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hansen44

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So I was wondering, for those of you have been accepted or interviewed (could you clarify in your response please) to Medical School when did you have your secondaries finished by? Early, Mid, Late July? Early, Mid, Late August?

I would really appreciate your responses, I am nervous because I am taking the MCAT June 18th and I probably wont have all my secondaries (20 of them) done until late August. I would like to have the applications done as soon as possible since its rolling admission. If you don't mind could you tell me your MCAT and GPA so I can compare my chances to yours. I am hoping that alot of you guys submitted your secondaries this "late" (for various reasons, procrastinating, took late MCAT etc) and where accepted, it will give me hope. Lol. Thanks
 
You will be fine. I took the MCAT July 11th and was complete at all my schools by late August. You can get your primary in ASAP and fill out most secondaries without your MCAT score. Schools that screen will wait until your MCAT comes out before they offer you a secondary but it is only a month's delay (which is not much at all). In fact, I completed all my interviews by November and had an October 15th acceptance. Good luck!
 
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Took the cat on June 13th last year. AMCAS was in a month later. I completed secondaries as they arrived within 1-2 weeks of receiving them. I shouldn't have waited that long to submit AMCAS, but meh, it worked out.

Check my MDapps for stats, etc.
 
So I was wondering, for those of you have been accepted or interviewed (could you clarify in your response please) to Medical School when did you have your secondaries finished by? Early, Mid, Late July? Early, Mid, Late August?

I would really appreciate your responses, I am nervous because I am taking the MCAT June 18th and I probably wont have all my secondaries (20 of them) done until late August. I would like to have the applications done as soon as possible since its rolling admission. If you don't mind could you tell me your MCAT and GPA so I can compare my chances to yours. I am hoping that alot of you guys submitted your secondaries this "late" (for various reasons, procrastinating, took late MCAT etc) and where accepted, it will give me hope. Lol. Thanks

I was complete on 9/17 or there about at most schools.

Took the august 22nd mcat.


I think the rule shouldn't be "apply EARLY," it should be, "DON'T apply LATE!" (like after mid october.)

edit: Oh, one other thing... I think you are overestimating the time it will take you to do secondaries. The ones that don't have essays (nearly all of mine) can be done in less than an hour. So sit down right after the mcats and you will probably have all your secondaries without essays done by june 25th. Your MCAT score report will most likely be the thing that delays your applications from being complete, not your secondaries.
 
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I took the MCAT on June 18th. Had my AMCAS Submitted by July 4th. (Pre-med advisor's mantra...if you don't get it in before July 4th...no fireworks for you) Got my secondaries in within a week or two of when I got them. The ones without essays should be done immediately as was previously stated. I also got accepted on October 15th. It was by my state school so they give preference but still got accepted. All that matters.

Note: I would get your AMCAS done AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! It will ensure you to get earlier interviews or an interview at all at some places. It takes at least 1.5 months for the AMCAS to be verified anyway, regardless of when you take the MCAT.
 
So I was wondering, for those of you have been accepted or interviewed (could you clarify in your response please) to Medical School when did you have your secondaries finished by? Early, Mid, Late July? Early, Mid, Late August?

I would really appreciate your responses, I am nervous because I am taking the MCAT June 18th and I probably wont have all my secondaries (20 of them) done until late August. I would like to have the applications done as soon as possible since its rolling admission. If you don't mind could you tell me your MCAT and GPA so I can compare my chances to yours. I am hoping that alot of you guys submitted your secondaries this "late" (for various reasons, procrastinating, took late MCAT etc) and where accepted, it will give me hope. Lol. Thanks

There's always an exception to the rule. I originally wasnt planning to apply this cycle but my MCAT which I took last Sept came out a little better than I expected, so I ended up applying very late (Late Oct). I made sure to complete my secondaries within two weeks of completing them. However, I applied to about 20+ schools, so It wasnt until xmas break that I was completely done with secondaries.

The result: 10 interviews (but late interviews.. from Early Feb to late april)

SO Far : I have only heard back from 2 schools... ONE acceptance, one waitlist.

Despite this, I definitely would recommend applying early, but... If it doesnt work out, dont let it prevent you from applying because your always going to be wondering what if....
 
So I was wondering, for those of you have been accepted or interviewed (could you clarify in your response please) to Medical School when did you have your secondaries finished by? Early, Mid, Late July? Early, Mid, Late August?

I would really appreciate your responses, I am nervous because I am taking the MCAT June 18th and I probably wont have all my secondaries (20 of them) done until late August. I would like to have the applications done as soon as possible since its rolling admission. If you don't mind could you tell me your MCAT and GPA so I can compare my chances to yours. I am hoping that alot of you guys submitted your secondaries this "late" (for various reasons, procrastinating, took late MCAT etc) and where accepted, it will give me hope. Lol. Thanks

I submitted in mid July just like you did and got my secondaries in mid-August, finishing most of them by early September. You will be fine.
 
I wish I had kept better records of whenever I turned stuff in. But looking back at the dates on my TMDSAS, looks like they received my letter of rec. packet on 7/31 (this was the last thing, my school took forever). So I was complete around early August. That turned into 3 acceptances. My stats and everything are in my MDApps on the right. Of course, I am from TX, so my situation may not be as much help to you since I think we have an easier time of this than most. But still, know that while August is not extremely early, I belive that's still considered early enough. Also, look into the schools' websites to which you're applying, some may have secondaries up that you can just go ahead and begin. I actually had a couple of secondaries finished before they had received my TMDSAS. Good luck!
 
