What Will Happen if I Can’t Get a Transcript from a School?

Session 34

For your AMCAS, AACOMAS, and TMDSAS application to be verified, you need to turn in a transcript from every school. What happens if you can’t get one?

Somebody in the group actually said that they applied and submitted the secondaries. And they are having issues with the school they owe money to. They’re actually on a payment plan. So the school won’t release the official transcripts until the final payment is made in December (it’s November 2017 as of this recording).

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[01:00] The Problem with Unscreened Secondaries

Even though the student submitted her primary application and even though schools saw that and gave her secondaries, AMCAS (as well as AACOMAS and TMDSAS) has not done anything with her application because it’s still waiting one transcript.

Schools can see when you submit your primary application that you have selected their school. If they want, they can choose to send you secondary applications prior to you getting verified and AMCAS officially submitting that application to the school.

'Schools that send secondaries to everybody who applies to that school, they can't screen you without your primary application.'Click To Tweet

[02:35] Make Sure Schools Get Their Money

So this student who sent her secondary hasn’t been verified yet and hasn’t been transmitted to the school. But the schools have seen that she has selected their schools in the application. So she has almost done everything in the application yet she’s still waiting on the transcript for one school because of the money she owes.

'If you owe them money, you started school and failed out and had to leave, for whatever reason, if you owe the school money, most school will not give you a transcript.'Click To Tweet

As you’re going through this process, make sure that schools get their money. If financial stuff happens, your priority is to pay off that debt as soon as possible. That’s the only resolution you have to get the transcripts from the school.

Moreover, you can dive deeper and contact the AMCAS, AACOMAS, or TMDSAS and tell them about your case and see what they say. This would be a good discussion to have to see the flexibility they have in those situations.

[05:12] Don’t Get Into Financial Issues with the School

Understand that those situations happen so if you do get into that, you understand the repercussions of that. If you owe a school any money and you’re applying to medical school, don’t expect them to give you a transcript. If you can pay off the debt in a year, apply in a year.

Again, don’t get into the financial issues with the school since they run everything at this point in your life. And this can ruin everything as far as transcript goes.

If you’re in a bind, the goal is to plot out a track on when the school is going to be paid off and when you can get that transcript. Circle on your calendar when you should start thinking of applying to medical school. If you can’t get that transcript, then it’s going to be useless.