Typewritten Applications ... ?

[woolie]

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This may have been discussed to no end, but is anyone else out there 1) typing these non-amcas applications by themselves 😕 or 2) actually paying someone to do it or or 3) something else?

I am totally broke but I just can't see myself typing up a 7 page paper application seeing as I don't have a typewriter or fifteen copies of the application for when I make stupid mistakes.

And what about those secondaries ... maybe I should just beg a decent typewriter from someone. What do other people do??

 

[tBw]

Some people type, some people handwrite. The straw polls from last year indicated it did not affect acceptance likelihood but maybe those people had exceptionally neat handwriting 😉

For myself I either edited pdf files or photocopied typing pasted from my computers wordprocessor. Thus all my apps looked typed but I never once touched a typewriter.

 

[Samoa]

Most schools are now converting their applications to PDF or Word files, so they're very easy to fill out on the computer. Some of them allow you to submit them online, and others make you print them out and send them in.

 

[Enkindu]

Heh- I got sick of trying to find a typewriter and ended up dropping $70 on one at Staples. I've heard some of those copy/printing places rent them. After some practice the apps looked sharp. (Know anyone who wants to buy a very slightly used typewriter?) 🙂

 

[Moskeeto]

yeah, its really not worth it to find a typewriter. I had to look everywhere to find one and it took forever. My roomate's girlfriend's sister had one and i got to use that. I dont' know if it was worth it, I only had to type out 3 or 4 apps. But its just something to help you not to second guess yourself on because you do that alot during the process. If I were applying again, I'd just do what boy wonder did.

 

[woolie]

Thanks guys, these are really great suggestions. I don't know that I can handle the computer/pdf thing even tho it sounds like the best route. I think I am way too spastic for that and I can see piles of misaligned print outs ...

This is one application for now and maybe I will cave and buy (or rent!) a typewriter for the secondaries in the summer/fall. It is so much better when these things are online.

Normally I'm a decent typist but for something as important as this I just get too nervous and stressed. Maybe by the time the secondaries come I will be too worn out to be nervous 😛

 

[Samoa]

Originally posted by woolie
Thanks guys, these are really great suggestions. I don't know that I can handle the computer/pdf thing even tho it sounds like the best route. I think I am way too spastic for that and I can see piles of misaligned print outs ...

Actually, there's very little chance of that, since the forms they create force you to type inside the boxes. So even total goofs like myself end up with snazzy looking secondaries.

 

[woolie]

Hey Samoa! this is funny - such a quick response is like having a conversation!

Ok 'uncle!', if everyone else is able to do this computer thing then I guess I need to figure out how to do it. I finally bought a printer last month for my Kaplan practice tests and now I don't know how I lived without one for so long 😀

Do you just do a practice copy of the answers and then put the application in the printer? I'm thinking of creases in the application or other wierdnesses like that ...

 

[tBw]

many of them will be electronic files. You type in the spaces in the pdf/word document - put a blank piece of paper in the printer - and hit print.

 

[Moskeeto]

yeah, its super simple, you type onto the document itself and then print it out. there's no "layering" where you type and print onto the application. I have a scanner now and it can scan the application and turn it into a pdf or word file that you can type on and print. I'm sure your school or Kinkos or a friend would have something similar that could help.

 

[lola]

i handwrote a lot of apps
i also edited pdf files but never touched a typewriter!

 

[woolie]

These are great suggestions and I hope I do get pdf files with future secondaries and apps. Right now I have one big 6 page paper application and so I feel like back in the stone-age and I think I'm just going to have the local typing service do it up. I have to have ALL my 10,000 classes plus grades, etc listed on this appl plus everything else. Jeesh, this process must have been a real mess before amcas and computers ... ! 😱

 

[abw]

Hey!
I don't know if this is the case for you, but at my school, each of the department secretaries had a typewriter/word processor in their office just because every once in a while they had to use one. For the apps that I had use a typewriter, I just poked my head into a couple of offices to ask if I could set up an appointment to use one.

 

[MaybeMD]

How do you type over pdf files? Do you need the full version of acrobat reader for it?

 

[VienneseWaltz]

1) You DO need the full version of Acrobat to edit PDF files. You open new text boxes in the blank spaces and type your answer.

2) What the boywonder was suggesting about printing on the application was actually typing your answers (in Word), cutting out the answers, neatly pasting them onto the app, then photocopying the app so that it *looks* as if you've printed directly on the app. Trying to print directly from the word processor to the app is way too big of a pain. Either way, I would still make back-up copies of your app.

I returned 16 secondaries last year. 2 were in Word format, 1 was in PDF (I altered the file), and 2 had to be typed. The rest were online. If I were to apply this year, I imagine even fewer wouldn't be online.

 

[manik]

Buy full page labels from staples or office max. You can just stick these sheets in your printer and when it comes out just cut and paste onto the application. it works great.