*-*-*The Official AMCAS Questions Thread 2011*-*-*

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batista_123 said:
Quick question

I was a volunteer at a hospital for like 6 months. but i got no clinical experiences, just BS stuff like shredding documents and busy work. nothing patient related. the hospital kept promising that I would eventually get more medical stuff, but I never did, it was just free labor for them.
I quit.
Should i include this in my ECs?
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If you don't have much, YES. Embelish and ****ing make it sound like the most important volunteer experience of your life. Lie and say that you helped Christopher Walken with his insurance dilemma.
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BUMPPP

is there a difference between sending it in july 31st to meet the deadline or sending it in aug 2nd??? is it still considered "early" if I submit without them receiving my transcripts or being verified? big diff or no?? should i rush to send it in before the deadline or just wait to send it in??? GRACIAS!!!
 
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I requested my transcripts early this month. AMCAS hasn't received them yet!

I'm not sure whether to blame the Registrar's Office at my school, or AMCAS for not saying if they have received them or not...

Would this affect me A LOT in applying? I want to be able to submit secondaries and just occupy myself with interviews. :mad:
 
Yeah u will definitely be at a huge disadvantage. At this point, you probably won't get verified until some time in september and won't start getting secondaries until then. Your application will be very late.
 
Dude chill out! You submitted them EARLIER this month. So lets say the 5th. Your school probably has a 7-10 day turnaround time on them...and its in prime app season so they are prob. busy. So now we are at the 15th....mail in time...up to another week...now were up to the 22nd. And amcas has a ****LOAD of things to process. They most likely have them but they have not been logged in as received yet.
 
willen101383 said:
Dude chill out! You submitted them EARLIER this month. So lets say the 5th. Your school probably has a 7-10 day turnaround time on them...and its in prime app season so they are prob. busy. So now we are at the 15th....mail in time...up to another week...now were up to the 22nd. And amcas has a ****LOAD of things to process. They most likely have them but they have not been logged in as received yet.
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I agree that OP should chill, but not for the reasons you stated.He/she should chill cuz there is nothing he/she can do about the situation, but to act as if an application being verified in september and not having complete apps until mid-late september is not an issue, that's inaccurate. This is very late to have a complete application. It may be around prime app time if having a complete application in august, but when you haven't even been verified in august, that's not prime app time.
 
Futuredoc333 said:
Hello :)
So I am planning how to write my personal statement and there are several "stories" from my life that I could elaborate on. However, I have no idea which one would be the best one...? Here are some of the things I did (I grew up in germany so some stories are from then)

1) In my German high school I was educated as a school paramedic, which meant I walked around with a school emergency cell phone and everytime first aid was needed I would run to the secretary's office and provide first aid, call an ambulance if necessary etc. One time a young boy fell on the stairs when I was on call and I had to apply several compressions and pressure bandages (is that what you call them in english..?) until the ambulance finally arrived. All the medical training i went through for that program was so awesome that I started really wanting to do be a doctor. So this is pretty much how it all started.

2) I did an internship in an ambulance car, also in Germany. For three weeks I did all the vital signs, bandages etc. Definately a crazy experience, esp because I was only 14! I could elaborate on this experience

3) Once I came to America and entered college I volunteered at a hospital. One time I was able to do CPR on a patient. He did not end up making it but it made me want to be a doctor more now, because I also want to be part of the team that saves someones life.


Ok, I think those were the three highlights of my life in wanting to become a doctor. Ever since I can think I wanted to be a doctor, but I am unsure how I can bring that accross without sounding cheesy or too melodramatic.

It would be awesome if I could have some input/ideas.

thank you thank you thank you
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the first one is the most original but i dont think you should focus your whole PS on an experience from high school. the second is quite unoriginal, the twist about you being 14 is sortof interesting but again, shouldn't focus your whole PS on high school experience. The third one is again not really that original (though a bit more so than the second one).

My advice is write about all three. Your PS is telling a story and I'm sure you can find a way to string together all three of those experiences in a creative way that shows whoever is reading your PS why you want to be a doctor. Though it might not seem like it there's plenty of room to write about several experiences, especially if you think they all contributed to your desire to become a physician.
 
mdbound1987 said:
I agree that OP should chill, but not for the reasons you stated.He/she should chill cuz there is nothing he/she can do about the situation, but to act as if an application being verified in september and not having complete apps until mid-late september is not an issue, that's inaccurate. This is very late to have a complete application. It may be around prime app time if having a complete application in august, but when you haven't even been verified in august, that's not prime app time.
Click to expand...

All the primes and primaries got me so confused.

