PermanentWaves Posted June 14, 2010 Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 I can definitely ensure I draft a letter indicating when I will finish for everyone to sign. You don't even need to do that. The IMS has a document that should be filled out by your PAC at each meeting (which you then submit to the department after the meeting). In that document, it indicates your expected date of completion, and your PAC members sign it. This is what I had faxed to each school that asked for proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neuronix Posted June 14, 2010 Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 Yo permanentwaves, Did you apply to American schools without any undergraduate LORs? I'm trying to see if that's even possible...it is proving to be really hard to apply without them...wanted to see if anyone has experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PermanentWaves Posted June 14, 2010 Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 Yo permanentwaves, Did you apply to American schools without any undergraduate LORs? I'm trying to see if that's even possible...it is proving to be really hard to apply without them...wanted to see if anyone has experience. Unfortunately, no. Of the 4 academic letters I had, only one was grad-based (from my supervisor). You really need to follow the 2-science, 1-nonscience rule. American applications are largely focused upon undergraduate achievement. This is not to say that your grad work won't carry weight, but certainly emphasis is on undergrad work. One school in particular (NYMC) was really stringent about it, and wouldn't accept one of my designated science letters to fulfill the requirement (it was from a biopsych prof). They also wouldn't let my supervisor's letter fulfill the requirement either (he is a science prof), as it was from my grad work. After several back and forth emails about it, they wouldn't budge, so I withdrew. Total waste of money, but it shows you that schools do follow the requirements pretty closely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prion Posted June 14, 2010 Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 Unfortunately, no. Of the 4 academic letters I had, only one was grad-based (from my supervisor). You really need to follow the 2-science, 1-nonscience rule. American applications are largely focused upon undergraduate achievement. This is not to say that your grad work won't carry weight, but certainly emphasis is on undergrad work. One school in particular (NYMC) was really stringent about it, and wouldn't accept one of my designated science letters to fulfill the requirement (it was from a biopsych prof). They also wouldn't let my supervisor's letter fulfill the requirement either (he is a science prof), as it was from my grad work. After several back and forth emails about it, they wouldn't budge, so I withdrew. Total waste of money, but it shows you that schools do follow the requirements pretty closely. Does math(calculus) counts as non-sci? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sky_blue2000 Posted June 14, 2010 Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 Does math(calculus) counts as non-sci? No it's BCPM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prion Posted June 14, 2010 Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 No it's BCPM! Oh shoot, time to cold email all the non-sci prof I've taken a course with in the past 4 yrs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 You don't even need to do that. The IMS has a document that should be filled out by your PAC at each meeting (which you then submit to the department after the meeting). In that document, it indicates your expected date of completion, and your PAC members sign it. This is what I had faxed to each school that asked for proof. Ah sweet! I have that done from my first meeting with them. I'll probably send next month's one though because it'll be more recent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Question RE: LOR: when they ask, "is this a letter from a school"... Do I indicate "yes" if it is one of my profs sending it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reflex Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Question RE: LOR: when they ask, "is this a letter from a school"... Do I indicate "yes" if it is one of my profs sending it? Yes (10char) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Yes (10char) Thanks Reflex. After I input the reference letter writer, do I just e-mail them my AMCAS Letter ID... or do I have to e-mail them the whole PDF file that's generated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Another question: After I input my references, if I log out... do I need to hit submit first to save them? I haven't assigned them to schools, just put them into the system. lol... it's scary hitting "submit" they should have a save button! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reflex Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Thanks Reflex. After I input the reference letter writer, do I just e-mail them my AMCAS Letter ID... or do I have to e-mail them the whole PDF file that's generated? If you're going to get your prof to electronically submit your letter, might as well email them the entire PDF that's generated and explain to them which part of that document they should be reading (makes it easier for them). Make sure they note your AMCAS ID and their AMCAS letter ID for submission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reflex Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Another question: After I input my references, if I log out... do I need to hit submit first to save them? I haven't assigned them to schools, just put them into the system. lol... it's scary hitting "submit" they should have a save button! Are you verified yet? If so, yes, when you input references, you MUST hit submit or save or whatever, otherwise they will all disappear next time you log in, and if you enter them back in the next time, they will have a different AMCAS letter ID. So yes, click submit, then re-certify Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Are you verified yet? If so, yes, when you input references, you MUST hit submit or save or whatever, otherwise they will all disappear next time you log in, and if you enter them back in the next time, they will have a different AMCAS letter ID. So yes, click submit, then re-certify I'm not verified yet, but I have submitted. I did click submit and it has added the letter writers and is still allowing me