American Applications 2010 General Discussion

[reflex]

Thanks lll! What's interfolio? lol

 

Interfolio is a 3rd party letter organizing service, where all your referees can send your LOR to, and then they will organize them, and you can designate where to forward them to (e.g. AMCAS or to the schools that do not participate in the AMCAS letter services).

 

I personally ONLY used AMCAS letter services last year and did not use Interfolio because I decided not to apply to any schools that didn't use the letter services (there's a list of these schools on the AMCAS letter services website).

[Apixaban85]

When entering the 'grade' for each course, do we put it in as % or a letter grade?

[The Law]

When entering the 'grade' for each course, do we put it in as % or a letter grade?

 

If it's a % on the transcript, I'd put in as a %, if it's a letter, put it in as a letter.

[sabdul]

Just wondering how you guys are picking schools to apply to. I have MSAR from last year, but I'm feeling overwhelmed. There are so many friggin schools!!! lol... too bad we don't have it so good in Canada.

 

I recently got US permanent residence status, so I'm really optimistic about my chances. I don't want to go to a crappy school though, what kinds of things can you look for to make sure the school is a good one? Any tips/suggestions?

 

May I ask what you will be putting as your home state in your application? I'm pretty much in the same situation as you and was told because I don't have a home state, I would not be able to apply as a resident, but instead would have to do so as an international student!...Which is sketchy!

[The Law]

May I ask what you will be putting as your home state in your application? I'm pretty much in the same situation as you and was told because I don't have a home state, I would not be able to apply as a resident, but instead would have to do so as an international student!...Which is sketchy!

 

Well, I answered yes to are you an american resident (because now I have my green card). My family now has an address in Michigan, so I'm listing that as my home state and listing my address on the application.

[Dice]

About assignment of LORs to schools, I was wondering if anyone could clarify what this means (from the AMCAS FAQ):

http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcaslettersfaq.htm

 

14. When should my letters be assigned to the medical schools?

You may assign your letters either before or after the application is submitted. Assigning letters is not required at the time you submit your application; however, you have the option to do so if you choose. Please refer to

http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcasletters.htm

for individual medical school letters requirements.

 

My understanding:

1. We submit the primary with (1) the people who are writing our letters filled in, and (2) the schools we want to apply to filled in (without the letter assignments)

2. Meanwhile, our refs have uploaded their letters to Interfolio and we do the delivery to AMCAS.

3. We eventually get secondaries that tell us which letters are required

4. Go back on AMCAS, assign the letters to each school, and resubmit?

 

Thanks!

[keith_015]

My understanding:

1. We submit the primary with (1) the people who are writing our letters filled in, and (2) the schools we want to apply to filled in (without the letter assignments)

No, you don't have to. You can submit your primary with the LOR area blank. You can add the writers letter later on and resubmit your application. Resubmitting doesn't do anything except resend an updated version of your app with new info to schools you applied to. It doesn't take you out of schools' queue.

 

2. Meanwhile, our refs have uploaded their letters to Interfolio and we do the delivery to AMCAS.

 

Personally, all my LOR writers actually preferred sending their letters in via AMCAS. I actually liked it that way to as you know for sure there will be no screw ups. Saving Interfolio letters for future years is a big no no in my eyes as the letters will be dated, and sending a year old letter will not look very good. Interfolio will cost you money too, although it will be negligible in the end. Anyways, once you add a letter writer to your app, AMCAS will issue a barcode with a number on the letter requesting a LOR. Your writers can only sit on their hands with the letter until you add them to your app and get the barcode info. I believe with Interfolio, you initiate the transfer from Interfolio to AMCAS, once the letter is received by Interfolio from your writer.

 

3. We eventually get secondaries that tell us which letters are required

 

Not really. Check each school's website. The LOR requirements should be posted.

 

4. Go back on AMCAS, assign the letters to each school, and resubmit?

 

Yes, and make sure you do it right the first time (send the right letters to the right schools), because you can't change things once submitted (aside from address, adding schools and more writers and future MCAT). It probably doesn't hurt if you send more LOR's than requested, as long as it really boosts your app.

