Yep, I have to agree - PROOOFREAD. I also almost sent a secondary in saying I wanted to live in the city and then realized the school was in a different city.
Wonderful advice from everyone!
I really want to stress EARLY APPLICATION for those folks who are very limited in the number of applications you are sending out, especially for schools with rolling admissions. The earlier you can get your app in and get interviewed, the better.
Also, make contact with admissions…e-mail them to ask questions (but don’t go overboard!). Let them know you are applying and establish a contact person if possible. Visit the school even before your interview if you can. Not only does this let admissions know you are interested in the school, your face/name will be more familiar when it comes time to hand out interview invites. And it’s a comforting feeling to have a familiar person greet you in admissions on your interview day!
I second the part about being responsible and super-anal with secondaries etc. and keeping a spreadsheet or checklist for every school. Lots of the secondaries have pieces that get submitted online, and other pieces by mail.
One friend of mine forgot to send his secondary fee check to our state school. When he finally called them a week before the end of interview season, they said they had closed his file when they didn’t get the fee. Try explaining to the admissions staff how you missed an obvious, important instruction like that. Result: no interview.
Speaking of checks and payments for secondaries… Be aware that some schools require money orders or cashier checks and won’t accept personal checks. Read their rules carefully.
One point of clarification on getting transcripts in early. We were told by our pre-med committee that you can send transcripts to AMCAS ONCE from each school you attended. So, no updates for spring grades if you send in early May but the spring transcripts aren’t completed until late May. He said that does not preclude you sending updates to individual schools, but this is obviously a huge pain.
Not sure if this is true - can anyone else confirm this? It makes a huge difference to me - taking 17 credits of science this semester and need those grades to be on the AMCAS to help ‘pull up’ the anchor grades from undergrad.
-Matt
This is correct in that once AMCAS receives your transcripts and starts the verification process it will not re-verify with new transcript updates. I do remember that you can put on the AMCAS application “in progress or will be taking” courses that will not be on your transcript just yet. Regardless if you submit your transcripts immediately after your grades are in you should be fine (if this occurs sometime in May). What you do NOT want to do is wait to send transcripts when you are ready to hit the submit button because it is not immediate. It can take weeks yes weeks, for amcas to receive your transcripts because they are getting thousands of these at once. Then the whole verification process can take up to 6 weeks so if you wait to send in transcripts let’s say in late June when you are ready to hit submit on AMCAS, you could be waiting until early September (potentially) for your AMCAS to be submitted to medical schools. Then the medical schools have to review your application although many submit secondaries to ALL applicants, then you have to fill out the secondaries and mail LOR’s, then the schools have to recieve the LOR and secondary BEFORE they invite you for an interview so as you can see the earlier everything is set in MOTION the quicker you will hear back. The quicker you hear back the sooner you will get invited for interviews, the sooner you get invited for interviews the sooner you get accepted, the sooner you get accepted like the credit card commercial goes PRICELESS.
Thanks for the clarification!
This is the first time that I’ve actually been glad that Loyola decided to move up finals this year so that they fall right in the middle of MCAT! (We start finals on Friday the 16th, and go through the next Thursday!). I think they must have figured that pre-meds weren’t being challenged enough.
At least this way, I know the grades will post in time for me to send the spring grades to AMCAS in plenty of time.
Good Luck to everyone this Saturday!
-Matt
Quote:
One point of clarification on getting transcripts in early. We were told by our pre-med committee that you can send transcripts to AMCAS ONCE from each school you attended. So, no updates for spring grades if you send in early May but the spring transcripts aren’t completed until late May. He said that does not preclude you sending updates to individual schools, but this is obviously a huge pain…
-Matt
If you want your spring grades to appear on your AMCAS, and therefore get figured into your gpa, then don’t request the transcript until you know that your grades have been recorded. If your gpa(s) are going to be appreciably better because of spring grades, you want the med schools to see it right away. Anything you send later is nice, but in some cases it may be too late, a decision may already have been made.
Cheers,
Judy
The school I was most interested had not changed their secondary application in the last couple of years. I asked for a copy of the previous years secondary from a med student and wrote my essay answers early. I was able to fill out my secondary application & essays and put them in the mail the same day I received them. Interviews at my school were scheduled in the order they received the secondaries, so I had an interview during the first week of interviews and got my acceptance by October, which took a lot of pressure off.
