2007-2008 Cycle: If you're worried about getting in - here's what to do

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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juleswinfield

juleswinfield

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If you are new to this site and you're wondering how to get in...follow my advice and you'll get a slight leg up on your competition.

There are some application basics that you can take care of ahead of time...

Visit the AAMC website to check out the AMCAS application and then buya copy of the MSAR. The AMCAS is the same every year so log in and see what it looks like. Just don't submit it. The MSAR lists every US and Canadian med school and the average stats for the incoming class from two year's previous. It can help you narrow your choices.

http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/start.htm

Rate yourself against other applicants based on age, gpa, mcat, undergrad and medschool and anything else you can think of here:

www.mdapplicants.com

Write your AMCAS personal statement... NOW
Arrange your letters of recommendation... NOW
Figure out how/where to get a copy of your transcript sent to AMCAS... NOW

Look at the med schools you like and see what kind of letters of recommendation they require. Some schools differentiate between a Letter of Recommendation (LOR) from your school's Pre-Med COMMITTEE vs your Pre-Med ADVISER. Some schools have both, some only one. Make sure you know. If you have only a pre-med adviser, arrange for additional LORs from science faculty and other faculty. This one cost me dearly as I only realized it after it had paid the primary application fee at a couple of schools.

And the #1 piece of advice I can give is:

Application deadlines are for suckers. Even Jesus himself would be hard pressed to get into med school if he submitted the night before the deadline.

Submit your AMCAS as close to June 1 as you can, especially if your MCAT or GPA is low. Get your transcripts in and your LORs arranged early too. The earlier you get your stuff, the better shot your stuff has at getting read by and admissions counselor before they've seen 1000 other essays about dead grandmothers and saving babies in Africa. FYI - they read these things in the order they're marked complete so get in early if you want to get read first.

Good luck.
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Blah blah blah....

Ignore all of the above and nail the MCAT (34+). I took the August MCAT and submitted most of my secondaries in October and was offered 9 interviews and had an acceptance by December.

Yes, getting your application in early is important, but if you are a stellar applicant it doesn't matter as much as the above poster would want you to think.
 
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Please make this a sticky. I have worked in admissions for my school and in my relatively informed opinion, I think earlier submission can help. Although, as mentioned above, if you are a stellar applicant you're not the typical candidate and have more room for flexibility.
 
Hey, this helped me a lot. GET YOUR LETTERS TOGETHER EARLY. make sure you have enough to cover all the schools you apply to:
 

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and yet most people have an average mcat score....i know, quite interesting. Seeing as most people who would be worried would be the "average" applicant or worse, or even those a little above (notice: average, duh), then the OP's advice is excellent. Or, yea, just go get a 34+, whatever floats your boat.

TheAmazingGOB said:
Blah blah blah....

Ignore all of the above and nail the MCAT (34+). I took the August MCAT and submitted most of my secondaries in October and was offered 9 interviews and had an acceptance by December.

Yes, getting your application in early is important, but if you are a stellar applicant it doesn't matter as much as the above poster would want you to think.
Click to expand...
 
fugazism said:
Hey, this helped me a lot. GET YOUR LETTERS TOGETHER EARLY. make sure you have enough to cover all the schools you apply to:
Click to expand...

What a great resource! Thanks from a future applicant :D
 
fugazism said:
Hey, this helped me a lot. GET YOUR LETTERS TOGETHER EARLY. make sure you have enough to cover all the schools you apply to:
Click to expand...
Thanks for this! A question - would a letter from a statistics professor count as science? (Stats is crosslisted as Psych/Stats at my university.) I know that for AMCAS' BCPM GPA, stats would be considered "science", but what about for letters of recommendation?
 
silverlining1 said:
A question - would a letter from a statistics professor count as science? (Stats is crosslisted as Psych/Stats at my university.)
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Maybe at some places, but many, no. Lots of schools I applied to specified that two LORs had to be from Bio or Phys or Chem. If a school just requests "science" you might get away with it, but I'd really avoid it.
 
One nice thing about getting everything in early: I interviewed in September and early October, found out I was accepted to all 5 of those schools by mid October, and then canceled the rest of my interviews. So basically, I could relax after that and stop spending money on interviews. Knowing that you have somewhere to go next year so early on is a great feeling.
 
TheAmazingGOB said:
Blah blah blah....

