Application Timing Help Please!!!!!

[docalot12]

Hi,

I am trying figure out my application timing. I am taking the MCAT near the end of June. However, I wanted to apply to AMCAS as soon as it opened. My friend took the MCAT in July last year and waited until August to submit his AMCAS app. With the wait to verify, he was not complete until October at most schools. This is something I want to avoid.

Therefore, I wanted to submit my app at the beginning of June. Will schools still send me a secondary if they still see my MCAT score is pending? That way once I get my scores my application will be complete and they will be looking at me by the end of July (hopefully), instead of the end of September.

Any advice on this situation please!!!

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[sazerac]

Your friend had a poor strategy.

Yes most schools will send you a secondary without seeing your pending MCAT scores. They want the money.

 

[DrMidlife]

Disagree. You might get some secondaries after you submit, but only at the schools that auto-send secondaries (and these are the ones that get 10k+ apps). Schools won't look at your app until your MCAT score is there. You'll go in a hold pile after you submit, and then when your score comes in, more secondaries will trickle out to you (with some luck). It will not be predictable nor efficient and it will all drive you nuts if you let it.

Meanwhile if you have a rough test day and you've already submitted, that's a disaster.

I recommend not submitting until you get your score back. You don't buy yourself anything by submitting without your score. Submitting in July is not late.

Best of luck to you.

 

[docalot12]

Thank you for the replies. I guess my main concern is waiting until I get my score back and then having to wait ~8 weeks for AMCAS to verify me. Then I wouldn't be verified until late Aug, or early Sept.

What if I just submit my AMCAS, pick a few schools to submit with it that I know I would be applying to already (my state schools). That way I get verified as early as possibly. Then when I get my scores back I can see where I stand. At this point I could have AMCAS send my application to additional schools.

I guess the timing is what really bothers me. I don't want to be super late and I heard AMCAS can take up to 10 weeks sometimes depending on where they are in the cycle.

 

[DrMidlife]

Yes: do whatever AMCAS wants to get your transcripts reviewed. Then add schools when you get your score back.

I'm a few years out from my last app cycle so "submit" doesn't mean what it used to for me, sorry about that.

 

[jlescher]

Thank you for the replies. I guess my main concern is waiting until I get my score back and then having to wait ~8 weeks for AMCAS to verify me. Then I wouldn't be verified until late Aug, or early Sept.

What if I just submit my AMCAS, pick a few schools to submit with it that I know I would be applying to already (my state schools). That way I get verified as early as possibly. Then when I get my scores back I can see where I stand. At this point I could have AMCAS send my application to additional schools.

I guess the timing is what really bothers me. I don't want to be super late and I heard AMCAS can take up to 10 weeks sometimes depending on where they are in the cycle.

This is your best plan. Only submit the AMCAS to ONE school (each school costs $35). Worst case senario, you bomb the MCAT and you're only out $160+one school fee.

 

[sazerac]

I applied to 20 schools, and only one (Arizona) waited until my MCAT scores were in to send me a secondary. They had an absolute minimum of 27 though.

I guess I did apply to a lot of "national" medical schools, and I was confident my MCAT score would be suitable.

Thus, your mileage may vary.

 

[DrMidlife]

Noted. From an administrative standpoint I would assume schools are leaning away from pre-secondary screening, which requires two labor-intensive passes by volunteer physician reviewers, now that the number of apps is over 5000 on average. My school did screened secondaries when I applied, but now it gets 2000 more apps than when I applied. (Thank you recent killer match lists and increase to 50% OOS.)

Public service reminder: you can almost always find the secondary prompts on SDN, so you can be ready to submit your secondaries before you (hopefully) receive them.