I, nor any of my fellow faculty, take no part in the pre-screens my schools does. Nor do we have any say in who gets invites. That's all the realm of our wily old Admissions Dean.
Firstly, do NOT apply to a school if your stats are below their stated minimums. You'd be surprised how many applicants can't understand this simple concept, which is stated right on every school's website.
In addition, do some homework and find out what school's effective GPA numbers and MCAT scores are. Hust for example, a school might say that their minimum GPA is 3.0, but if their avg is around 3.5, don't apply if your GPA is 3.15. For MD schools I routinely advise not applying if one's GPA is 0.3-0.4 points below their median, even if it's above the floor of the 10th %ile. So don't apply to CCOM if you MCAT is a 25, because thier avg is around 30, and they can afford to be choosy.
Second, make sure everything in your app is complete.
Third, do the things schools like you do, like write a good essay, have good ECs, and have a DO LOR, or at least, shadow a DO.
Forth, having something compelling in your story. Don't be a cookie cutter. Most of you are academic clones of each other, meaning that you're all quite smart and have good numbers.
Hey goro,
Do you personally screen primary applications by chance, or is that left for others such as the computers or other admin?
if so, what are some factors that influence getting a secondary? Besides writing an app in crayon (which I am very temped to do now)
On the same note, how are secondaries ussually handled when trying to triage the 3K plus applicants?
It just amazes me how one school can get 3.5K applications and cut so many. How can we as applicants make it past that first culling?