Procrastinators Anonymous?

it's true, the saying goes "the early bird catches the worm," but sometiems ive noticed that when you schedule flights early to snag a low price, there's a special sale the wk before your trip with an even BETTER price that you could have had . . . so while some schools might not have enough interview slots left for late-apps, some will, and for them, your app will be the BETTER choice,

and in terms of juggling w/school, if you ahve options, mon or fri interviews might be nice so you can do most of the traveling over the weekend and just bring books on the rd. i guess it's wont always be so easy, but it'll be really exciting to be interviewing - - just think, a yr from now youll hopefully be at one of those schools, and now that your apps are in, your future is already rolling (towards good things)! good luck!

Not to heap coals upon your head, but this is one of my pet peeves. Our program typically receives 25% of of its applications within 2 weeks of the application deadline. It takes several weeks to get all the supporting material (letters of recommendation) and evaluate the applications, so that by the time we are ready to make a decision about an interview, there are just a handful of interview slots available (something like 1 interview slot for every 12 applications). Every year we have to reject without an interview strong applicants because they waited until the deadline to apply, and there were not enough interview spots left to accommodate them. If they had applied earlier in the season, they would have certainly been offered an interview. Our application period runs for 22 weeks, and the people who wait until week 21 to apply significantly reducing their chances of getting an interview.

MD-PhD applicants need to understand that the year they apply will probably be the busiest year of their lives. They will need to set aside 2 days for each of their interviews (to accommodate travel), and probably devote another day to learning about the school and boning up on faculty interviews. This is all on top of doing coursework to complete you bachelors degree requirements and working in a lab. MD-PhD applicants should start the process early, when they may have more flexibility, rather than squeezing it in at the later in the semester when they are very busy.

Good luck with your interviews.

Neuronix said:

👍 More solid advice from Maebea. Even for those programs that are non-rolling like Penn you are putting significant strain on the office staff by being right under the deadline. Further, interview days still fill up as applications roll in, and you're less likely to be invited to interview if you apply late.

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it's true, and that's good advice for next yr's applicants, but it's also good to realize that circumstances arent always ideal. for those who narrowly made deadlines, they did what they could, and there's no use lamenting the odds bc there's no rewinding. and that's true for mcat scores, gpas, and other app factors, too - - once youve applied, the ball is rolling as youve tossed it. probably it couldve been better but for all the weakness, there's big stength, too and you can be confident in that . . . even if every rejection hits your box, bc even then, you can just flip those papers over and use them to draft your apps for next yr, recylcin, savin trees to save lives . . . . hopefully one day as an md/phd (if that's what you want to do)

mudphudwannabe said:

*Thank you!* It is definitely good advice to apply early, and I will probably pay for applying late in one way another..whether it's having trouble scheduling interviews, having fewer schools to choose from (possibly not any...?). But, as stillsmilin said, what's done is done. Really, November/December hasn't been much busier than earlier in the fall or summer as I worked full time in the summer, took a summer class and went to a summer program in biostats for 6 weeks. But I'm sure everyone has a similar story.. Well, onward and upward! One 5-page and one 7-page paper due at 9:45 tomorrow morning. Eep. 😱 Thanks for the advice..I hope any pre-MD/PhD hopefuls out there can learn from my mistakes!

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Best of luck, mudphudwannabe! True that it's good to apply early, but all is definitely not lost if you're not able to do that. As someone who procrastinated and applied a week before the October deadline last year and got into my top choice schools, I can tell you that it is possible to apply late and still have things work out exactly how you want them to. I didn't even start interviewing until mid-January. Also, I didn't have any trouble scheduling interviews because I applied late. If I could do it over, I would have probably taken the less risky route and applied earlier, but it all worked out fine & I hope the same happens for you 🙂 What's done is done. Focus on preparing for upcoming interviews & enjoying the holidays!