When is amcas primary 'submitted'

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I am taking an August MCAT. I know it's late but I also know I need that time to prepare completely. I have a solid gpa and ECs so I believe my mcat score will be a huge factor. I want to become an applicant for 2013 cycle after I know my MCAT score (which won't be until first week of september). So my question is when is the primary considered complete? If I go ahead and do the transcript verification now and then do not physically enter personal statement, work/activities on amcas...will I still able to withdraw my application (and I won't even assign any medical schools either). Basically, I will turn in everything as soon as I receive my MCAT (if I'm satisfied with my score) and don't want to be a reapplicant if my mcat score isn't satisfactory..does this make sense?
 
You have to submit your application to at least one school in order to get into the verification queue. I suppose you could do that, wait until your MCAT score comes back, and then add schools if you're happy with your score, but that seems a little silly. Keep in mind you would still have to complete secondaries at that time. If you can stay on top of things it might work out, otherwise you're just damning yourself to an unsuccessful cycle by applying so late (unless you're an exceptionally strong applicant).
 
You're shooting yourself in the foot if you wait until you receive your scores back in September to even submit your primary. The verification process can take 4-6 weeks, although perhaps a bit less that late in the cycle. Once you're verified, you'll receive most of the secondaries. If you've pre-written them, great - you can be complete by the end of September or early October (theoretically). Otherwise, you're looking at another 2-4 weeks to write all of your essays. Unless you're a very strong applicant with stellar scores, this will really put you behind in the cycle, especially with rolling admissions schools.

If you're hell-bent on applying this upcoming cycle, then you'd be better off submitting your primary application to one school prior to taking your MCAT. Then, you'd be verified and ready to go as soon as you receive your MCAT scores. You can add more schools once you figure out where you're competitive (again - get your secondaries in ASAP!)

Honestly, you should be able to guesstimate your MCAT score based on your practice tests. If you're averaging in the 30s, then you should score well on the real thing, and you should choose to submit your primary early. Otherwise, consider delaying a year to get everything in order. A friend of mine ended up being complete in October, and it really hurt his cycle. He had a strong application, but he only ended up with March interviews (which mostly turned into wait-lists).
 
I am similar to you OP. I plan to have my primary submitted within the next 2 weeks. I am taking the MCAT on Aug. 4. I am only applying to my 2 state schools when I submit my primary. If I my MCAT turns out well, then I'll add more schools. I know my app will be late, but I wanted to at least try for my state schools this cycle, and I wanted to have plenty of time to prepare for the MCAT. I only want to take it once.
 
Remember that if you have an unsuccessful cycle, you will be a reapplicant next cycle at each school you apply to. Some schools look at this differently...just something to think about
 
Thanks for your comments guys..they're helpful as always.
Okay I'm guessing from the responses that in order to even be verified (transcript verification) I need to have at least one medical school's name right? So, does this mean that as soon as I get verified I became an applicant to that school even though I dind't turn in any essays/work activities etc.? So if I withdraw my application after transcript verification, do I have to check next cycle that I was an applicant this year? My confusion is only about whether I'm an applicant if I don't turn in my full amcas application or not..

My plan was this:
Get transcript verification done NOW (like sending amcas the transcripts and stuff by this week) and then wait until MCAT score to decide if my score is satisfactory enough. Based on that, I wanted to have the option of filling it everything (I'll have everything ready by then of course) and I'll finish secondaries in the month of august as I'm waiting for mcat score.

But penguinism: you are right..I should be able to predict my mcat score based on my practice averages…and I totally didn't think of that..so thanks for the heads up. My weird planning also I guess indicates that I can't decide if I really want to take a gap yea or not haha.
 
Innovative said:
Thanks for your comments guys..they're helpful as always.
Okay I'm guessing from the responses that in order to even be verified (transcript verification) I need to have at least one medical school's name right? So, does this mean that as soon as I get verified I became an applicant to that school even though I dind't turn in any essays/work activities etc.? So if I withdraw my application after transcript verification, do I have to check next cycle that I was an applicant this year? My confusion is only about whether I'm an applicant if I don't turn in my full amcas application or not..

My plan was this:
Get transcript verification done NOW (like sending amcas the transcripts and stuff by this week) and then wait until MCAT score to decide if my score is satisfactory enough. Based on that, I wanted to have the option of filling it everything (I'll have everything ready by then of course) and I'll finish secondaries in the month of august as I'm waiting for mcat score.

