veCollect Update
This is an update as to where we are in terms of implementing a paperless reference letter system for use by the Prehealth Committee. It will directly affect anyone applying to the April 1, 2010 Prehealth Committee for a fall 2011 admission.
We are currently in contact with the vendor confirming several features to assure that the process runs smoothly when we begin the actual transition. We would like to see the complete testing of all the features to assure that the process is seamless once we open it up to the UB prehealth student population. As our institution involves a large population of potential users, our primary concern is the convenience and efficiency for all users involved (e.g., students, evaluators, professional schools). As such, we are going to reexamine where the vendors are at in early January 2010 before we open the veCollect system. In the interim, we will allow applicants to begin to request and collect letters using the system we have been using for the past several years.
Effective immediately, you can begin to ask recommenders for a letter and they have the option to submit them to our office before January. In order to have letters submitted to our office, you must first complete the top portion of the Letter of Recommendation Request Form and then give it to your recommender. He or she will then provide the reference and submit it to our office via paper. Please note that if they attach a letter of recommendation as opposed to using the actual form, the letter needs to be on letterhead stationery with their signature. Letterhead paper and the evaluator’s signature are REQUIRED. We will need to return any letters not on letterhead and/or missing a signature.
If, by early January the veCollect system is running to our satisfaction, we will send you an authorization code to open an account after you have attended a veCollect workshop. All workshops for fall 2009 and spring 2010 will be posted at the link.
Once veCollect is up and running, you will simply add the names of any evaluators on veCollect who may have already submitted letters for you via paper between now (November) and January. Our office will upload the paper letters into the veCollect letter system for you once you have opened an account and have created an entry for your evaluators.
Any questions you have can be answered by any of the prehealth advisors in 109 Norton Hall. Please set an appointment by calling 645-6013. Quicker questions can be answered via email. Jinny Majewski (vmajewsk@buffalo.edu) administrative support to the Prehealth Committee can assist you as well with any veCollect logistical questions.
Thank you for your patience while we make this transition. Again, the efficiency, accuracy, and convenience of the system for all users remains our primary goal.
This announcement is from the MCAT administrators.
Registration for the January - May 2010 test dates is now open. Examinees are successfully scheduling their test dates.
A new feature of the system this year is that it will display available sites rather than displaying all sites whether they have seat availability or not. For example, the seats for the January dates in Beirut, Lebanon are already sold out, so Lebanon will not appear as an option in the search function for January. This helps eliminate unnecessary searching and wasted time for the user.
If you have any questions about registration, please contact the MCAT Resource Center at (202) 828-0690 or mcat@aamc.org.
This message is from Sydney Domanowski, president of APMS
We have our 3rd meeting of the semester tomorrow, Tuesday Nov. 3rd at 5:30pm in Fronczak 454. Dr. Diana Wilkins will be discussing her road to family medicine (through UB, in APMS, and at UB’s medical school) and her multi-role position as a doctor, wife, and mother.
Also, I just want to keep everyone informed on the upcoming events:
1) We still need more people to work Bills Games! We get paid by the number of people we supply for each game. And then at the end of the year we get a “bonus” according to our profit. We also get a free meal voucher for each person at every game and free parking (we will give those who drive some of the tip money to pay for gas). We have to have every member who can work go to the next orientation at Bills Stadium in November (no date set yet). There are 3 home games remaining. All of the remaining games are 1:00 games, so we would have to work 10am-5pm for each game:
*November 29th
*December 20th
*January 3rd
You can work whichever games you are able and if you want to have friends do it with you, they’re more than welcome! We are working with AED and Pre-Dental to do this, so friends from those clubs are welcome too! Also, if you go to the orientation and work at least 2 games, you will be able to attend our CPR certification course for FREE in the spring.
2) We will be holding a winter clothing drive for the Buffalo City Mission November 13-15. We’d like to make this a campus-wide event and get bins in the residence halls and throughout campus. Please e-mail mdm34@buffalo.edu to help Matt coordinate this event.
3) There will be an informational Army session about their Health Professional Scholarship Program on November 4th from 6-8pm in NSC215. Free Pizza and refreshments will be available. E-mail mjs83@buffalo.edu for more info.
4) We will be hosting a Buffalo Bills Party at the Kaleida Waterfront Nursing Home on November 15th starting at about 12pm. Rides will be provided and we are just going to eat and spend time with the residents while they watch the Bills game. Also, if you’d like to volunteer at any time at the Kaleida Waterfront, contact us also, as we can connect you with their volunteer coordinator easily. Please e-mail sckahn@buffalo.edu for info.
5) We’re helping with a Red Cross Blood Drive on November 16th. E-mail rroach@buffalo.edu for more info.
6) We have added 3 new physicians to our Shadowing program! Dr. Fox and Dr.
Patel are Family Medicine Doctors and Dr. Cloud is an ER Physician at ECMC. They will begin rotation this month and Dr. Fox & Dr. Patel both are offering 2 days per week, so these are great positions to fill. You get to see a little bit of everything when you work in Family Med.
7) We’re going to be providing CPR classes to APMS members for $10 per person in January. It is a two-part course, so you will need to complete an online portion during the winter break and then attend the course on campus in January.
Non-APMS members will be $30. Anyone working 2 Bills games will receive the training for free. Please e-mail John at jbjr3@buffalo.edu for details.
