Is it possible to suppliment primary applications?

osumc2014 said:

I want to apply for a summer research internship program, but if I received it the summer that I am applying for medical school, would I be able to add that into my application somehow after I complete the internship in August? A significant of my research experience would be coming from this.

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Send an update letter.

TheRealMD said:

Send an update letter.

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What if you already KNOW you'll be doing something (already got accepted into a program). Then can you add it to the AMCAS and just indicate that the time period is in the near future? Or should I wait a few months into the job and then send an update letter?

scarletgirl777 said:

What if you already KNOW you'll be doing something (already got accepted into a program). Then can you add it to the AMCAS and just indicate that the time period is in the near future? Or should I wait a few months into the job and then send an update letter?

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You can't add future activities on AMCAS. You'd have to send an update letter.

ADeadLois said:

You can't add future activities on AMCAS. You'd have to send an update letter.

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Darn. Thanks!

scarletgirl777 said:

Darn. Thanks!

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It's not a bad thing. Sending a substantive update letter can really boost your chances, or, at the very least, make you more noticeable.

How late in the summer do you expect to start? Could you submit the AMCAS the day after you start and still be "early"? I think that would be ideal.

My adcom does not look at the file every time an up-date comes in. I've never been asked to give an applicant a second look due to an up-date although we do take into consideration up-dates added to the file on interview day (but in a perfunctory manner). If you are hoping that this summer program will give you a leg up on getting an interview then you must include in on the AMCAS!

When you do mail in a letter, are they good about putting it in your file promptly?

bozz said:

When you do mail in a letter, are they good about putting it in your file promptly?

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Who knows? Some schools are dealing with thousands of applications. Some schools are "all electronic" so a piece of paper mailed to them has to be digitized and added to your electronic file. How long it takes to do that is anyone's guess. For schools with paper records, the file room looks like the medical records storage for a busy physician's office. How long it takes to get something into a file depends on the work load and the work ethic of the employees.

i can't speak for every school, but 3-4 weeks after i sent an update letter to schools in december i ended up getting 4 more interviews. each one updated the schools about what i'd been up to and i was able to effectively tell them why i wanted to go to their school - sort of like the secondary question each school didn't ask: "why do you want to come to our school?" i can't think it's coincidence. i won't think it's coincidence. and i can't think it's coincidence.
sure, they're 4 late-ish interviews but i'm happy about each one of them. and i plan to look sexy at each one.

LizzyM said:

How late in the summer do you expect to start? Could you submit the AMCAS the day after you start and still be "early"? I think that would be ideal.

My adcom does not look at the file every time an up-date comes in. I've never been asked to give an applicant a second look due to an up-date although we do take into consideration up-dates added to the file on interview day (but in a perfunctory manner). If you are hoping that this summer program will give you a leg up on getting an interview then you must include in on the AMCAS!

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I'm starting in July. The problem is that my school's premed committee requires that I send in my AMCAS by July 1. Also, it is not a summer program, it is a year long job, so I can't really wait for it to be over I've already sent in my signed contract and everything, so it's absolutely going to happen, and it's very relevant.

scarletgirl777 said:

I'm starting in July. The problem is that my school's premed committee requires that I send in my AMCAS by July 1. Also, it is not a summer program, it is a year long job, so I can't really wait for it to be over I've already sent in my signed contract and everything, so it's absolutely going to happen, and it's very relevant.

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They require that? That's nuts. You'd be in much better shape applying the day after the program starts so that you can write 07/08-present for "date". Tell them I said so.

osumc2014, just put it on your original AMCAS.

I had a very similar situation this past summer. I submitted my AMCAS application 1 week after starting a summer research position. On the AMCAS you get 250 words per activity, so I explicitly said that I was just starting a research project, with such and such program studying X, Y, and Z and explained why I was interested in that subject matter. Again, I made it clear that I was just starting the research. It actually made a fantastic talking point during interviews because everyone was like, "I see you were just starting research in bioinformatics when you submitted your application, can you tell me what you ended up finding?" Of course, be careful, because if it turns out that you have an awful summer experience they are going to ask you and you are going to have to say you left your internship half-way through or whatnot, but if you are confident you will stick it out I would say write it on the primary.