these questions, like I said before, I already did them and I don't mind sending you what I wrote... I wish someone had done this for me... 😉
 
I know it has been discussed, but i haven't really gathered enough information to make a decision...

I took the June 17th MCAT. I have completed my Personal Statement and received all my LORs. I had previously taken the MCAT back in April and scored poorly on it. Should people in my situation submit the TMDSAS application before our second MCAT scores are in?

Is it possible to verify transcripts by applying to a school we aren't interested in and adding the other schools once the MCAT scores are released? I know this is how the AMCAS works, but i wasn't sure if this applied to the TMDSAS too.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
 
jc12217 said:
I know it has been discussed, but i haven't really gathered enough information to make a decision...

I took the June 17th MCAT. I have completed my Personal Statement and received all my LORs. I had previously taken the MCAT back in April and scored poorly on it. Should people in my situation submit the TMDSAS application before our second MCAT scores are in?

Is it possible to verify transcripts by applying to a school we aren't interested in and adding the other schools once the MCAT scores are released? I know this is how the AMCAS works, but i wasn't sure if this applied to the TMDSAS too.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
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i've already submitted and this is what it says for the select schools page

"The application has been submitted. This page can only be viewed and not edited. IF YOU NEED TO ADD A NEW SCHOOL, please contact the TMDSAS administrator with the request."

i think it may not be a great idea to submit and then add more later
 
Then is it possible to get your transcripts verified before submitting your application?
 
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