Anyways OP, HURRY THE HELL UP.
 
mdbound1987 said:
I agree that OP should chill, but not for the reasons you stated.He/she should chill cuz there is nothing he/she can do about the situation, but to act as if an application being verified in september and not having complete apps until mid-late september is not an issue, that's inaccurate. This is very late to have a complete application. It may be around prime app time if having a complete application in august, but when you haven't even been verified in august, that's not prime app time.
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The thing is I wish I could blame myself for this... but my school was on strike and there was no way I could have gotten those transcripts before July.
 
kashmirvie said:
The thing is I wish I could blame myself for this... but my school was on strike and there was no way I could have gotten those transcripts before July.
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I wouldn't worry about it too much. There's nothing you could have done, and I don't think your application will really be late anyway. Submitting in August clearly wouldn't be considered 'early,' but I think calling it 'very late' is a pretty big stretch. Most schools do a good job of only accepting people who would be a good match for their school, so as long as you aren't completing your application right before the deadline, you should be fine being a little later in the summer.
 
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Hi

Im about to send my letters from interfolio to AMCAS and i have a quick question!

It says the total delivery fee is $6 and I have 5 letters that will be sent. Is it $6 for all 5 letters? or is it 5 x $6 = $30?

Thanks!
 
how can we find out which amcas submissions have been verified? e.g. those submitted within a certain date interval
 
CougarMD said:
Every school is different. You'll get some even before you're verified. Some people say that the day after they submit they are getting secondaries. Just depends on the school. Good luck.
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Got it. Thank you.
 
Does anyone have any idea as to how much the essay is weighed in applications compared to ECs/MCAT/GPA ?
 
Anyone have insight about my question
In August I am moving to start a gap year job. I was wondering if I should change my preferred address and permanent or just my preferred??
 
Hello :)

ok I got all these inspirations from this forum and other websites and now I finished my first draft for my Personal statement. Is there anyone willing who could give me good feedback? I also need to make a little bit shorter, but I am unsure which part to shorten.

Thank you! I will be eternally grateful to you!!! :)

-future doc 333
 
Futuredoc333 said:
Hello :)

ok I got all these inspirations from this forum and other websites and now I finished my first draft for my Personal statement. Is there anyone willing who could give me good feedback? I also need to make a little bit shorter, but I am unsure which part to shorten.

Thank you! I will be eternally grateful to you!!! :)

-future doc 333
Click to expand...

There is an official personal statement reader's list on the forum - check it and send it to one of those individuals
 
ramzax said:
how can we find out which amcas submissions have been verified? e.g. those submitted within a certain date interval
Click to expand...

There is no official way of doing this, but if you want a rough idea, check the Official AMCAS verification thread for 2010 (search the forum, you'll find it)

curbye said:
can i withdraw from ONE school and not the rest when i'm not verified yet?
Click to expand...

I doubt it, but I'm not sure. You can call AMCAS if you need an exact answers.


Prateek said:
Does anyone have any idea as to how much the essay is weighed in applications compared to ECs/MCAT/GPA ?
Click to expand...

It probably varies from school to school. I know at one school where I interviewed they told me that the GPA/MCAT was weighted at about 50% of your application's decision while ECs/LORs/Essays were the other 50%.
 
How does AMCAS verify that a course an applicant listed as science is actually a science class? Just by common sense by evaluating the course title or do they contact the schools about each one?
 
LebLlama said:
How does AMCAS verify that a course an applicant listed as science is actually a science class? Just by common sense by evaluating the course title or do they contact the schools about each one?
Click to expand...

This.
 
seanparsel said:
So I just recently read over my application (after submitting it 2 weeks ago) and I noticed something horrible. I don't know how it happened, I read over my personal statement numerous times and I had 3 people read it over right before I submitted my application, but apparently a typo slipped through. It must have been something I changed in the very last minute, but even then I can't believe I let something like that happen. I was substituting the phrase "his patients" for just "them" and apparently I was able to switch "patients" with "them" but I didn't remove "his". I now have the wonderful phrase, "his them" in my personal statement. What an epic fail....Anyone think this will be a big problem for adcoms? Please feel free to comment.
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Well I goofed too. I submitted yesterday and just realized one of my sentences lost the word "and". Context isn't completely lost but I feel like an idiot.
 
If it makes you feel better I accidentally put stairs instead of stares in one of my EC descriptions. I'm sure they'll read it and say "This chick is in a wheelchair. She should know her natural enemy when she types it!"

