<p>lollybo, Thanks for the encouraging words. (Would it be nice if you and he could be classmates there as you seems to be a nice guy? Well…I am well ahead of myself. LOL.)</p>
<p>DS learned from his friends who applied last cycle that the process could be very random, so one should just apply to many and hope for the best. (The best to him is being admitted to any one.)</p>
<p>The other day, his friend helped him pick up the list of medical schools. On the next day, we called him and he opened up the AMCAS. I heard over the phone that “hey, why is this school here? It must be my friend who helped me to put that one in.” He even could not remember he had put in that particular school together with his friend one day earlier. He refuses to sell his soul to this potentially unpleasant application process; he said otherwise he might lose his sanity.</p>
<p>Just another “sample size = 1” thing: One of DS’s friends got into Wash U last cycle. His stats are 3.92/37. He is a more hardcore premed than DS. He got BS/MS in 4 years and had been more involved with premed clubs. Not much interests/activities outside of premed ones though.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP, once an application is submitted to AMCAS, they verify it I believe by checking with the appropriate college to make sure you really attended and they do some conversion of transcript information (this is all my best guess). Anyway, until AMCAS verifies nothing goes anywhere. My comment about the general release date was that they had on their web site for a long time that even if you were verified they were not releasing the files to the medical schools until some date in the late part of June. Despite them having said that, my S did get a secondary from someone before that date so obviously something went a bit wrong. And finally, yes, we are in OH as well. And as far as I can see (looking on SDN), other than OSU, none of the instate schools have released secondaries.</p>
<p>This process does seem to be designed to punish the applicants. There are way too many essays and in many cases its hard to see why they would be relevant to the application process. Of course most of the schools want to know why them but the real answer is “I’ll go wherever they’ll have me” for many of these kids (DS included). I think if you’re really a top tier school its helpful for them to answer that but otherwise?</p>
<p>sharonohio, regarding what you wrote in your last paragraph, I 100% agree with you. It seems to me that the only purpose it serves is for the medical schools to protect their yields.</p>
<p>A popular business program at some university once experimented with a method to select their incoming class in this way: They randomly select a certain percentage of students from a pool of qualified students. I do not know they still do something like this now or they are back to torture their applicants by requiring one essay after another with the prompt like "Why this school.</p>
<p>DS said he would shy away from applying to any school that requires “too much work” in the application process. It appears the two questions he asked his friends most are: “Is the application process not too time-consuming?” and “Are the students there happy?” Parents’ question is: Is that school affordable? I do not know if his strategy is good though.</p>
<p>I am also finding this secondary application process a bit tedious and frustrating. The majority of the applications request the same information that was already covered on AMCAS. The responses to the essays are rather predictable and one runs the risk of sounding a bit cheesy. I have been told to make sure to take the secondaries seriously and I am doing my best, but I can’t wait to get done with them. So far, I have completed 10 who happen to be the most competitive schools in my list. I am getting the feeling that some schools screen the minute you pay your fee and send the secondary. I already know of two people that got rejected from U Chicago Pritzker within 24 hours of submitting (and paying) with scores of 3.87/34 and 3.91/32, and they did not have all their LORs either !</p>
<p>Mayo is another one that seems to be rather unpredictable. Another student with a 3.9/37 got shut down. So, lollybo…I guess this is going to be a really bumpy ride !!</p>
<p>At one time, curm (jokingly I guess) said his D would devorce him if she found out what he posted :)</p>
<p>I guess I might be in trouble if DS finds out what I post. Fortunately, as of today, he has not gone to CC (or SDN). Keep him busy on his instrument (This is the reason why we got him hooked on that) and I will be fine His seemingly not so serious attitude toward the whole application process, as compared to most premeds, helps also.</p>
<p>Serious though, lollybo, I need to seek your opinion since you are a “victim” of being exposed. To what extent do you think a parent should talk about his/her DS or DD here? Any suggestion will be highly welcomed.</p>
