Late committee letter

[Datypicalpremed]

I recall in a previous post that for the previous application cycle, the earliest MD/PhD interview dates were in late August with the bulk being in October-November. But is late August when MD/PhD adcoms start reviewing complete applications?

My school won't be sending out the committee letter until late August (Sept 1st being the latest date for a committee letter being sent out). Granted, they "may" send out the letters earlier like in mid-August (maybe if I keep bugging them about it...), but this is not guaranteed. I am a recent grad, so submitting without a committee letter could be a red flag and make secondaries slightly harder...

So given this information, do you all think its better to submit individual committee letters and get the complete application in by late July/Early August or should I submit with a committee letter and get a complete application in up to a month later?

Thanks!

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[Reckoner]

Maybe a PD can chime in on if this is a good enough reason. (Fencer, Fencer, Fencer!)

@Fencer works better

 

[Fencer]

Every school admissions committee has a different way of looking at applications. In general, most schools hold back applications from full review/decisions until the LORs have been received. If you wait until it gets to AMCAS, you will be delayed considerably as they will be taking about 6 weeks by then. My advice is to submit earlier than mid-July. Submissions after September will take until mid-October or later to get to the screening of programs, which might ask you for secondaries (1-2 additional weeks), by then, the competition for interview slots is greater than earlier in the season.

 

[Datypicalpremed]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

@Fencer
From what I've been told, the committee letter is separate from the primary and secondary applications. So assuming adcoms know that a committee letter is coming (indicated on AMCAS), they still send secondaries after verification of the primary. After receiving the secondary, they will hold off on a full review until my LORs have arrived. Is this the general procedure, or has my pre-health advisor been wrong the entire time?

My current plan is to submit my primary application ASAP (i.e. early June), wait 2-4 weeks for verification, hopefully receive secondaries shortly, and submit the secondaries in July. By then, its just a matter of waiting for my letter. Does this seem like a solid plan, or should I just submit my letters individually?

Also, once committee letters are submitted, do they need to go through the long process of verification? I've heard people saying that just days after their letters were submitted, they received interview requests.