<p>Texaspg, it’s something to do with cleaning water. So it’s definitely non medical. I tried to pm you to describe in more detail but for some reason can’t. You have no message button on your profile. So maybe if you pm me I can reply. </p>
<p>Clean water is a major requirement for good health and primary care. There are major epidemics in the world which have been tied to water.</p>
<p>@momworried, I think of my son, also a chemistry major, as having non medical research as well. I know clinical is revered, but it is what it is. The positive spin on this is that he’s been doing research at all. Since he’s not planning to apply as a MD/PhD candidate, the fact that he has any research should be a plus (at least compared to those who have nothing). Not that he can change anything now; we’ll see if it kiled his app a year from now. I’ll have to get more ideas about a Plan B in that case.</p>
<p>@Limabeans , my son is a chem major with ACS certification. One of the things we insisted on is that he majors in something that he can get a job in in case med school doesn’t work out. So I guess that would be his plan B. And he loves it and is really good at it. Even ORGO was a breath for him. But it kind of gave me hope when I read what @texaspg said about the water purification research. It does make sense. .he is doing the research in collaboration with another country that has major water issues. So maybe that’s how he can spin this.
And after reading everyones great advice I think he should volunteer in the hospital during his school year. He’s in the major metropolitan area so there is no shortage of hospitals. </p>
<p>For those who are (or whose offspring are) in the process of getting LORs for med school admission–</p>
<p>AAMC has a handy printable brochure/handout to explain what goes into writing a strong, useful recommendation for med school applicants:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/351978/data/letters-printfriendly.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/download/351978/data/letters-printfriendly.pdf</a></p>
<p>While many science professors are familiar with what goes into med school rec, D2 found that her non-science letter writers had less (or no!) experience with the process and often were reluctant to either serve as a recommender or took forever to actually complete the letter because they were unsure about how to go about it.</p>
<p>My S is planning to travel 3 weeks this summer (Mid July/Beg of Aug) and trying to determine the schedule to avoid any impact on secondary submissions. I will very much appreciate any input and inside to secondary submission process/timeline. Do they have AMCAS secondary schedule and/or any other details posted on any website? </p>
<p>My kid was out of the country for the summer of applications. This was a few years ago, so things may have gotten even more electronic, but I had a stack of her photo and she would email me things that had to be printed and mailed with her photo. Secondary invitations took the entire summer, she applied in mid-June, was verified in early-July and got secondaries definitely through August, maybe some later. She also began interview invites in July, so she had already interviewed at some schools when she was only just receiving secondary invites from others. </p>
<p>If you know your DS’s list of schools, I would got to to the SDN forum and look at their application threads from last summer, see what the timing appears to be. Also, a smart thing he could do is to take the lists of last years questions, they may or may not be identical, but by the time you compile a list of all the questions, you will see that the same answers suffice for many school’s questions, some longer, some shorter, some with different twists, but the same set of premises is being conveyed.</p>
<p>Suggest he work up an outline for the answers, do the hard thinking now and keep a copy of all answers on a Google Doc so he can refer to prior answers. This will allow him to have time to spend on the writing not the thinking about what to answer. In general, a rapid turnaround is recommended, no one is quite sure if it makes a big difference, but answer the secondaries in 48 hours to two weeks, ideally…yes, DD had some that took longer, but usually she answered her top choice schools first!</p>
<p>@somemom, Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Yes. Things are more electronic. Where do we find the list of the questions from last year? </p>
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<p>Go the Allopathic School Specific or Osteopathic School Specific subforums. Near the beginning of the thread for each school, there will be a post with the secondary prompts from the current cycle. Some schools use the same prompts over and over; some change them up every year.</p>
<p>Okay. Thanks! </p>
<p>Somemom, you mentioned your dd needing to submit photos. My son is applying this cycle. I hadn’t thought about him needing a current photo. What type of photo did your dd use? </p>
<p>D was told that some secondaries ask for photos and sometimes you are asked for head shot at interviews-- to put face with app/interview. She has gotten head shots done for this cycle-- didn’t have any photos since high school.</p>
<p>Small passport type photos are usually what applicants use, but an applicant can really use any kind of photo they want. Schools mostly want to be able to match up faces to files when a student arrive for interviews. (Your picture might end up on your name badge.)</p>
<p>Pictures don’t need to be professionally done and they need to be in a compressed electronic format (think jpeg) so they can be uploaded via web portals. If the file size is too big–they won’t upload.</p>
<p>A smart phone picture or a image snapped using a laptop webcam works fine and has the bonus of already being in electronic format.</p>
<p>D’s pre-med office offered head shot service- made it easy to just walk in and get a decent photo done.</p>
<p>We took a photo at home and edited it, the main purpose seems to be just so they recognize the students and can recall which applicant is which when later reviewing them</p>
<p>Got it! Thanks! </p>
<p>Thanks for the info–DS didn’t know about the photos. I guess he will figure that out ASAP. He’s going to be gone for a month for ROTC training so he’s going to leave stuff with me to submit if needed. Hopefully he will have it organized so it’s easy for me to just submit! We will work on the logistics of it when he gets home from school this weekend. It’s going to be a busy summer!!!</p>
<p>Good luck to all who are applying! Any other tips are greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I have another question: I looked at one school’s interview day schedule. It shows sitting in on a class (optional) then welcome, financial aid info, tour etc with afternoon interview. Do interviewees wear their suits the entire day or do most wear business casual then change into suits for the interview? </p>
<p>They wear their suits all day. Female applicants often bring a second pair of shoes in their handbag so they don’t have to walk around campus in heels, though.</p>
<p>There’s usually a hosted lunch between morning and afternoon-- so no time to head back to hotel/host student home to change. Also unless the school offers some provision for luggage storage, interviewee will end up dragging a suitcase around campus all day. Unprofessional and awkward.</p>
<p>D said that most female interviewees wore sensible flats. No need to bring a second pair of shoes.</p>