But penguinism: you are right..I should be able to predict my mcat score based on my practice averages…and I totally didn't think of that..so thanks for the heads up. My weird planning also I guess indicates that I can't decide if I really want to take a gap yea or not haha.
Click to expand...
why would you submit your amcas with no personal statement or work/activities entered? have you ever even looked at the amcas instruction manual? you have to have at least 1 character in your PS in order for it to let you submit so you can't technically submit it with nothing in there. i think you are really not understanding this process. are you just waiting to see your mcat score before you decide to apply?
 
1289 said:
why would you submit your amcas with no personal statement or work/activities entered? have you ever even looked at the amcas instruction manual? you have to have at least 1 character in your PS in order for it to let you submit so you can't technically submit it with nothing in there. i think you are really not understanding this process. are you just waiting to see your mcat score before you decide to apply?
Click to expand...

Also, once you "submit" you can't change anything, so unless you want your app sent to schools with nothing in it, you have to have everything done and ready. OP I also think you don't get what submitting actually entails. You can send your transcripts and stuff to AMCAS, but they won't do any "verifying" until you submit your app. However, you can submit in August after you take your MCAT if you want to see how you feel, and your app will be verified/ready by the time your MCAT score comes back. Do know though, that if you submit your app for verification you will be considered a reapplicant next year if you don't get in, even if you don't submit your secondaries.
 
well my whole point was not to submit lol..anyway now I understand..I was totally under the wrong impression. I thought transcript verification only entails completing the coursework section and sending amcas my transcripts..i didn't know I've to complete rest of the sections (except LORs)..
 
Innovative said:
well my whole point was not to submit lol..anyway now I understand..I was totally under the wrong impression. I thought transcript verification only entails completing the coursework section and sending amcas my transcripts..i didn't know I've to complete rest of the sections (except LORs)..
Click to expand...

The "verifying" part of it is when the AMCAS people go through your transcript and check it against what you have entered into the coursework section. You can only start that process if you have completed the whole application (because, like I said, you can't change things after you submit it for verification). It usually takes about a 3 weeks-month for your application to be verified. After it is verified, you can send it out to schools.
 
penguinism said:
You're shooting yourself in the foot if you wait until you receive your scores back in September to even submit your primary. The verification process can take 4-6 weeks, although perhaps a bit less that late in the cycle. Once you're verified, you'll receive most of the secondaries. If you've pre-written them, great - you can be complete by the end of September or early October (theoretically). Otherwise, you're looking at another 2-4 weeks to write all of your essays. Unless you're a very strong applicant with stellar scores, this will really put you behind in the cycle, especially with rolling admissions schools.

If you're hell-bent on applying this upcoming cycle, then you'd be better off submitting your primary application to one school prior to taking your MCAT. Then, you'd be verified and ready to go as soon as you receive your MCAT scores. You can add more schools once you figure out where you're competitive (again - get your secondaries in ASAP!)

Honestly, you should be able to guesstimate your MCAT score based on your practice tests. If you're averaging in the 30s, then you should score well on the real thing, and you should choose to submit your primary early. Otherwise, consider delaying a year to get everything in order. A friend of mine ended up being complete in October, and it really hurt his cycle. He had a strong application, but he only ended up with March interviews (which mostly turned into wait-lists).
Click to expand...

So, say you have you take your MCAT in August, and your score turns out well + you've done your secondaries and send them in after your MCAT is released.. Is that considered good? Or are you still late?
 
ilovemedi said:
So, say you have you take your MCAT in August, and your score turns out well + you've done your secondaries and send them in after your MCAT is released.. Is that considered good? Or are you still late?
Click to expand...

I would consider that late - not super late, but pushing it to some extent. Your application wouldn't be reviewed until September assuming you did actually get everything done before your score comes in. If that's the situation you're in then make the best of it, but I'd recommend moving the date back if you can/feel comfortable doing so. If you're complete sometime in August you'll definitely be fine IMO.

In the end, don't worry about it too much. These distinctions are obviously very fuzzy and you have to do the best with your situation.
 
ilovemedi said:
So, say you have you take your MCAT in August, and your score turns out well + you've done your secondaries and send them in after your MCAT is released.. Is that considered good? Or are you still late?
Click to expand...

So, you'll figure your score out sometime in September. You then send off your scores. Most schools won't give you a secondary until you submit your MCAT score. You'll get secondaries, maybe immediately after submitting your MCAT. Then you have to do the secondaries. You might not get your first secondary turned in until late september. Many interview invites are being sent out about this time for october.

I think taking the MCAT in august is de facto going to make you "late". It doesn't kill your chances but will likely hurt you to at least a minor extent.
 
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