That’s a great tip! But I wonder how could you know that they hadn’t change the secondary apps in years? After all, besides the school, I don’t know if anyone keeps track of those things - unless they’ve applied and receive secondaries more than once. How were you able to get that piece of information?
My first choice was the med school at the same school where I was taking my post-bac classes. I’d met a couple of students that had been admitted during the first and second years that I was working on my pre-reqs. I asked them if they’d kept their applications and if they minded telling me what the essay questions were. I did take pains to make sure they knew I wasn’t interested in what their own answers were, just the questions. Both of them seemed happy to share the info. Since I was sitting around waiting for when/if my secondaries would arrive, I decided to go ahead and write my essays. Worst case, the school would change their questions, so I’d have to write different essays. Best case, they’d be the same.
A big tip for you all. A lot of schools now use email as the only means of communication with you. Here are some very important things to remember:
Make sure you have a working email account .
Make sure you don’t let it get full.
Make sure you check it often. Some email servers send things from schools into the bulk box and then delete them after a certain time period.
Be aware that some emails from schools come with wierd sender names. Don’t automatically delete things with names you don’t recognize. My secondary request from UIC came with a strange name, was sent to my bulk folder and I almost deleted it before I even read it.
Make sure you let the schools know if you change your email server.
I have heard from countless people that were emailed things from the schools and they didn’t check their email and never saw them until deadlines ahd passed. This has happened to people who got interview offers and never responded so the schools dropped them from the interview list. Some managed to convince the schools to still let them come after they called to check on their status, but others weren’t able to get the schools to reissue the interview invites.
To add a little to Amy B’s suggestion…I was not smart enough to do this a med school applicant & e-mail communication then was still not “accepted”, but I did do this for my residency application period…go to one of the freebie web-based e-mail people (Yahoo, hotmail…) & set up a uniquely named e-mail acct & ONLY use the e-mail address on your applications. DO NOT use it anywhere on the internet or for any other purpose. This way, you know that any maill arriving there is almost guaranteed to be a pertinent & important piece of mail AND, since it is brand new & you have been out perusing the web using it - it will minimize the volume SPAM…at least temporarily.
I would even go to the trouble of opening a new, fresh browser to check the mail. Then, when you sign out - close it & re-start a totally new browser BEFORE you go farting around on the web.
That is a great suggestion Dave. I actually did that. I went through yahoo because others I knew had troubles with their hotmail accounts at times. It keeps things nice and organized and you can make folders for each of the shcools that contact you and have only that school’s emails in their own folders. Pays to stay very organized during this whole process.
And make sure you follow all the rules in the secondary requests. If the schools ask for money in a certain form, such as money order of cashier’s check, don’t send them a personal check. It shows you can’t follow the simple instructions and that is not a good message to send to a medical school.
You can buy really cheap money orders at most 7-11 convinence stores. DOn’t get them from your bank, they cost more and in the application process, saving money will be the key because it is an expensive process.
For all of you applying this year MAKE SURE that there are no errors on your AMCAS application. It is really up to you to make sure that it is done correctly. The only way to know if you are doing everything by the book is to read the book he he, here is the file for the instructions (very detailed) of how to fill out AMCAS. It has every possible detail on coursework, GPA, biographical data, prior military (MUST have AARTS or SMART NO EXCEPTIONS even if all you did in the military was go to basic training and then you got out beware!!!), etc…Good luck!
http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/2005instructionbook.pdf
Hi Folks,
If you are applying to medical school this year, take some time and attend the OPM convention in Denver. Why?
1. You will get a chance to view applicant applications from the standpoint of an admissions officer as an exercise. I can’t tell you how much of an eye-opener this experience can be. You may find yourself presenting your application in a totally new light.
2. You will hear excellent and timely advice from an actual admissions officer and a professional pre-medical counselor. Armed with this information, you may need to change a few things in your application this year that might make the difference between acceptance and non-acceptance. You will have ample opportunity to interact with both Lori and Judy personally. Again, these folks have taken time out of very busy schedules to provide you with invaluable information that can only help you.
3. You will get to interact with non-traditional medical students and physicians who have been through this process. You can’t underestimate the value of making contact with people who can personally help you through this maze.
4. You will or have spent thousands of dollars in tuition for preparation to get to this point. The cost of the OPM convention is time and extremely nominal. The rooms are going for practically a song and the convention is well worth the $50 fee. There are also good airline discounts to be had so get on the internet and get out there.
