Completing the 2012
AMCAS Application
Spring 2011
Lee Ann Michelson & Oona Ceder
Office of Career Services
Harvard 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
For the 2012 entering class
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
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
The AMCAS Application
AMCAS Registration
◦
Use accurate biographical information during registration:
The AMCAS Application
• 9 Sections:
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Identifying Information
Schools Attended
Biographic Information
Coursework
Work/Activities
Letters of Evaluation
Medical Schools
Essays
Standardized Tests
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
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
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
The AMCAS Application
• Biographic Information
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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.
The AMCAS Application
• 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
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
Felonies and Misdemeanors
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.
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
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 collegelevel course.
Coursework
Course Classification
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.
Course Classification
• 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
Course Classification
• 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
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.
Specific Course Information
• 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.
Specific Course Information
• 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.
Advanced Placement Scores
• Do NOT include AP credit unless:
1. You accepted Advanced Standing OR
2. 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.
Advanced Placement Scores
• 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.
Study Abroad: Scenario #2
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.
Study Abroad: Scenario #3
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 apply
for Harvard coursework
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
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.
The AMCAS Application
• 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.
The AMCAS Application
• 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.
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
Letters of Evaluation
AMCAS will receive your rec letters directly from
your House via VirtualEvals.
There are three steps for applicants:
1.
2.
3.
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.
Send Letter Request Form ID to your House Office.
Complete the Medical Schools section and assign
the letters to each participating school.
Letters of Evaluation
select
Letters of Evaluation
• 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.
Letters of Evaluation
Letters of Evaluation
Email this to your
Resident Dean’s Office
Letters of Evaluation
schools receiving letter listed here
Letters of Evaluation
Letters of Evaluation
• 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.
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
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.
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
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 textonly 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
The AMCAS Application
• 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
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
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
Criminal Background Checks
• 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
Criminal Background Checks
• 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.
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
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
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 Application Status
•
The Verification Process
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
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
AMCAS Verification
•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
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 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
A3.7
B+
3.3
B
3.0
B2.7
C+
2.3
C
2.0
C1.7
D+
1.3
D
1.0
D0.7
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
Changes After Submission
• 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.
Changes After Submission
• 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 0600
Office 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: amcas@aamc.org
• www.facebook.com/amcasinfo
• This presentation will be on the OCS premed
website.