Completing the 2012 AMCAS Application

Completing the 2012 AMCAS Application

Spring 2011Lee Ann Michelson & Oona Ceder

Office of Career ServicesHarvard College

Before you start

• Check your SPAM filter: AMCAS and schools use applicant email addresses to notify you of updates, changes, deadlines, errors, and the status of your application. Be sure that your SPAM filters do not delete these multiple addressee emails. Add aamc.org as a safe domain.

• Obtain copies of your transcripts

• Check the admissions requirements of med schools to be sure you fill the eligibility requirements for each school.

Overview• About AMCAS

• The AMCAS Application• Schools Attended and Transcripts• Biographic Information• Courses• Work/Activities• Letters of Evaluation• Medical Schools• Essays

• Criminal Background Checks

• Fee Assistance Program

• Monitoring your Application Status

• The Verification Process

About AMCAS

• What does AMCAS do?

◦ Provides an online medical school application

◦ Collects one set of official transcripts from all applicants

◦ Verifies academic records and calculates an AMCAS GPA

◦ Distributes application data to participating medical schools

◦ Collects & distributes letters of recommendation

◦ Facilitates criminal background checks for accepted applicants

Application Timeline

May 5, 2011* AMCAS application opens & AMCAS begins accepting transcripts and letters of recommendation

June 1, 2011* Applications can be submitted and AMCAS begins verifying coursework

June 10, 2011* Initial transmission of application data to medical schools

For the 2012 entering class

Application Fees

• $160 processing fee which includes one medical school

• $32 for each additional school (2011)• Refunds are available to applicants are not in

verification or processed status. Applicants will receive refund for all deadlines that haven’t passed with the exception of the AMCAS processing fee

• Payable online via Visa/MasterCard or Telecheck

The AMCAS Application

• www.aamc.org/amcas

AMCAS Registration◦ Use accurate biographical information during registration:



• 9 Sections:• Identifying Information• Schools Attended• Biographic Information• Coursework• Work/Activities• Letters of Evaluation• Medical Schools• Essays• Standardized Tests







Schools Attended

Schools Attended

• List every post secondary institution where you enrolled for at least one course; even if credits were transferred, no credits were earned, or you withdrew.

• Include college courses taken in high school.

Schools Attended

• Under program type, do not enter graduate level for Harvard College if you are working towards a fourth year Masters but have not yet completed it.

• If you have graduated from Harvard College with a fourth year Masters degree, you will have two entries for Harvard College. One entry with undergraduate as program type for the first three years and one entry with graduate as program type for the final year at Harvard.

Transcripts

Official Transcripts (OTs)

• Review AMCAS OT Requirements

• Review your transcripts in advance

• Research transcript availability carefully

• Never assume a transcript is not required by AMCAS

• Missing and unmatchable transcripts are the number 1 reason for processing delays

Transcripts

• You will create AMCAS Transcript Request Forms to send to Registrars at every school from which you will be requesting a transcript. The Registrar will attach the form to the official transcript and send it on to AMCAS.

• Transcripts must be sent to AMCAS directly from your Registrar’s Office. Transcripts provided by applicants, even if sealed, will NOT be accepted

• Request that Harvard Registrar wait until Spring grades are available before sending transcripts

Transcripts

• Applicants must request an exception for transcripts that are not required; failing to do so may result in missed deadlines

• Research transcript availability carefully before requesting an exception. AMCAS cannot validate foreign transcripts and will not accept them.

Transcripts

Advisor Release

Advisor Information Release Service:• Please give permission for AMCAS to share

information with Harvard Premed Advisors by checking YES. (These reports will go to Lee Ann and Oona at OCS, NOT your House Tutors)

The reports we develop on applications and acceptance to medical school are based on the data we receive from AMCAS. The information will only be used for aggregate statistics and all identifying information is kept strictly confidential.

• If you encounter problems with your application, we cannot discuss your situation with AMCAS staff unless you check this box.

Advisor Release

select “Yes”

Schools Attended

Can indicate secondary field under minor

Institutional Action








• Biographic Information• Contact info• Citizenship• Legal residence• Race & Ethnicity• Languages• Family info – dependents/parents/siblings• Felony/misdemeanor/military discharge

Biographical Information

• Visa: you may not designate Permanent Resident Visa status unless you currently have a Green Card.

• Legal Residence: applicants who qualify for residency in more than one state may declare only one of those states as their legal residence on the application..

• Languages: enter information regarding the languages you speak fluently. Can list only one language as primary language.


• Changes to the Disadvantaged Section• The questions that have been buried beneath

the disadvantaged question will be brought to the top level and presented to all applicants.