<p>MCAT, I think it is very personal. My MD kid does not mind at all, as she benefits from all the knowledge I gain, but my oldest would have hated any personal info being posted back in her undergrad years…now, she is happy to help others on their journey…it’s individual.</p>
<p>lollybo: Thanks! You are very open-minded. I hope DS would be like you in this regard. DS appears to not care on some aspects (e.g., school grades, money issues, etc.) but may care on others (email, conversation with his friends). I have to be careful about where the boundary is. </p>
<p>I think I do contribute by learning something from CC and then passing info to him when he asks. A problem for me is that I do not know how much he learns from his friends who have gone through this process. A good sign is he still likes to come home during college years. But we do try to be not too nosy while he is with us (and try not to call him too often while he is in college.)</p>
<p>somemom, Thanks for your input (again) too. Your D is lucky to have such a caring mom.</p>
<p>I know that we have frequently discussed whether taking courses at Community Colleges matter or not for a med school application, especially for pre reqs. I just finished sending my Boston University Supplemental Application, and this is what it says verbatim:</p>
<p>“We encourage applicants to pursue a broad academic experience in the humanities and in the sciences. While we consider each academic record in its entirety, the BUSM Committee on Admissions generally prefers that applicants avoid using AP, CLEP, Community College, Junior College, foreign institution, or long distance/on-line course work in fulfillment of requirements”.</p>
<p>I do not believe there is much room for interpretation within that statement. Later on, they even go further, defining “Preferred Institutions= US and Canadian 4 year accredited universities”</p>
<p>MyOpinion,
My D. has contacted several AdComs of schools on her list in regard to AP credits for Math and English, since she felt that it is complete waste of time for her to take them in college, just way too easy, she is more interested in Bio and Psych. classes. Ad Coms that she directly contacted had no problem with AP credits for Math and English. I strongly advise anybody to contact Ad Coms of your respective schools directly before application instead of waiting for what they say after you apply. They are very willing to help and responded very quckly. D. had to take one semester of college Honors English because of “4”, not “5” on AP exam. She commented, that it was a waste of her time, although very easy “A”.</p>
<p>DS submitted his AMCAS application today. July 10 is definitely not early, but I hope it is not too late. Transcripts have been received by both AMCAS and TMDSAS. I think MCAT have also been received by them. (It is said “Loaded” on the AMCAS application system.) Fees have been paid for both. The packet from his school’s premed committee are not sent, but should be ready to be mailed out in a week or two.</p>
<p>What should he do next? How soon will AMCAS and TMDSAS verify his documents? Is it OK for his packet from the premed committee to be mailed to AMCAS and TMDSAS a little bit late? (I trhink both AMCAS and TMDSAS are not going to do anything with that packet, other than forward it to medical schools after his documents are verified by AMCAS or TMDSAS.)</p>
<p>I think he applies to 7 IS schools and 15 or 16 OOS schools. So 22 or 23 totally.</p>
<p>BDM, He added one school you suggested. just as I expected. For some reason, I suspect his criteria for selecting a school is: Do I know somebody who has had an invite or has been admitted there (and who does not have an insane credential)? This is an advantage of applying later than his friends.</p>
<p>Suggest he aim for a very quick turn around time on secondaries. Once way to effect this is to read SDN and prewrite the answers for as many secondary questions as you can. Yes, some schools may change the questions year to year, but they are all so similar you will really save time by reading and thinking through your answers ahead of time.</p>
<p>Admittedly, my DD did NOT do this. She submitted AMCAS mid June, whichever day the transcripts were available to be mailed with spring grades and then moved on the TX and never had time or energy to pre-write, but if your son has time, at least review the lists of questions and try to think about how you could answer them uniquely</p>
<p>If he submitted today, he will likely be AMCAS verified in almost 3 weeks (it is taking that long now). Some of the students that submitted around the 22nd of june just got verified today. Once that happens, then AMCAS will release the information to the schools that he applied to. Verification refers to the review of the transcripts from the undergrad school and the AMCAS GPA calculation as well as MCAT scores. He will begin to receive Secondaries after that, although I know of a few of schools that sent the secondaries without verification.</p>