5. You have a chance to win MCAT prep courses, free professional counseling etc. This could more than offset what your total costs of attending the convention.
For some people, this convention can make the difference between getting into medical school and not getting in. If you have been trying to go through this process on your own, you have a chance to learn from people who can guide you on your path to a medical career.
Every OPM convention abounds with good will and fellowship. You just cannot afford not to take advantage of this factor in today’s climate of negativity. At last year’s convention in Washington, DC, I met people that will be my friends for the rest of my life. There is no substitute for this.
For folks who are currently first or second year medical students, you are going to hear great information about navigating through the residency application maze from folks who are fresh from the trenches. Again, you are getting all of this for practically nothing.
If you are sitting on the fence and waiting to decide if the OPM convention is worth taking time off from work or spending the money, the answer is YES!!!
Next year this time, you could be sitting there with an acceptance letter in hand, plotting how you are going to make the transition from pre-medical student to medical student.
Natalie 
Quote:
One point of clarification on getting transcripts in early. We were told by our pre-med committee that you can send transcripts to AMCAS ONCE from each school you attended. So, no updates for spring grades if you send in early May but the spring transcripts aren’t completed until late May. He said that does not preclude you sending updates to individual schools, but this is obviously a huge pain.
Once ever? Or once in an application period? It seems like this would pose a huge challenge to students who didn’t get in the first time around, and then decided to do more coursework before applying next year.
Once for that application period. So if you applied and didn’t get in last year, you most certainly will be sending new, updated transcripts to AMCAS.
Hi Folks,
Some personal statement DOs and DON’Ts:
DO: use your personal statement to crystallize why you would be a good candidate for medical school and why you would make a good physician.
DON’T: use your valuable personal statement to explain any negatives such as poor undergradute GPA etc. Any member of an admissions committee can figure out if you had a poor GPA when you were youthful and can make the conclusion that you matured and “saw the light”.
DO: use your personal statement to sell yourself in only the most positive light. This document should be easy to read and interesting.
DON’T: use scientific jargon, medical jargon, or any other jargon. Write in clean, crisp and easy to read style that is interesting. Long statements that are convoluted are boring. No one wants to WORK to read your statement. Remember, this statement will be seen before you are seen. First impressions are often lasting impressions. Don’t make a poor first impression.
DO: explain any sentinal events that led you to the desire to practice medicine.
DON’T: use the overused. “I want to attend medical school because I want to help people” “I want to attend medical school because I will cure cancer” " I was born in Podunk, ND on June 10, 2004 at 2am" etc
DO: allow plenty of people who know you well, to read you personal statement. Let them edit it too. I allowed no less than ten people to read my PS. It was the best decision that I made.
DON’T: turn in a PS with errors; spelling or otherwise.
DON’T: use the PS to experiment with a writing style that is not yours. This is not a literary “experiment” and this is not the same as your college application. Forget what you have seen on “Legally Blonde”.
DON’T: Copy anyone’s personal statement and don’t use a ghost writer. I have interviewed people who used a professional writing service only to meet them and can them after the interview. Sure you can have a professional editing service but don’t use a professional writing service.
DO: start writing the PS as soon as you have the idea that you want to attend medical school. Put the document away and add or subtract as your experiences change.
DON’T: attempt to convince anyone that you are “God’s Gift to Medicine and a potential Nobel laureate”. I can’t tell you how many PS writers end up giving an impression that is “too good”. This is usually a problem with immature writers but enough said. I don’t care if you have a 4.0 GPA and 42 MCATs, you have some flaws. Some realistic natural humility is a good thing.
This document is too important to waste, do hastily or do poorly. Believe me, a poorly-written or PS that is not your work can tank you very quickly.
Natalie
Natalie’s list is comprehensive and sound. To illustrate her point “DON’T use a ghostwriter,” I offer the following true story:
As you know, the AMCAS asks you to describe extracurricular activities and gives you a small block of space to elaborate on these activities. I know someone on an AdCom who found such a strong mismatch between the language on those short explanations, and the person’s PS, that the ONLY reasonable conclusion was that someone had written the person’s PS for them. (the PS was written in extremely sophisticated style, while the EC explanations were not very grammatical) The AdCom member then scrutinized the MCAT scores and found an ordinary verbal score and a low writing sample score - only time I’ve ever heard of the WS even being looked at. The application was rejected.