You'll be fine. :)
 
Look at it this way: them seeing a mistake like that makes them think you didn't do a whole lot of revising etc. Now the essay as a whole seems more "authentic" ...
 
I have already submitted my primary application, but now I'm trying to add another letter. I filled out the letter cover sheet and printed it off. When I tried to close the window, it told me to click submit on the main menu or else my info. would be lost. I exited anyway, and my info. was lost. I filled out the cover sheet again, but I don't want to click submit because I'm not sure what it will do if I've already submitted my primary.

Does anyone know what I should do?

Thanks in advance
 
No worries, I had a typo on a secondary where I left an "s" off a word that was supposed to be plural. Frustrating, yes, but I'm trying to reassure myself that 1) Adcoms are reading through thousands of essays each cycle, so I doubt that they are going to be fixated on small errors, and 2) If a school did automatically reject me or look down on my app based on such a miniscule mistake, I probably wouldn't want to spend four years in that environment anyway.

No idea if I'm right, but this process is hectic enough. I'm trying to save my pre-med neuroticism for the big things. :)
 
I read my PS twice after submitting because I used it for the DO application. I noticed several errors :(

But I got into two MD schools anyway.
 
If 4 people missed it like you say then maybe the adcoms will too. They're human too... I think.
 
I have a typo in the description of my job about being an editor at a magazine. Gah.
 
caribbeanmap.jpg


Kidding.
 
dm24980 said:
I have already submitted my primary application, but now I'm trying to add another letter. I filled out the letter cover sheet and printed it off. When I tried to close the window, it told me to click submit on the main menu or else my info. would be lost. I exited anyway, and my info. was lost. I filled out the cover sheet again, but I don't want to click submit because I'm not sure what it will do if I've already submitted my primary.

Does anyone know what I should do?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

You should click submit. This does not affect your primary at all (and no diff in time to get verified). It's just a way for them to ask you "are you sure you want to add this letter?"

Sheesh a lot of people are having questions like this. I think AMCAS should make it clearer to applicants. It's ambiguous and confusing the way it is now.
 
ishchayill said:
:thumbup: :lol: one of the funniest posts on SDN I've seen.
Click to expand...

:D:laugh: I agree, but gettheleadout you are so wrong for that!

Seriously though, everyone makes typos and it's nothing to worry about. In fact, you can proceed to put this out of your mind right now since even if someone does notice it, no adcomm will be like "uhh, I noticed your typo in line 36 of your personal statement."
 
hey guys. so amcas recieved my letters and transcripts by the end of june. i still haven't submitted (will by tomo morning), but i was wondering if it's possible that my transcripts have already been reviewed so that my verification is faster? does amcas review transcripts even if the application hasn't been submitted? thanks!

good luck everyone!!
 
I am confused concerning two things:

1.) I am sending a composite letter from my university (four recommendations + the letter from writer). I was wondering~ Do I list the letter as both a
-committee letter for the writer
-letter packet for the four recommendations?
Or do i just group everything together as a letter packet??

2.) When do I have to submit the LORs?
I noticed that when I was selecting schools, a notice showed up telling me I could add letters of rec before OR after I submit the primary application.
Does this mean I can set up/edit and send LORs after I send my primaries?

Thanks a million!!
 
I was wondering what kind of person is usually listed here... Do I list someone from admissions?
 
your 4 year advisor or major advisor. Really anyone who can verify your deans list status.
 
How is the Dean's List an extracurricular activity? What sort of activities were you and the dean doing that lead you to make the Dean's List?
 
If you're school is taking your med school recommendations and making a composite letter from them then that is what you shoudl list it as.

You can submit LORs whenever, but the school needs them to consider your application complete.
Yes you can set up/edit your LORs after you send your primaries.
 
A quick question that may be obvious~

Would that be a committee letter or a letter packet?
 
committee letter.
A letter packet is usually when your school collects the LORs and sends them along with a cover letter.
 
I agree with ILikeDrugs. Why would you list that as an EC? Unless it is different at your school or something and is not 100% based upon your gpa. If it is 100% based on gpa, you can technically list it as an award, but if you have above a certain gpa for a given year, an adcom is gonna know you made the dean's list. Even if you did list it, I can't picture it helping you in any way. Why not list something that will make you stand out a little more? Pretty much anything is more unique than the Dean's List. I'm obviously not an adcom and can't ensure my logic is accurate, but it's just my .02. Hopefully Lizzy M or another member of an adcom will chime in.
 
I think the OP meant listing it in the EC section.

There's a heading for awards/achievements.

I listed the dean of the science college.

But, the President of the University should also be ok, or an advisor as said above.
 
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