Apparently they do not give people who apply late in the process equal consideration.
Inquire as to why rejected and the response mentioned the fact the application was not received until January 2012.
I would like to start out by saying that I am not on the admissions committee, nor do they care what my opinion is on what they do (or even ask for it).
Medical school is a privilege, There are tens of thousands of students who apply every year only half get in. This does not count the people who couldn't even keep their grades up enough in premed to consider applying, because they knew they wouldn't have a shot (and are equally as awesome as the rest of us)
Some students (my friends, actually) are on their third round of applying. This is many peoples dream, and it will NOT become all of those peoples reality.
If I am an admissions committee and I see that you waited until the last minute to turn in your application, despite the wealth of information out there that says DONT DO THAT, I will instantly think that you valued something above your application.
It may be very likely that I am wrong, and you had something insane happen to you that year that prevented you from getting it in on time. This does happen.
More likely? and more true in my experience advising pre-meds (yes I have done that) having friends who applied, and getting to know other premeds and med students stories. It often means that you were told to take your MCAT early. You didnt. You were told when to begin asking for letters of Rec (at least the spring of junior year, hopefully earlier) and you waited until october. You were told to fill out your AMCAS as early as possible, and have your transcripts submitted as early as possible. You waited until the fall. You were told to fill out secondaries within a week of receiving them, and submit them ASAP. You didnt. You received an interview invite, and didnt schedule it immediately, instead you let it sit in your inbox so you could let your mom look for the best plane ticket deal on any of the dates. she took weeks, and by the time you tried to schedule it, all the interviews were gone until the end of the season (yes this actually happened to someone).
and if you didnt know to do these things, then this must be your first time on this website. If it is this late in the season and youre just finding this out, then you should have researched more what you needed to do to be competitive.
I know that may sound harsh. but its really not. its just the game we played. I played it too, and it sucked. Its alot of silly hoops to jump through.
When you apply to medical school, you are officially competing against some of the smartest, most motivated students in the country. IT SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT if you slack on getting the basics done.
and even without them considering that you waited until january (amcas opens in june, can be sent in july, and secondaries are sent out starting in september). No matter what you have put yourself at an instant (and VERY significant) disadvantage by applying that late.
To be honest, if I was an interviewer, and I knew that you had applied that late, my first question would be "if you really want to come to medical school, why would you stack the (numerical) odds so far against yourself when you just needed to turn stuff in earlier?"
and yes, if you plan correctly, you can get all your letters in on time.
I sincerely hope you get in this cycle. I really do. Because i know many friends who applied late, but were excellent students, people, and who will make wonderful doctors. But many of them have to reapply, and they are all turning their stuff in much earlier this time. When you have the choice between awesome-but-late, and awesome-but-early, you choose awesome but early every time.
THESE ARE THE STATEMENTS OF A MEDICAL STUDENT WHO HAS BEEN STUDYING FOR AN EXAM FOR THREE DAYS STRAIGHT 12 HOURS A DAY, AND SHOULD BE TAKEN WITH A GRAIN OF SALT BECAUSE HE IS LIKELY CLINICALLY INSANE AT THIS POINT (AND HAS FOUR MORE DAYS OF STUDYING TO GO)
best of luck everyone. I hope for an acceptance fiesta for everyone in the coming days.
-AJ
to everyone still waiting!
