What about people doing quarters ending in late June? Is it advisable to submit through winter or wait for spring which means it is delayed by a month?
I will provide this piece of advice which would seem obvious but evidently wasn’t to my DS. When you get an interview invite take the earliest date you can! I told DS to do that, but he scheduled his interviews based on his school classes. This had him choose dates later by as much as a month from the earliest offered date. Later interviews for him lead to all waitlists and no direct acceptances (he has gotten off several waitlists).
His other hold-up was that he didn’t get his AMCAS application in as soon as possible. This directly effected his committee letter from his college. They put everyone in order by request date (based on AMCAS submission). He didn’t get this letter until mid-August. No interviews possible until that AMCAS is complete. Just a 2 week delay in completing his AMCAS put him a month later in receiving the committee letter (letters of recommendation).
Good luck to all applying this next cycle.
The spring quarter dilemma is an issue for everyone on the quarter system. Generally it’s been recommended to wait until spring quarter grades are available before sending the transcript. This is especially true if your child is enrolled in a pre-req class or is taking an upper level science elective that your child wants to showcase during that term.
Submitting a transcript in mid to-late June isn’t late anyway. Even with verification delays, your child’s app will be released in early August. It might be too late for the first app download to med schools at the end of July, but August is still early in the process.
What if there are no science classes in the quarter?
Your call.
I suppose it would depend if it would make a [positive] difference in reported GPA.
The trade off between waiting at least an extra month (processing of transcripts will take an extra week or two in addition to delay for spring quarter grades) vs. having more grades is tough. I think it could also depend on whether your S/D a senior about to graduate or a junior. The delay may be worth it for a junior to show more classes completed at a high GPA, but not so much for a senior.
How does AAMC process relate to commonapp in terms of updates to transcripts? Do the students send updated transcripts in winter or at the end of December?
Once you’ve submitted a transcript to AMCAS, you cannot update it. Period.
A student may be able to send a update letter to specific medical schools in December; but the caveat is that most med schools do ** not** accept or don’t look at/consider update letters from applicants.
Interesting. So how do schools determine the required classes are being completed during the final year? I think my D will need at least 3-4 classes in sciences.
All medical school acceptances are conditional. An accepted student must provide an official final transcript showing all pre-reqs have been completed satisfactorily and that they have been awarded a baccalaureate by their college before they are allowed to matriculate.
Many med schools will also revoke an acceptance if an applicant’s grades take a nose-diving after acceptance. (I don’t mean a few Bs. Earning mostly Cs and Ds can get an acceptance revoked.)
There is place on the AMCAS application for listing anticipated coursework for future semesters. The information reported there is non-binding, but as matter of courtesy, it’s expected that applicants will notify every school they’ve applied to or have been accepted to in writing if their planned coursework has changed. If it’s clear that pre-reqs are not going to be completed on time, any acceptances can (and probably will) be withdrawn.
Missing multiple pre-reqs could be considered a red flag on an application and the applicant will be considered a “risky admit”. Medical schools are very risk adverse; they want sure things–students they know will meet minimum admission requirements (because they have already fulfilled them).
Son will be applying with only one intro level bio class. He will be using AP credit for the second bio. Is this a red flag? Should he take an upper level bio in the fall? And I know I asked this question before. But can he take this upper level bio as pass/fail. He took biochemistry 1 and 2. But I was looking at AMACS manual for filling out the med school application and If I’m understanding it correctly biochemistry is classified under chemistry not biology. At his UG it’s cross listed for both departments.
Biochem = chem class per AMCAS classification.
(D2’s school also crosslisted biochem. She was told to list it as a chem class for AMCAS.)
Some schools require a second bio class taken in college if your son used AP credit to skip Bio 1. Consult MSAR for specifics. He cannot take it P/F if he will be using it for admission purposes. P/F coursework does not qualify as fulfilling admission requirements.
CORRECTION: Your son doesn’t get to choose how to designate his biochem classes. He must use the departmental designation that appears on his transcript. If his transcript says BIO, it’s bio; if it say CHM, then it’s chem.
Failing to list a class exactly as it appears on his transcript will cause processing delays while AMCAS contacts your son (and possibly his college) to resolve the discrepancy.
Just checked the course catalog for his UG. Biochemistry 1 and 2 is listed under both bio and chemistry. It’s the same course and the same number. In his transcript it’s designated as chem. I wonder if it’s possible to change it in his transcript to bio. Who does one talk to about that?
Course designation has to do with one’s declared major. For a chem major crosslisted courses will always be attributed to his major dept so he can count those credits toward fulfilling his chem electives for his degree. He can probably ask the chem dept to change the course designation, but it may not be a good idea. If the designation changes, then your son will lose 8 chem credits (or whatever the credit value of the 2 biochem classes have) and they won’t count toward fulling his chem requirements for graduation. This means he’ll need to take an additional 8 credits of chem classes.
You can’t have the same classes count as both a bio credit AND a chem credit. Just doesn’t work that way. Either the courses are chem credits and count toward fulfilling the required 60 credits of chem coursework to complete a major; or the courses are bio classes and can be used towards a bio minor or as GE credits.
@momworried
Yes. Take as many as possible. I found them very useful during some modules in medical school. Those without the background tended to have a tougher time. I took Genetics, Cell, Micro, Immuno & Physio plus BioChem I, II & III. (be aware that some medical schools require two semesters of bio with lab to be taken in college, so select an advanced bio class with an associated lab)
For others reading this thread, if your UG allows, it might have been better to use the AP credit to skip both semesters of intro bio and proceed directly to more advanced classes.
@plumazul - is your first year in medical school? I assumed people start with research in the combined programs just based on some people who did that.
None of the upper level bio classes in his UG have a lab associated with it. Don’t know why. It’s weird. All the chem classes his been taking do, except for both biochems.
Although there is some variation, the most common model is 2+GradSchool+2. As many schools (including mine) update their curriculum, things have changed somewhat. The sharp distinction between the first two years of study and two clinical years has been blurred. For example, my school now offers clerkships split before/after grad school (with clinical electives encouraged during the grad school years).
Son spoke to registrar office and they’re changing his biochem 2 to a bio prefix on his transcript. Should be done in few days. I will check it in few days to make sure it went through. It was easier then I expected.