• We will continue to allow applicants to self-identify as disadvantaged and write a brief essay.

Childhood Information

• Underserved: do you believe, based on your experience or that of family and friends, that the area in which grew up was adequately served by health-care professionals? Were there enough physicians, nurses, hospitals, clinics, and other health-care providers?

• State and federal assistance programs: these are defined as "means-tested programs” (such as AFDC, unemployment compensation, GA, food stamps, SSI, Medicaid). Family income, assets must be below certain thresholds

The AMCAS Applications

Changes to Parental Information

◦ Applicants will be required to provide information about their parents or guardians

◦ Expanded occupational & educational categories

Felonies and Misdemeanors


• Applicants need not disclose any instance where applicant: ◦ was arrested but not charged; ◦ was arrested and charged, but the

charges were dropped; ◦ was arrested and charged, but found not

guilty by a judge or jury; ◦ was arrested and found guilty by a

judge or jury, but the conviction was overturned on appeal; or

◦ received an executive pardon


For any post submission convictions, applicants MUST notify their medical schools within 10 days of the offense.

Warning: In Virginia and Ohio, speeding conviction = misdemeanor! Must be reported on AMCAS.







Coursework

Coursework

Coursework to be listed:

• Any course ever attempted at any U.S. or Canadian post-secondary school, even if no credit was earned.

• Includes all college-level courses taken while in high school.

Coursework

Coursework to be listed (cont’d):

• Courses from which you withdrew.

• Courses for which you received a grade of "Incomplete" and for which no final grade has been assigned.

• Courses that have been repeated.

• Courses that you failed, regardless of whether they have been repeated.

Coursework

Coursework

Year and Term• For courses taken at Harvard, use the

semester system calendar designation.

• List a full-year course as “Full Year”. Do not divide full-year classes by term.

• For summer courses, assign the upcoming status. (e.g. courses between FR & SO year, will be listed as SO status).

Coursework

Year and Term (cont’d)

• Do not assign more than one status to a term.

• Assign High School (HS) status to college-level courses taken while you were in high school, regardless of the physical location of the college-level course.

Coursework

Course Classification


• The Science GPA for AMCAS is comprised of courses that are considered Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Mathematics only.

• If you have a question, such as coding a psychology course as biology, ask yourself if the primary content of the course was biology. If yes, you can code the course as biology. This classification is not based on the department offering the course. Use your best judgment.


• To learn more about the BCPM GPA, click on the HELP button at the top of the AMCAS application webpage. Open the "Course work Classification" section under "Course Work." Scroll down to find a list of courses. Any course classification followed by "BCPM" will be included in the BCPM GPA


• If AMCAS changes a classification, and the applicant disagrees with the change, the applicant can appeal the change via the application's Academic Change request option (available within the AMCAS application).

• AMCAS generally will not return applications if they disagree with your coding but if they do contact you, please let Lee Ann or Oona know.

Specific Course Information


• Because Harvard does not indicate credit hour equivalents on the front of the transcript, AMCAS prefers that Harvard applicants leave Credit Hours blank. When AMCAS verifies the application, each half course will be coded as 4 credit hours and each full year course will be coded as 8 credit hours.

• If you choose to list credit hours, be aware that the 4 and 8 will be taken out in Verification processing and an "X" will be placed in the Verification Mark Column. The “X” only represents a change made in Verification to reflect the view of the official transcript.


• A half-year course (one semester) is equal to four credits; a full-year course (two semesters) is generally equal to eight credits.*

• Chem 10/15 is equivalent to only 4 credits. (It will, however, fulfill the medical school requirement of one full year of general chemistry.) You can write “Accel” to indicate it was an accelerated course.

* Note: Half courses extending throughout the two terms of the academic year are equal to four credit hours.


• Lab hours are not counted separately. They are included in course credit hours. You can click on “combined lecture/lab course” for the question “did this class include a lab section?”

Special Course Types

Special Course Types

Only necessary for certain courses.

• Audit: if officially registered, but no credit, then no credit hours or AMCAS grade should be assigned.

• Pass/Fail: courses are listed on Academic Record, but excluded when computing AMCAS GPA. Harvard’s SAT/UNSAT courses should be listed as such.

• Honors: Harvard does not have “honors level” courses.

Advanced Standing Only

Only if granted and accepted Advanced Standing:

• AP scores are considered freshmen courses for the year you began Harvard. So, for your first year at Harvard, you should list your four AP courses as freshmen courses and your Harvard courses as sophomore courses.

• The total credit hours for the AP courses should be equal to 32 (e.g. 4 AP courses at 8 credit hours each.)

