Too Late too Apply?

[christinehiki]

Hello SDN.....

So I recently decided to apply to medical school, but I haven't taken the MCAT yet. If I submit my application the day it opens and take MCAT on July 6th, is that too late? I'm graduating this year so I'm looking at one year off already. I feel like I would forget all my sciences and study habits if I take an extra year off.

Background info: I have a 3.66 GPA from a good university, 200 hours of volunteer clinical experience (but that was back in sophomore year), some community service and strong letters.

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[littlefurrybugs]

I'm wondering too actually if July 6th is too late for an application in this cycle. Granted, I've decided to not apply this year (because of Green Card Issues... brrrr....) and I may not even take the test anymore, I have a few friends taking it at this date, and it would be nice to relay some information to them.

 

[Praefectus]

It honestly comes down to how well you do on the MCAT and where you apply. Don't get your hopes up for a full ride to Hopkins or some other long shot school.

 

[christinehiki]

Sounds like very practical advice. Thanks!

 

[Catalystik]

So I recently decided to apply to medical school, but I haven't taken the MCAT yet. If I submit my application the day it opens and take MCAT on July 6th, is that too late?

If all your LORs are in and you prewrite your Secondary essays (from prompts found here on SDN) so that you can return all Secondaries promptly when invited to do so, there is a chance you'd be Complete at all schools by 9/1 and therefore, not "too" late.

An issue to consider is that the schools you'd apply to would be very different within a 5 point MCAT score spread, so it might be safest (and more fiscally conservative) to only apply to less-selective schools until your score returns. Once the score is known, you can add additional schools appropriate to your score (or not). Newly added schools would get the entire AMCAS file within a business day.

 

[otggwmfs]

.

 

[gravitywave]

If all your LORs are in and you prewrite your Secondary essays (from prompts found here on SDN) so that you can return all Secondaries promptly when invited to do so, there is a chance you'd be Complete at all schools by 9/1 and therefore, not "too" late.

An issue to consider is that the schools you'd apply to would be very different within a 5 point MCAT score spread, so it might be safest (and more fiscally conservative) to only apply to less-selective schools until your score returns. Once the score is known, you can add additional schools appropriate to your score (or not). Newly added schools would get the entire AMCAS file within a business day.

/thread

 

[mvenus929]

The best thing to do logistically is to fill out the application, put one school on it (usually a state school), and submit before you get your MCAT score back. That way, you can get verified and won't have to worry about which schools to apply to before you get your score back (and thus aren't wasting money if your score isn't as high as you would like). Once you get your score back, you can add whatever schools you want, and will have a fairly quick turnaround in getting secondaries sent to you. There's no reason you couldn't be complete by early August everywhere.

 

[music2doc]

No, but you do want to get things moving quickly. The following should be a bit of an eye-opener and was created using UMich data this year...

Because you're in the middle or end of the pack and they run out of interview spots and/or if you do interview, you are interviewing for fewer seats in the class.

Using U-Mich data....

So, in other words, August or earlier is best. Sept is mediocre but still reasonable. Oct/Nov is basically futile. Of course, UMich tends to have verya aggressive rolling admissions and so for some schools on the FAR other side of the spectrum (e.g., CU and OHSU), you could probably move the dates forward about 2 months....

Another thing to keep in mind, though, is that you should estimate a 4-12 week gap between when you submit your primary and secondary applications, which means you are best off submitting your primary in by mid-July and doing so any later than the end of August greatly hurts your chances.

 

[christinehiki]

An issue to consider is that the schools you'd apply to would be very different within a 5 point MCAT score spread, so it might be safest (and more fiscally conservative) to only apply to less-selective schools until your score returns. Once the score is known, you can add additional schools appropriate to your score (or not). Newly added schools would get the entire AMCAS file within a business day.

Thanks for your helpful advice. Since I'm new to the Pre-Med application process... how do I find out which schools are considered "less selective"?

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks for your helpful advice. Since I'm new to the Pre-Med application process... how do I find out which schools are considered "less selective"?

Here on SDN we commonly rank schools by their selectivity based on the Lizzy M score. Lizzy M Score is [MCAT score + (cGPA X 10)].

The work of collecting all this information from individual websites has been done for you through a collaborative effort by SDNers a year ago:

Download this google.doc spreadsheet data so you can fill in your own (projected) stats, and it will tell you for which US med schools you're competitive with various MCAT scenarios: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmKVGWwobG5GdEx2MjlBTDE0bXFXNGFZczZqYTZKb2c&hl=en_US#gid=0

If you look at the very bottom left side of the spreadsheet, you can click to bring up the sheet where all the schools are sorted by the Lizzy M score.

You'll also need to look at the in-state matriculation data before you do further research on each school for "fit," removing any from your list that take more than 85% in-state students (at least that's the cut point I use) so you're not applying to schools that are unlikely to accept you

 

[christinehiki]

Here on SDN we commonly rank schools by their selectivity based on the Lizzy M score. Lizzy M Score is [MCAT score + (cGPA X 10)].

The work of collecting all this information from individual websites has been done for you through a collaborative effort by SDNers a year ago:

Download this google.doc spreadsheet data so you can fill in your own (projected) stats, and it will tell you for which US med schools you’re competitive with various MCAT scenarios: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmKVGWwobG5GdEx2MjlBTDE0bXFXNGFZczZqYTZKb2c&hl=en_US#gid=0

If you look at the very bottom left side of the spreadsheet, you can click to bring up the sheet where all the schools are sorted by the Lizzy M score.

You'll also need to look at the in-state matriculation data before you do further research on each school for “fit,” removing any from your list that take more than 85% in-state students (at least that's the cut point I use) so you're not applying to schools that are unlikely to accept you

That is quite the spreadsheet... Once again, I appreciate your help!

 

[UrshumMurshum]

If all your LORs are in and you prewrite your Secondary essays (from prompts found here on SDN) so that you can return all Secondaries promptly when invited to do so, there is a chance you'd be Complete at all schools by 9/1 and therefore, not "too" late.

An issue to consider is that the schools you'd apply to would be very different within a 5 point MCAT score spread, so it might be safest (and more fiscally conservative) to only apply to less-selective schools until your score returns. Once the score is known, you can add additional schools appropriate to your score (or not). Newly added schools would get the entire AMCAS file within a business day.

Why September? I thought it only took about 1 month to get the MCAT graded, if they write their secondaries during their downtime they can be complete in August.

 

[music2doc]

Why September? I thought it only took about 1 month to get the MCAT graded, if they write their secondaries during their downtime they can be complete in August.

Approx. dates: 7/6 MCAT --> 8/8 scored/schools receive --> 8/15 schools begin sending secondaries (most will take a good week or more to get secondaries sent out to you) --> 8/28-9/28 return secondaries (essays and collecting other information required takes time)

 

[Catalystik]

(most will take a good week or more to get secondaries sent out to you)

and sometimes longer, especially if they prescreen, rather than sending a Secondary to every applicant.

 

[music2doc]

and sometimes longer, especially if they prescreen, rather than sending a Secondary to every applicant.

This is true. I was trying to be fairly conservative with my estimates. Some schools (ahem...Drexel) took as much as a month to get a secondary to me and I have yet to actually hear anything from them post-secondary! (Not that I would have accepted an interview invite there anyway....)

I know that in my case, having submitted my primary toward the end of June, it took 5 weeks from the date of primary submission to get my first secondary in and a total of 11 weeks to get all of my secondaries in. I was not complete at all of my schools until 4 MONTHS after my primary submission (which was after I already had two acceptances in hand)...