Ignore all of the above and nail the MCAT (34+). I took the August MCAT and submitted most of my secondaries in October and was offered 9 interviews and had an acceptance by December.

Yes, getting your application in early is important, but if you are a stellar applicant it doesn't matter as much as the above poster would want you to think.
Click to expand...

This person's AMCAS was probably already received and verified by AMCAS, on top of having a high GPA. So all schools were waiting for was the MCAT scores; since they were high it was a no brainer for them. Those on the bubble, take heed to submitting early! It's not absolute necessity but can only help.
 
Erina said:
One nice thing about getting everything in early: I interviewed in September and early October, found out I was accepted to all 5 of those schools by mid October, and then canceled the rest of my interviews. So basically, I could relax after that and stop spending money on interviews. Knowing that you have somewhere to go next year so early on is a great feeling.
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The earlier you find out any decision, the more you can save money!!!

ONE MORE PIECE OF ADVICE

After getting your AMCAS verified and receiving secondaries, DO NOT SIT ON THE SECONDARIES. As much as it is painful to write, write, and write some more, schools still read this stuff(varying concentration). PLUS, your file won't be reviewed till your secondaries are complete. So get everything done that you can asap....then the real torture comes = waiting for interviews/decisions. :cool:
 
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Hey Mr Amazing. I got 10 interviews. Not really, but at least I'm not an arrogant pr*ck. Stop trying to defy good advice.
 
notdeadyet said:
Maybe at some places, but many, no. Lots of schools I applied to specified that two LORs had to be from Bio or Phys or Chem. If a school just requests "science" you might get away with it, but I'd really avoid it.
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Thanks, and that's a good thing - I'm lacking a non-science rec!
 
TheAmazingGOB said:
Blah blah blah....

Ignore all of the above and nail the MCAT (34+). I took the August MCAT and submitted most of my secondaries in October and was offered 9 interviews and had an acceptance by December.

Yes, getting your application in early is important, but if you are a stellar applicant it doesn't matter as much as the above poster would want you to think.
Click to expand...

Heh. I used to think that. I was pretty cocky about my MCAT score and GPA. I also thought I was sooo busy that I didn't have time to submit my secondaries until right up to the deadline. Then I started getting all these rejection letters from schools where I "should" have gotten into, and trust me, that's not fun.

LESSON: SUBMIT YOUR SECONDARIES AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE NO MATTER WHAT YOUR MCAT SCORES! (well...I guess if you got a 45....)
 
um... I guess I would say that submitting late is not necessarily going to screw an applicant over.

Is it best to submit early? Of course. Is it impossible to get in with a late submission? Of course not.

Just for referance I took the August MCAT and submitted many secondaries in mid November... 5 acceptances (10 interviews)... all of the acceptances from schools I submitted to after Nov 20!
 
wow all this is great info. All this info being said, would an applicant (me) be at a disadvantage by taking the mcat on may 30th.Results come back about a month after. I will submit my amcas in june. thanks for any honest advice. best of luck!
 
Would the pre-health committee letter of rec count as a science or non-science faculty letter?
 
BoxtaDoc said:
Would the pre-health committee letter of rec count as a science or non-science faculty letter?
Click to expand...
usually the pre-health committee asks for letters from your science professors.
All the med schools prefer the composite letter from pre-health advisors.
 
moto_za said:
wow all this is great info. All this info being said, would an applicant (me) be at a disadvantage by taking the mcat on may 30th.Results come back about a month after. I will submit my amcas in june. thanks for any honest advice. best of luck!
Click to expand...
get everything done before your mcat scores come out. If it's 30 days, you'll get them late june. The day you get your scores, you'll have to click submit. You'll still be pretty early though.
 
TheAmazingGOB said:
Blah blah blah....

Ignore all of the above and nail the MCAT (34+). I took the August MCAT and submitted most of my secondaries in October and was offered 9 interviews and had an acceptance by December.

Yes, getting your application in early is important, but if you are a stellar applicant it doesn't matter as much as the above poster would want you to think.
Click to expand...

Eh... my buddy with a 33 on the MCAT just got rejected from every medical school he applied to. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who will say that a 33 isn't a very good score.

He also had a 3.9 from a UC.

Why did he get rejected everywhere? He sent his application in in October.

Send your application in ASAP children. Believe me, it is important, and will cut down on interview expenses when you get accepted early in the game. For example, I was accepted in early November to a school of my choice, and I just cancelled my whole East-Coast trip.
 