Advanced Placement Scores

• Official Rules : To claim AP credit, the credit hours must be listed on your transcript.

• Harvard does not put AP courses on transcript unless you accept Advanced Standing. So, if you list an AP on the Academic Record, and it is not on the transcript, AMCAS cannot verify the AP score. The Harvard College Registrar will NOT verify these AP scores for AMCAS.


• Do NOT include AP credit unless:

1. You accepted Advanced Standing OR2. You did not take Math at Harvard and

need to show AP Calculus/Statistics credit. Be aware however, AMCAS will code the AP course with a “0” symbol, to indicate it does not appear on the transcript. This will not cause the application to be delayed or returned.


• If a medical school wants verification of the AP score (some California schools do), then you must request the official AP score to be sent directly from ETS to the medical schools and not to AMCAS.

• Most secondary applications will allow you to indicate AP scores being used to meet math requirements.

Study Abroad: Scenario #1

Courses taken at an overseas campus of a U.S. or Canadian college or at an American college overseas:

◦ List the U.S. or Canadian College sponsoring the study abroad program, and on whose official transcript the coursework will appear.

◦ Applicant should have sponsoring school send an official transcript to AMCAS.

◦ Courses MUST be listed under the school.


Courses taken independently (not sponsored by U.S. or Canadian school) at a foreign school; credit tranferred to a U.S. or Canadian college

◦ List under "schools attended” section• the US/Canadian school that the credit will be transferred to• the foreign school

◦ Indicate that AMCAS does not require a transcript for foreign school; select exception reason: “foreign college-independent attendance – credits tranferred to a US. or Canadian institution”

◦ Enter all required data under the name of the foreign school, but as it appears on the transcript on which the transferred credit appear.


Courses taken independently at a foreign school (not sponsored by a U.S. or Canadian college), credit not transferred.

◦ List the foreign school under "schools attended” section

◦ Indicate that AMCAS does not require a transcript; select exception reason: “foreign college - independent attendance – no credits transferred to a US. or Canadian institution”

◦ Courses may be listed under the foreign institution.

CEGEP/Grade 13 Coursework

• Courses attempted at a Canadian College d'Enseignement General et Professionel (CEGEP) or through a Canadian Grade 13 Program must be listed if the credit has been transferred to a U.S. or Canadian institution using a credit hour system convertible to semester hours.

• If CEGEP/Grade 13 course credits have NOT been transferred to a U.S. or Canadian institution, courses are not required to be listed. If you include this course work it will NOT be verified by AMCAS and will NOT be included in your AMCAS GPAs or cumulative credit hour totals.

Coursework Summary

This warning message does not applyfor Harvard coursework







Work/Activities

Work/Activities

• A maximum of 15 experiences may be entered. Enter only significant experiences. You do not need to enter 15!

• Supervisor contact information must be provided. If activity was organized by a student group, list advisor or another administrator who can verify your experience.

• You will select up to three experiences as most meaningful to you. Space is provided to explain why you selected these experiences.


• Work & Activities◦ Enter any work or extracurricular activities,

awards, honors or publications you would like to bring to the attention of medical schools

◦ A maximum of 15 experiences may be entered

New

◦ Contact email or phone is required

Work/Activities

• Experience Type: from the drop-down menu, select experience Type that best describes each experience. You can only select one Type per experience and each experience should only be listed once. It is up to the applicant to decide which experience Type best suits each particular experience.

• Dates: Some experience Types (presentations, poster sessions, publications) require only one date. For current experiences, check “until present”.

Work/Activities

• Repeated Activities: (from year to year) List a repeated activity just once and use the space beneath the activity to show multiple dates, roles you served, or multiple awards you received in that activity.

• Multiple Roles: If you held multiple positions in one organization, list this as one experience only, and describe your various roles within the description section.

• Description: Limited to 1325 characters (including spaces) or 1/4 page. Use to provide information or to describe responsibilities. Resume or narrative format.


• Work & Activities◦ Applicants will be asked to indentify up to

three experiences they consider to be the most meaningful

◦ When considering which experiences are the most meaningful applicants will be prompted to consider the transformative nature of the experience, the impact made while engaging in the activity and the personal growth experienced as a result of participation

Work/Activities

Advice from the Assistant Dean of Admissions, Weill Cornell Medical College:•Think carefully about which kind of experiences were really meaningful to you -- don't try to fill up space.

•Don't repeat information in the “description” section already noted in “experience type”, “title” “organization”, etc. sections.

•If the organization in which you participated is not well known, give a brief description followed by the role you played there, especially if it involved any type of responsibility.

