Vanderbilt 2ndary lost in mail for 1+ month, contact them? accept no AP credit?

[cobalt314]

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I just recieved Vanderbilt's secondary yesterday although it was mailed out to me on August 29. I moved at the end of August and changed my address in AMCAS & provided a forwarding address for USPS. I've been getting mail at my new address for a while now and thus thought that my lack of any response from Vanderbilt was due to their not wanting to interview me. I had thought about contacting them (as the one and only e-mail from them at the end of July said i'd hear from them in 4-6 weeks), but I thought that the lack of any news was just signs of a forthcoming rejection.

Instead, my 2ndary invite has actually been floating around in USPS land for the past 1+ month. Argh. I want to contact Vandy and let them know that I haven't been sitting on their 2ndary for more than a month due to lack of interest and have instead been subject to the whims of the postal system, but I don't know if that will actually do anything. I doubt they would give me an earlier interview date than one I would otherwise get anyway (even though their site says that having an early finalized application impacts admissions & scholarship decisions). Anyway, if I e-mail them (or call and leave a message) today and call them on Monday during business hours to explain, do you think that would be overkill?

Also, I'm planning on working on the secondary essays hardcore this weekend so i can have my secondary ready to submit by the first half of next week. However, reading the secondary instructions made me wonder about a few things. It said:

"VUMS does not accept AP credit, CLEP credit or PASS/FAIL credit to fulfill any required courses. Upper level college courses are acceptable."

They require 8 credits of General Chemistry + lab. I used AP credit for all intro general chemistry + 2 associated labs. I have 4 credits of physical chemistry (without lab) + 4 credits of biochemistry, so I'm hoping they'll accept that in place of the Gen Chem. However, I have no labs (didn't take any inorganic chem labs in undergrad), so I don't know if that'll automatically make me ineligible.

I really would like to find out if my coursework is acceptable before I spend the next 2 days writing my personal autobiography, but I also don't want to wait to start on this. Does anyone know if they might accept coursework like this? I searched the forums and someone posted about something semi-similar (using biochem for the req) in 2004/2005, but i also found a post from those years stating that people could schedule their interviews before submitting their 2nday (so some would submit the day of their interview), and I don't want to rely on info that's 2+ years old.

Thanks!

 

[postbacker]

Since you will get no official answer on this until you can call them on Monday (assuming their offices are open on Columbus Day), I would say fill it out and send it in ASAP (as is you are very late with this, but I am sure you already realize that...) and then see if you can fix your problem by taking additional courses prior to matriculation (keep in mind that pre reqs only need be completed before matriculation, not before admission, so even if you get a negative reply from Vandy, you still have the possibility of remedying your problem in the spring and summer terms...).

Sounds like the best case for you is that you will need to take a couple of chem labs...worst case is that you will need to take an additional chem lecture, too...I am curious, though - has this not been an issue at any other med school?

 

[154241]

I used biochem to substitute for my AP Gen Chem credits, but the biochem course had a separate, non-required lab that I also took...

 

[MassTransport]

I believe you're fine. The phrasing sounds intimidating, but they're actually very accommodating with these sorts of things. I placed out of general chemistry and they accepted one semester of biochemistry without lab in lieu of this requirement.