The OP gives great advice I would just add - pick your schools wisely!
 
QUESTION!!!

So when you send in LOR's to school's, do you send them into AMCAS first and then AMCAS sends them to all the schools you sent primaries too?

Also... If I am taking the May 11th MCAT... how can I submit my Application June 1st, if I don't get my scores back till June 11th?

I want to be as early as possible, because I've seen a few quallified people get turned down a lot if they applied late.

EDIT: 1 more thing I forgot; I took a bunch of Community College classes during my Junior and Senior year of High School, does AMCAS want me to send in those Transcripts and Include those grades also? Even though it was during High School?
 
viciouz said:
QUESTION!!!

So when you send in LOR's to school's, do you send them into AMCAS first and then AMCAS sends them to all the schools you sent primaries too?

Also... If I am taking the May 11th MCAT... how can I submit my Application June 1st, if I don't get my scores back till June 11th?

I want to be as early as possible, because I've seen a few quallified people get turned down a lot if they applied late.

EDIT: 1 more thing I forgot; I took a bunch of Community College classes during my Junior and Senior year of High School, does AMCAS want me to send in those Transcripts and Include those grades also? Even though it was during High School?
Click to expand...

1. AMCAS doesn't want your LOR's. Use a LOR distributing service like Interfolio to send your LOR's to med schools. Only send LOR's to schools you receive secondaries from. This means your LOR's are distributed later than your primary.

2. Submit your transcripts and primary to AMCAS just as anyone would so that you can be verified. That process doesn't require your MCAT score. Once your MCAT score comes in, just update schools with your score and you'll be all set.

3. Yes, AMCAS wants your grades from all of your college courses even if you took them during high school.
 
Thanks, I did forget to mention the Interfolio site:

http://www.interfolio.com/

You can have your LOR writers write letters for you and then the writer sends them into this service. That way they stay confidential - i.e. you haven't seen them - while you are able to send each letter to as many schools as possible. Also, Interfolio has a deal with some schools that allows electronic transfer in one day or less so you can be sure that the school gets them by the deadline.

This would be a very good place to send your Pre Med Committee LOR so that you can send it when you want/need to.

And for the question on Committee vs. Science faculty, each med school is different. Take Pitt for this year. They would accept 1) the Pre Med Committee letter OR 2) a Pre Med Adviser letter AND two science faculty letters. So it all depends. University of Maryland made no distinction between the Pre Med Committee and Adviser letters.

And as for submitting AMCAS on June 1 while awaiting your April MCAT score... here's what I did since I was nervous and didn't want to waste my $$$ if my score stunk. I filled everything out on AMCAS as soon as I could - schools, transcripts, personal statements, etc except for the MCAT portion. Then when the MCAT scores were posted @ 12:01 am on June 20th, I could click the SUBMIT button with confidence.
 
scgroat said:
Hey Mr Amazing. I got 10 interviews. Not really, but at least I'm not an arrogant pr*ck. Stop trying to defy good advice.
Click to expand...

Who's being arrogant? Yeah, it's really important to get your stuff in early, but it's not the death blow everyone makes it out to be if you don't. I was merely trying to express that if you don't submit your AMCAS on June 1 at 12:01AM you still have a chance. I only mentioned I'd received several interviews as concrete evidence.
 
APPLY EARLY, for sure. But also, exercise all of your connections. And make connections where none exist. I got my interview at my top choice med school based on a connection I facilitated, and then at the interview I was able to show them why I was a good fit with their med school. Accepted...and I probably wouldn't even have been interviewed if I hadn't taken the initiative.
 
SpiresAAC said:
APPLY EARLY, for sure. But also, exercise all of your connections. And make connections where none exist. I got my interview at my top choice med school based on a connection I facilitated, and then at the interview I was able to show them why I was a good fit with their med school. Accepted...and I probably wouldn't even have been interviewed if I hadn't taken the initiative.
Click to expand...


What did you do exactly?
 