<p>He should check the websites of the schools that he is applying to and see if he can access their secondaries without AMCAS verification. Many schools do not “screen” and all he will need is the AMCAS application number to get started with some of them.</p>
<p>Also, most Committee Letters do not go out until the second or third week of july, so that is not an issue at all, time wise. I have gotten almost a third of my secondaries (out of 20 schools ) and was AMCAS verified on 6/8. My Committee Letter will go out hopefully next week and then I should be Complete with most schools.</p>
<p>somemom and MyOpinion, Thanks for the heads-up. AMCAS verified on 6/8? Wow, you are very efficient.</p>
<p>Let me see. Today is July 10. It will be July 31 three weeks from now. So, the school will receive the verified information from AMCAS at the beginning of August. Assuming that he turns in his secondary in two weeks, the earliest interview notification (if any) will happen toward the end of August. So the earliest interview will not happen for him until the mid of September then?</p>
<p>For some reason, he turned in his transcripts to AMCAS and TMDSAS very early, some time toward the end of May. He needs to leave the school in two weeks after the commencement. He wanted to take care of the transcript part before he had left school. So, he created the accounts on both AMCAS and TMDSAS and got his IDs and printed out some forms for the school’s registrar to release his transcript to AMCAS and TMDSAS. So, both TMDSAS and AMCAS received his transcripts early (but he was not able to pay the verification fees at that time.)</p>
<p>Will this make his verification process any faster? I guess it would not, because he pays the fees on July 10, not on May 29. AMCAS will not do anything with the transcript until it has pocketed the money.</p>
<p>A funny story: He recently mailed his utility bill without a stamp on the evelope. The mailman delivered it anyway. If he has a similar luck, AMCAS may verify his transcript without receiving the money. Am I daydreaming?</p>
<p>My cousin has told me she plans to apply for the 2010-2011 cycle. She said she will take her MCAT in August. I told her that I believe that is too late to have done things this year. She is only looking at local schools (USF, UCF, and I guess a couple others here in FL). I do not know what her GPA is. She is studying Biology at USF. She had done two years at a CC and then transferred to USF. She tells me that even if she doesn’t get accepted anywhere, it’s alright because she’ll have given it a shot and is not really losing out on much (beside money). But… isn’t it bad to apply if you’re not ready? I mean, I see her as being way too late in applying … she hasn’t even started her application and doesn’t have LORs from what I know (she doesn’t know much about the application process …). And even though Med schools when they reject you, they tell you how to improve, don’t they still count it against you that you were a bad applicant? Wouldn’t it be better for her to simply finish her Senior year and apply for the 2011-2012 cycle? Does it hurt to apply to med school with a bad record since she can just reapply the following year by improving what they tell her to improve?</p>
<p>I’m sorry if this is very stupid to ask…I’d really like to help out my cousin, but I’m only going to be a college freshman so I’m not exactly familiar regarding applying to Med school … all I know is that apparently she should have started her app in June and taken the MCAT in April (at latest)</p>
<p>My Dd took an August MCAT and choose to wait until the next cycle to apply. She began requesting LORs in Feb/Mar, but most profs wanted her basic PS before writing the LOR. It was pulling teeth to get them all by June. In the summer with secondaries, some schools requested additional prof input (TX had an evaluation form, a VA school too) She got NO RESPONSE from any profs for most of July & August…so, I would not rely on getting ANY LORs done over the summer</p>
Some professors may also want to interview the student first before writing the LOR. The summer is definitely not a good time to find a professor to ask for a LOR.</p>
<p>Also, when the school is in session, look at the course listing to see if the professor is teaching a class that semester. Sometimes, a professor who taught your niece last year may be on leave, doing research somewhere else temporarily.</p>
<p>somemom, What is the evaluation form you talked abut? Which TX school asked for this? DS uses the committee’s letter/packet. Is it possible he can be exempted from doing this? Thanks!</p>
His seemingly not so serious attitude toward the whole application process, as compared to most premeds, helps also.</p>