Work/Activities

• If you received a scholarship, fellowship or other honor that is not nationally known, describe it briefly. Don't waste space on scholarships that are awarded to half the population at the school.

• If you list a publication, make sure it's been accepted for publication and cite it properly. If the paper is just being "prepared for submission" or "submitted," include this fact as part of the research description in the section where you listed the research activity.

Work/Activities

• If listing a research experience that extends through the academic year as well as summer, use the description area to note time invested, e.g., full time during the summer, 10 hrs/week in the fall/spring).

• If you were just a member of an organization, note how many meetings/week you attended; why you joined.

• Remember that each experience you list is "up for grabs" if you are invited to interview. You may be asked about anything in your application.







Letters of Evaluation

AMCAS will receive your rec letters directly from your House via VirtualEvals.

There are three steps for applicants: 1. Under Letters of Evaluation, you’ll need to

“add” a committee letter to let AMCAS know about the letters they are going to receive from your House Office.

2. Send Letter Request Form ID to your House Office.

3. Complete the Medical Schools section and assign the letters to each participating school.


select


• Select “committee letter”. All of the letters that come from Harvard are considered a single committee letter so you’ll just need to enter one.

• For letter title, any name will do (e.g. “Harvard Committee Letter”)

• For primary contact, use your Resident Dean’s name (or simply “Resident Dean”).

• Now you’ll be able to access the AMCAS Letter Request Form. Email Letter ID # to your Resident Dean’s Office.



Email this to your Resident Dean’s Office


schools receiving letter listed here



• Note: A few medical schools do not participate in the AMCAS Letter Program, so you won’t be able to add a Letter of Evaluation within AMCAS

• Don’t worry! These schools will still receive your letters from Harvard as long as you have provided your House with your list of medical schools.







Medical Schools

• Research individual medical schools before designating them in the application. Schools cannot be removed after submission

• Designate only program types for which you are eligible and for which the deadline has not passed.

• If you wish to apply to both an MD and MD/PhD program at the same medical school, you must check directly with that medical school regarding the application procedure.

Medical Schools

type of program(e.g. MD vs. MD/PhD)

Medical Schools

indicates school in letters program

Medical Schools

Medical Schools

Medical Schools

• AMCAS does not evaluate residency eligibility or citizenship status. It is the applicant’s responsibility to determine eligibility before designating a school.

• You must indicate if you have ever previously applied to this medical school. Failure to acknowledge previous application activity will result in an investigation.







Essays

• Please refer to the OCS webpage on creating your personal statement:◦ www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/students/careers/

medicine/applicationprocess/personalstatement.htm

• Remember: PROOFREAD! No changes can be made after your application is submitted to AMCAS

Essays

• You cannot run a spell check in the AMCAS application.

• Applicants who plan to cut and paste their essays into the application should draft their essays in a text-only format, preferably in text-only word processing software, such as Microsoft Notepad. Copying formatted text into the application may result in formatting issues that cannot be edited once your application is submitted.

Essays

Writing Style

• Follow normal writing practices regarding case - avoid use of all CAPS or all lower case.

• After copying into application, check for extra spaces, periods, capitals, etc. in the on-screen box

• Upon printing the application, do not worry if there are line breaks or paragraph shifts. Medical schools will receive the essay as you have entered it in the text box - not as you see on the print out.

MD/PhD Essays

MD/PhD Essays

Submission & Processing

• Emphasize completeness over early submission

• Errors/typos/missing information can’t be corrected after submission

• Early is good; error-free is better

• Use print option to check your data


• Submission Certification:

• Revised◦ Statement is now bulleted and requires

acceptance to each statement rather than one paragraph. Easier for applicant to read certification statement and highlights importance of statement

• New◦ Applicants must certify that all written

passages have been written by them.

Submission & Processing

• Ideally, submit application and transcripts by June 30th. You should wait for your spring grades before submitting.

• Can take up to 6 weeks for AMCAS to review and return to applicant.

• If waiting to take MCAT later in the summer, you should still submit AMCAS Application by the end of June. You should then indicate under Standardized Tests that you plan to take a future MCAT







Criminal Background Checks

• After January 1, accepted/waitlisted applicants to a school that participates in the AAMC CBC service will receive an email from Certiphi Screening asking to provide consent to conduct a Criminal Background Check

• Results will be made available for review prior to their release to medical schools to which have accepted the applicants.