[keith_015]

Can someone explain this a bit better? Does this mean we can always add people (even after we submitted the primary), but we can never edit them afterwards? Also, can we choose which reference to send to which school?

 

You can add up to ten different letters. They could be 10 different people or they can be as an example 5 people writing 2 letters each. As I stated in the above posted, you can add writers after submitting your primary. I had no writers on my list when I submitted for the first time. You just have to resubmit after adding a writer(s). Once you hit the submit button, it is permanently on your app, and AMCAS will expect a letter from that assigned position, and will keep bugging you via email until it is received. When you assign letters to individual schools and submit/resubmit, those letters will be going there, and you can't stop it.

 

Heed of warning: don't assign letters to schools until the letter actually makes it to AMCAS. Nothing would be worse than assigning a letter just to have a writer back out/go on vacation and you have no letter loaded to go to the school. Schools will hold your app until the letter is in if you are issued a secondary and you have sent it back. (the general ALL MATERIALS RECEIVED in order to be COMPLETE bit, ie. 2ndary, fee, ALL LOR's). You would probably have to do some mighty fine convincing to get them to drop that letter from your app.

[sabdul]

Well, I answered yes to are you an american resident (because now I have my green card). My family now has an address in Michigan, so I'm listing that as my home state and listing my address on the application.

 

So, what are you providing as proof of residence? I heard that you need tax return forms, which I don't have this year...

[Dice]

Thanks, keith_015!

 

Yes, I was concerned that assigning the letters before submitting the primary might cause schools to prevent us from being complete should 1 of the letters get delayed. Thanks for confirming!

 

However, I already added the names of my references to the primary in order to give my referees their Letter IDs and Letter Request Forms...since I figured that they needed to have those items to work on their letters. So now I plan on submitting the primary with the reference section filled in but no letter assignments. My new question, then, is: if 1 letter were to be delayed (e.g., a "backup" letter), but say 3 others are all received by AMCAS, can we still assign those 3 to a school and be marked complete at that school (assuming the school only requires those 3 letters)? The pending letter could then be used at other schools when it actually comes in?

[keith_015]

Thanks, keith_015!

 

Yes, I was concerned that assigning the letters before submitting the primary might cause schools to prevent us from being complete should 1 of the letters get delayed. Thanks for confirming!

 

However, I already added the names of my references to the primary in order to give my referees their Letter IDs and Letter Request Forms...since I figured that they needed to have those items to work on their letters. So now I plan on submitting the primary with the reference section filled in but no letter assignments.

 

NP Dice. Sounds like a good plan.

 

My new question, then, is: if 1 letter were to be delayed (e.g., a "backup" letter), but say 3 others are all received by AMCAS, can we still assign those 3 to a school and be marked complete at that school (assuming the school only requires those 3 letters)? The pending letter could then be used at other schools when it actually comes in?

 

It can be a tricky situation with the "backup" letter. Some school's secondaries ask you to list whom letters are coming from, and gives you space for what they require. I'm not sure how the impact goes for those where you send above and beyond. I'm assuming that as long as they receive what is on the list, then you should be complete. I did have an odd instance this year though. I submitted my secondary to EVMS with a list of 3 LOR writers. I sent 2 of the 3 plus my backup, and I was waiting for the last writer to get his into AMCAS (I did assign his letter to the school too). In the meanwhile, EVMS considered me complete without the 3rd letter that I had written down, and soon thereafter got rejected. HA! If I would give any advice, it would be to use your own judgement. Consider the letters you are going to send, and make sure they are the best ones to be complete with just in case you get placed into the complete pile and reviewed quickly. Consider if the backup will really make an impact on your application, or if it is an Oreo without the cream filling. If it will, consider adding it with the risk of being complete a little bit later (after all, a later stronger application can certainly trump an earlier weaker application). Extra LOR's of course could be assigned after being complete, but whether or not they are looked at is beyond me.

 

At least one, UMinn if I am correct, takes the data from AMCAS directly about which letters are assigned (includes all letters you want to send). UMinn will not consider you complete until all 3-10 letters you assigned have been received.