8 We do have 2 remaining Ronald McDonald House dinners which are both full, Nov 22 and Dec 5. If you have already signed up for these (at a meeting or via e-mail) and cannot come, please e-mail me back so we can offer your spot to someone else.
Thanks so much, see you at the meeting tomorrow, and have a great week!
Sydney Domanowski
APMS President
So, You Want to be a Doctor, Dentist, Veterinarian, Optometrist, Podiatrist or Chiropractor?
TODAY Mon., Nov 2 4:00-4:50 p.m. Meet at Norton 17 - Co-sponsored by Undergrad Academies
Prehealth Committee/veCollect Information Session
Tues., Nov 3 2:00-3:00 p.m. 145C Student Union
You Do NOT Need to Register For These Sessions
International Students and Professional Health School Admission
Wed., Nov 4 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. 145A Student Union
Army Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) Presentation - Sponsored by AED, APMS, and the Pre-Dental Association
Wed., Nov 4 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. 215 Natural Sciences (NSC)
DO Information Forum
If you would like to know more about the DO medical degree (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine), please consider coming to this session! One or possible two DO physicians who are currently completing their residencies in Buffalo will be available to share their advice, expertise, and knowledge pertaining to being a DO physician.
Pizza and refreshments will be served.
Thurs, Nov 5 from 4:00-5:00 in 145E Student Union.
Undergraduate Academies Announcement
YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO SAVE SOMEONE’S LIFE!!!
WHEN: THIS Thursday, November 5th 2009 @ 11:00AM-3:00PM
WHERE: Student Union FLAG ROOM (2nd Floor Student Union)
HOSTED BY: UB Against Cancer
Help ONE of the 10,000 people in the US awaiting bone marrow donations! Join UB Against Cancer for a Bone Marrow Registry Drive for the “BE A MATCH” registry!
IF YOU WANT TO HELP: Volunteers are needed for the following:
• Set Up (10-11am) 5 people
• OR Clean Up (3-4PM)
• Hour shifts: DURING the drive (4 People PER Hour)
• Snack Help: “Hospitality” Table Snack Help (2 people per hour)
• Flyering: Hand out Flyers in SU Lobby (2 people per hour) or Help distribute and post flyers around campus prior to the event
IF YOU WANT TO DONATE: Similar to donating blood, you’ll have to take a quick test (a swab of the inside of your cheek — NO NEEDLES!).
Likewise, most procedures to donate bone marrow are VERY similar to donating blood!
FIND OUT MORE! Visit the National Marrow Donor Program.
To sign up to volunteer for this event, contact:
Amelia Vangellow: ameliava@buffalo.edu
Please RSVP for these events at http://ubacademies.ning.com/events or email us at academy@buffalo.edu
Hosted by: The Undergraduate Academies
http://academy.buffalo.edu
Any questions call: 716-645-8177
HELP QUITTING: A quit smoking drop-in clinic for faculty, staff and students will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday in the Student Union, North Campus.
CONSIDERING OPTIONS: The thought process about surgery options that follows women’s diagnosis with breast cancer is the focus of a study led by Robin Lally, faculty member in the School of Nursing.
This information was just released from the MCAT administrators.
We have a few updates for you as we prepare to open registration next week for the January - May 2010 test dates:
1) Registration will open Monday, November 2. We regret we cannot announce a specific opening time.
2) The 2010 MCAT Essentials are now posted online. This is REQUIRED reading prior to registering for the MCAT.
3) The MCAT administrators have posted a chart indicating which AAMC-member schools have indicated they will accept January 2010 scores for the current application year (i.e., applications for the 2010 entering class). They were able to provide information about schools who responded to the request for information.
This message is from John Boyd, APMS Treasurer
For those of you who are interested in receiving CPR and AED certification from the American Red Cross, please send me an email at Jbjr3@buffalo.edu simply notifying me of your interest as soon as you read this email. The training will be either free or extremely inexpensive comparable to the standard price. If you are not a APMS member, the fee is $30. The date is to be determined but will take place before the end of this semester. Feel free to add any questions to your confirmation email.
John Boyd
APMS Treasurer
Jbjr3@buffalo.edu
This message from Kaplan Test Prep
While Kaplan’s classroom, online and tutoring options provide students with numerous tools for content review, some students want to further their science knowledge before the MCAT classes even begin. This October, Kaplan will provide free access to the MCAT Science Review program (a $499 value) to any student who enrolls in a Kaplan MCAT Online, Classroom or Tutoring
program.
Eligibility in this value-added promotion does not preclude AED members from taking advantage of our existing relationship by saving $100 off of the regular price of our program.
Make sure when you register to mention the AED 100$ discount!!!
~Mark Niec
President of AED
Students can view a new informational video about the profession of podiatry at developed by the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA). The video shows clips from educational, surgical, and practice settings. Students can view the video and then choose to learn more at their leisure. The video can be viewed on the APMA website or on YouTube.
The APMA has recently created exciting, informative, and new ways for students to learn about careers in podiatric medicine. Last month, another new “testimonial” video was released. This short video has interviews with podiatrists, students and residents and explores the reasons why they each chose a career in podiatric medicine and what they like best about the profession. This video can also be viewed on YouTube or on the APMA career page.
For more information, feel free to contact the APMA at careerinfo@apma.org.