• Applicants have 10 days to review the report and contest the accuracy of the results


• Conducted on first acceptance (or, in some instances, Alternate List)

• Disclosure/Consent must be certified by all applicants

• Searches: Social Security Number, County Criminal

Records, Statewide Criminal Records, Federal Criminal Records, National Criminal Database, National Sexual Offender Database, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General List of Excluded Individuals/Entities, Dishonorable Discharge from the Armed Forces, International Screening


• The report procured during this process will not be released to any party other than the medical schools requesting this report.

• On the report, history including infractions and juvenile records will be displayed to the applicant but medical schools vary on the content they can and will view.







Fee Assistance Program (FAP)

◦ Assists applicants who, without financial assistance would be unable to take the MCAT or apply to medical schools through AMCAS

◦ Submitting an AMCAS application or registering for the MCAT prior to receiving a decision on your FAP application makes you ineligible for FAP

Fee Assistance Program

◦ Benefits

• AMCAS fee waiver for up to 14 medical school designations (>$500 savings)

• MCAT Fee Reduction from $235 to $85• One free copy of

– The Official Guide to the MCAT Exam– The Medical School Admissions

Requirements (MSAR)◦ Most medical schools waive supplemental

application fees for applicants who have been granted fee assistance by the AAMC

Fee Assistance Program

• Eligibility Criteria◦ Must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or

have refugee/asylum status

◦ Total family income 300% or less of the federal poverty guideline

◦ Example: • Poverty level for a family of 4: $22,050• FAP threshold: $66,150

• FAP does not distinguish between dependent & independent applicant status





• Monitoring Application Status


Monitoring Progress

• AMCAS Application Status◦ Not Submitted to AMCAS

◦ Submitted to AMCAS – Waiting for Transcripts

◦ Submitted to AMCAS – Ready for Review

◦ Submitted to AMCAS – Under Review

◦ Returned to Applicant

◦ AMCAS Processing is Complete

Monitoring







•What is verified for each course? •Academic Status•Academic Year & Term•Grades•Hours•Course Classification (BCPM vs. All Other)•Course Type (Honors, Repeat, AP, etc.)

AMCAS Verification

• The end result:

◦ Verified AMCAS GPA broken down by science & non-science courses and by academic status

◦ Note that medical schools do not just see your GPA. They receive all of the detailed information that you entered in the coursework section of your application.

AMCAS VerificationAMCAS Verification

AMCAS Verification

GPA

Only the GPA calculated and verified by AMCAS will be considered official by the medical schools. You will be able to view the AMCAS Verified GPA when your application status is “Processed by AMCAS.”

A 4.0

A- 3.7

B+ 3.3

B 3.0

B- 2.7

C+ 2.3

C 2.0

C- 1.7

D+ 1.3

D 1.0

D- 0.7

F 0.0

AMCAS GRADE CONVERSION for HARVARD COURSES

Verification

/ Any course verified without correction.X Any course verified with correction.0 Any course listed on the Academic Record but

not reflected on an official transcript; formal corrections were not required.

Any course listed on the Academic Record but not reflected on an official transcript; formal corrections have been made.

≠ A type of coursework not meant to be verified.

Verification

• Begins when AMCAS receives all materials.

• After verification against transcripts, AMCAS will inform applicants by email. Applicants should review this information for any errors, and if found, will need to contact AMCAS by using the Change Notification Process option. But first, please let Lee Ann or Oona know so that we can follow up if needed.

Changes After Submission

AMCAS states that only the following changes are allowed after submission:◦ Required and Alternate IDs

◦ Name and Contact Information

◦ Sex

◦ Indication of MCAT dates

◦ Additional medical schools

◦ Date of birth

◦ Letters of evaluation can be added but not deleted


• If you change any information (ID’s, name, contact information), you must re-certify AND re-submit your application or the medical schools will not get the update.

• Updated information (grades, activities, awards) after submission to AMCAS, must be sent directly to individual medical schools. AMCAS will not make changes to course work that become available after your application has been processed.


• Other Changes: To address changes to Course Work made by AMCAS during the Verification process, you must submit a change request to AMCAS using the Academic Change Request option, available only after your application has completed the Verification process. Allow at least fifteen working days for AMCAS to review and/or process any change request.

Withdrawing Application

• Must enter password.

• Cannot “un-withdraw” at anytime or re-apply for the current year, once withdrawn.

• Cannot withdraw after application has been verified.

Resources & Information

• AMCAS Help Line: 202 828 0600Office hours 9 am -7 pm ET M-F; 24 hour automated phone line

• Applicant Website: www.aamc.org/amcas, especially 2012 AMCAS Instruction Manual

• Email: [email protected]

• www.facebook.com/amcasinfo

• This presentation will be on the OCS premed website.

Documents

Completing the 2012 AMCAS Application