to add them to schools. I'm going through all the LOR requirements for the billion schools I'm applying to lol. Boston U - 2 of LORs must be from profs who taught you chem, bio or physics... I e-mailed them to see if a biochem prof is acceptable for the bio requirement. God, I don't want to contact profs from 5 years ago lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PermanentWaves Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Boston U - 2 of LORs must be from profs who taught you chem, bio or physics... I e-mailed them to see if a biochem prof is acceptable for the bio requirement. God, I don't want to contact profs from 5 years ago lol. I used a physics prof and a biopsych prof to fulfill that requirement. I think as long as they are from courses designated 'BCPM' you should be fine (i.e. you don't have to submit 1 letter for physics, 1 letter for bio, 1 letter for chem). It's basically 2 'science' LORs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 I used a physics prof and a biopsych prof to fulfill that requirement. I think as long as they are from courses designated 'BCPM' you should be fine (i.e. you don't have to submit 1 letter for physics, 1 letter for bio, 1 letter for chem). It's basically 2 'science' LORs. Thought so, have my non-science letter in order. One of 2 ug science letters in order. Still waiting for other prof to e-mail me. Then have 2 PAC letters (including msc supervisor). Might ask one more. At least things are moving. Some schools have really short secondaries... Wanna be done immediately for those schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addy K Posted June 17, 2010 Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 Just wondering, are any of you guys applying to Osteopathic schools, or just MD schools? I'm applying to both, anyone in the same boat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 Sweet! Got verified today and man oh man, I wish the AMCAS GPA scale was used by OMSAS. My OMSAS GPA is like 3.74... my AMCAS is 3.84. Big difference! Just wondering, are any of you guys applying to Osteopathic schools, or just MD schools? I'm applying to both, anyone in the same boat? Out of curiosity, do Canadian provinces recognize DOs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 I went through all the schools LOR requirements yesterday, I think to be safe, for your science references use undergrad profs. Most schools require a letter from your thesis supervisor as well. Also, be aware that some schools require non-science letters from faculty members - this was tricky to get, but I finally have a prof who is writing me one. I think I'm going to get 2 versions of my thesis supervisor's letter because Boston U wants chair of my graduate department to also sign the letter. Although PW indicated that he got an interview without doing this, I'd rather not have any issues raised and just get it done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mashmetoo Posted June 17, 2010 Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 Out of curiosity, do Canadian provinces recognize DOs? Yes, a resounding "Yes" =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 and also is it common for people to list multiple activities with the same catergory in a single slot? ie. I have two shadowing and two separate hospital volunteering experiences, should I list each as a separate one (taking up four out of my fifteen slots?) or should I cluster them in pairs and explain both in the description section?15 seems so little when you compare it to the massive omsas sketch! Yes, that is common. Things that you want to really stand out, list separately. If there is no room, you can clump them together. That's what a lot of people (including myself) have reported doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addy K Posted June 17, 2010 Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 Sweet! Got verified today and man oh man, I wish the AMCAS GPA scale was used by OMSAS. My OMSAS GPA is like 3.74... my AMCAS is 3.84. Big difference! Out of curiosity, do Canadian provinces recognize DOs? Some do, some don't.. BC & Ontario give unlimited practice rights (i.e., they are the same as MDs), and I personally only really want to live in either of those provinces anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prion Posted June 17, 2010 Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 how long does it take usually for the transcript to mail out from here to Amcas at Washington? I know some of you might've done this yourself but I think my school uses standard courierr? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2010 so in that case how would you report the dates? So in my case one experience would be in june 2005, the other in february 2009? I find it misleading to say I started in june 2005 and finished in feb 2009 (nevermind how ridiculous it may sound to shadow a physician for that long!!!)..... should I just put in the dates for the first or most recent experience and explain the rest in description? Yes, that's what I did. You can put it on the side, date, amount of time you did it before (hrs/week), etc. It's up to you how you want to present it, but figure out what looks best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2010 how long does it take usually for the transcript to mail out from here to Amcas at Washington? I know some of you might've done this yourself but I think my school uses standard courierr? I did it last month and it took about a week. It may take a bit longer now because they're getting more and more transcripts to process. Right now it says on their site that they're processing transcripts from June 15, which suggests there's currently a 3 day wait from the time they receive it. I sent transcripts from 3 schools and they were all received within a week. I am ready to kill AMCAS right NOW!!!! I have spent the past two hours cutting my essay from 1052 words to precisely 902! Character wise I have been going from about 6700 to 5299... I paste it in the stupid amcas slot and it is still more than 5300!!!! wth?? :mad: Apparently I need to delete 13 more characters... this is frustrating, aah! I swear I cannot delete a single word no more!!!! Edit : 5284 characters according to word is 5300 characters on my AMCAS thing. There you go dear AMCAS, I have sucked the soul out of my essay... Yeah, it did the same thing for mine, but luckily I ended up just a couple characters below the limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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