 

Some schools don't ask anything on the secondary and expect to just see the required LOR's. Whether or not extras will impact complete is beyond me.

[Natasha1989]

My understanding is that you can fill up the LOR page with your referee's info, but when you select your med schools, you don't need to assign the LORs before you submit the primary? You can do that after it gets verified?

 

Thanks in advance!

[The Law]

Question for everyone:

-For work experience, descriptions, in point form or a short paragraph describing the experience?

 

My understanding is that you can fill up the LOR page with your referee's info, but when you select your med schools, you don't need to assign the LORs before you submit the primary? You can do that after it gets verified?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Yes. But you might as well do it before, just find out what type of reference is needed for each school you are applying and ask your writers to send them to AMCAS, so at least it is in.

[GLO]

which schools need a special kind of letter?

 

I'm really confused with this whole process.

[reflex]

which schools need a special kind of letter?

 

I'm really confused with this whole process.

 

They're not "special" letters. Each school just has different requirements for non-science, science letters, research supervisors etc, some allow you to have 3 letters, some up to 6+.

[reflex]

My understanding is that you can fill up the LOR page with your referee's info, but when you select your med schools, you don't need to assign the LORs before you submit the primary? You can do that after it gets verified?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I actually advise against assigning your LOR before submitting your primary. Each school will send you instructions in their secondary for which type of LOR they require (or you can find it on their website).

 

A lot of people might not have ALL their reference letters in yet, so I personally think it's easier to just assign your LOR to each school when you're submitting their secondary (or when you get their secondary).

 

It's a pain to assign early, only to realize that your prof or you made a mistake, or that your letter is going to be late etc.

[Natasha1989]

I actually advise against assigning your LOR before submitting your primary. Each school will send you instructions in their secondary for which type of LOR they require (or you can find it on their website).

 

A lot of people might not have ALL their reference letters in yet, so I personally think it's easier to just assign your LOR to each school when you're submitting their secondary (or when you get their secondary).

 

It's a pain to assign early, only to realize that your prof or you made a mistake, or that your letter is going to be late etc.

 

But after you submit your primary and get it verified, can you go back to the AMCAS application and later assign letters to each school?

[reflex]

But after you submit your primary and get it verified, can you go back to the AMCAS application and later assign letters to each school?

 

Yes, when add an additional school to your AMCAS application, it should prompt you to ask if you want to assign LOR now, or later on. You can add it after you verify your primary.

 

Many people continue to add schools after they have been verified, so they can always add LOR too.

[keith_015]

But after you submit your primary and get it verified, can you go back to the AMCAS application and later assign letters to each school?

 

Yes Natasha, you will just have to submit a resubmission, and the updates will then be added to your original verified primary.

[reflex]

Yes Natasha, you will just have to submit a resubmission, and the updates will then be added to your original verified primary.

 

+1 to what keith_015 said. Just to clarify, you will be asked to "re-certify" your AMCAS submission everytime you want to update something i.e. adding another school or assigning a LOR. This will just take a few seconds and is NOT a re-verification of your entire application - I know all this terminology worried me last year.

[Apixaban85]

Would anyone be open to reading 1-2 of my experience descriptions to check if there is enough/too much detail?

 

Thanks in advance!

[reflex]

Would anyone be open to reading 1-2 of my experience descriptions to check if there is enough/too much detail?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Yea sure, PM them to me if you want me to read.

[The Law]

Question, if I recently submitted a manuscript, do I list it as "publication" or "research/lab", if I click publication it asks for publication date, and as it's not published I only have submission date...

[reflex]

Question, if I recently submitted a manuscript, do I list it as "publication" or "research/lab", if I click publication it asks for publication date, and as it's not published I only have submission date...

 

If it's not an accepted/published manuscript, then you should keep it under the heading where you plan to list your research work.

 

The publication category is for already accepted articles.

[The Law]

If it's not an accepted/published manuscript, then you should keep it under the heading where you plan to list your research work.

 

The publication category is for already accepted articles.

 

What if I describe it as "submitted manuscript (in review)" in the description space and title?