Mr Amazing, this thread was initiated in order to give advice. Telling someone to nail the MCAT, while it is good advice, is not what the thread is trying to address, especially since everyone WANTS to nail the MCAT. Also, you all but call yourself a stellar applicant. In my book, that's the epitome of arrogance. Perhaps it would have come across a little better if you had left out the blas. Nonetheless, your competitive attitude will probably give you a leg up in medical school. I wish you the best, but just be aware of how your words can be construed.
 
scgroat said:
Mr Amazing, this thread was initiated in order to give advice. Telling someone to nail the MCAT, while it is good advice, is not what the thread is trying to address, especially since everyone WANTS to nail the MCAT. Also, you all but call yourself a stellar applicant. In my book, that's the epitome of arrogance. Perhaps it would have come across a little better if you had left out the blas. Nonetheless, your competitive attitude will probably give you a leg up in medical school. I wish you the best, but just be aware of how your words can be construed.
Click to expand...

Or misconstrued. Just so you know, I am a reapplicant. I followed the OPs advice and applied early with a subpar MCAT score (high 20s) and got 1 interview from my instate school. I retook the MCAT in August (of the next cycle) and reapplied to some of the same schools and others. My application was essentially the same with a much better MCAT score (note: it wasn't 34+) and I completed secondaries near the end of October. So I was a later applicant and I'm grateful for the success I've had this year.

People need to understand that a good MCAT score is essential to success. You can get your application in early, but without a good score you may still get the short end of the stick. I learned that the hard and expensive way.

I don't believe I called myself a stellar applicant, I just said if someone is a stellar applicant schools will recognize that. Nonetheless your name-calling attitude and ability to put words in other people's mouths will make you a fine politician. Good luck with that.

PS: TheAmazingGOB avatar is based on a character on Arrested Development (my favorite TV show) who is a goofy magician/ventriloquist. Hilarious. Has nothing to do with my opinion of myself.
 
viciouz said:
What did you do exactly?
Click to expand...

I got a job at the med school where I was interested in going, and I sought out someone in my department who had a lot of clout at the school. I talked with him about my background and experiences and my desire to go to the med school, and I asked for his advice. He put a call in to his friends in admissions, and the next day I had an interview (this was back in October).
 
Is it okay to send in your apps without your MCAT scores??? I am planning on taking my MCATs on May 31st and my scores won't be back until July 3rd. Should I wait until July and send my apps all at once. Or should I send my apps on June 1st wtihout my MCAT scores? I am an average student(3.7 gpa) and probably get an average MCAT score (maybe 30). Will one month make a big difference??

Please help! I am soo stressed out about what to do.
 
luckyn07 said:
Is it okay to send in your apps without your MCAT scores??? I am planning on taking my MCATs on May 31st and my scores won't be back until July 3rd. Should I wait until July and send my apps all at once. Or should I send my apps on June 1st wtihout my MCAT scores? I am an average student(3.7 gpa) and probably get an average MCAT score (maybe 30). Will one month make a big difference??

Please help! I am soo stressed out about what to do.
Click to expand...

First off, I hate you for calling a 3.7 "average."

Secondly, if you are CONFIDENT that you can crack 30, you can submit AMCAS without your MCAT scores and then the scores will either get forwarded automatically or you forward them or some crap like that. If you submit everything in July, it won't make a big diff either. In fact, if you are going back and forth between 20's and 30's, I'd wait for the scores to come out then submit.
 
You are going to apply regardless, aren't you? There is absolutely no reason to wait on your MCAT score. Sure, you'd like the peace of mind that you did well, but your score won't change if you wait. In addition, you're obligated to be forthcoming with all of your scores. Do NOT wait.
 
luckyn07 said:
Is it okay to send in your apps without your MCAT scores??? I am planning on taking my MCATs on May 31st and my scores won't be back until July 3rd. Should I wait until July and send my apps all at once. Or should I send my apps on June 1st wtihout my MCAT scores? I am an average student(3.7 gpa) and probably get an average MCAT score (maybe 30). Will one month make a big difference??

Please help! I am soo stressed out about what to do.
Click to expand...

Either way, your application will still be in relatively early if you submit July 3rd. The AMCAS application can be nasty to fill out with all the activities and the personal statement, so if I were you I'd focus on studying for the May 31st MCAT (think maybe 35, that test is partially psychological) and really hit the AMCAS hard after that. Whatever you do, don't sacrifice a good personal statement for getting the application in early. If you need to wait a week to have a writing professor look it over, do so.

There are pros and cons to both, but if you do wait until you know your score, you can choose schools accordingly. For instance, if your score is in the low 30s, you probably want to apply to a wide range of schools from third tier to top ten. If you have a mid to high 30s, then you can apply to more prestigious schools. If you are in the high 20s, sorry but you should retake. I learned that the hard way.
 
thanx for all the advice~
 
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