OP,

I took the August 7 MCAT and submitted 20 secondaries during the month of August while I waited for my scores to come out so I was complete at most schools by early September. This cycle, I received 6 interview invites (declined 2), 2 acceptances, 1 waitlist, and 1 post-interview rejection.

Numbers are 3.6, 31, but refer to my MDapps for more info. Good luck.
 
To be perfectly honest, I submitted my secondary to my state school in December on the day it was due because of some issues with getting one of my letters. I was accepted and it's where I will be attending in the fall. I certainly do not recommend this, I think I just got lucky. I'd get your secondaries in as soon as you can, but I'm a testament to the fact that sending in late applications does not automatically bar you from admission.

Stats: 3.95 sci and cum GPA, 27N MCAT
 
When should I turn in my Primary? (by which date would not be considered late?)
 
My AMCAS was verified mid-September, and secondaries were submitted Nov-Dec. Eight applications completed - accepted at three, waitlisted at one.

Turning in your secondaries in August is fine, but I wouldn't recommend waiting until Nov/Dec - I didn't get interviews at rolling admissions schools that were a bit less competitive than the non-rolling programs that was accepted/waitlisted at, and while I can't claim to know what was going on in the admissions process, I'd guess that at least played a part. Also, if you get the applications in early, you're more likely to get that first acceptance more quickly, and then can just go to the interviews you really want.
 
thanks everybody for your responses it appreciate it. I was wondering in all of your opinions do you think what leejwc said about turning the primary in before the MCAT is a good idea? I have heard mixed reviews some saying that its fine and others say no way. It would make things easier since some of the schools would send secondaries without the MCAT score and then I could get started working on them. Good idea?
 
Verification times increase later in the cycle. I remember seeing some people's applications being verified in less than a week if they submitted right in the first couple of days. The only thing is, if you submit the primary and then get a less-than-stellar score back then school's might see the initial score (unless you decide to withdraw your application) and reject you for it. However, most will wait for a second score if you tell them you are re-taking.

If you can prep your primary prior to the MCAT and have it submitted without sacrificing your studies, then you can roll the dice and submit it. Just don't get hasty and submit a crappy primary.

I took the MCAT in the second week of June last year. I came out of that test so pissed off (b/c i thought I'd have to retake it) that I didn't touch my primary for like a month. I wanted to wait and see what I got first. Then the score came back OK and I cranked through the rest of it and had it submitted by mid July. It was verified about 6 weeks later. In retrospect, I definitely wish I had submitted it earlier.

Just remember, the earlier you get things done, the quicker you might hear back about interviews and decisions.

Funny thing is, I was actually rejected by at least one school for "submitting too early." They told me my application came through in a pile of early-submitting overachievers and mine didn't look competitive in comparison. I was baffled...but I definitely think that was an exception to the usual rule.

Good luck, and keep asking questions if you have them. We're happy to help.
 
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If the primary submitted in June, does it make a difference when it is submitted within the month of June, as long as it's turned in June?
 
thanks everybody for your responses it appreciate it. I was wondering in all of your opinions do you think what leejwc said about turning the primary in before the MCAT is a good idea? I have heard mixed reviews some saying that its fine and others say no way. It would make things easier since some of the schools would send secondaries without the MCAT score and then I could get started working on them. Good idea?

You can submit the primary to schools you know you would apply to, regardless of your MCAT.

For example, I live in Florida. Regardless of whether I got a 26 or a 42 on my MCAT, I would have applied to my state schools.

So theoretically, I could have submitted my primary June 4th without my MCAT to just UF, UMiami, UCF, and USF. I did end up waiting, though, just because June 24th was when I got my MCAT back and I figured I wanted to have AS much information as possible.

It's a good idea to submit as early as possible because then you can start the long process of verification early.
 
If the primary submitted in June, does it make a difference when it is submitted within the month of June, as long as it's turned in June?

Interesting question. The earlier you submit it, the earlier it gets verified. BUT with that said, primaries are not sent out to schools until approximately June 24th or 25th. You have to take into account the time it takes for verification, though.

The verification time gets increasingly longer as you go through the process. Mine took about 2 weeks and was sent in June 24th. (Had no problems whatsoever with timing).
 
i was completed at all my schools from mid-september to early october. check mdapps for my stats - i thought id get at least a few more interviews and one more acceptance. this was stupid on my art.

being completed in late august is not ideal, but it won't hurt your chances too much. all i can recommend is that you get everything finished as soon as you can. good luck.
 
Submitted primary the first week of June, started on secondaries as soon as they came out. Was fully complete everywhere by the first part of August.
 
I was complete at half of the med schools in mid-July (I sent out my secondaries about 5ish days after I'd received them, on average) and a bunch in the beginning of August. I don't know that that's the "only" way to go about things, but it's definitely the least anxiety-provoking. Having the secondaries in my mailbox reminding me of how much I had to do made me break out into hives. Seeing people on SDN getting interviews I wasn't getting- same deal. It's nice to be able to know you'll be considered in the first batch of applicants. It didn't always work out that way, but for the most part, the interviews I got were the earliest they gave out, and I had an acceptance on Oct. 15th, which made everything a lot less hive-causing.
 
OP,
I kept fairly good records of all my application materials on my MDapps. So I feel justified in being lazy by not posting them here, but simply referring you to that website if you're still interested 😳
 
I did my secondaries in October-December; most were completed the day before the deadline. I ended up with 4 acceptances and 3 waitlists. My interviews were late though (obviously) and my first acceptance did not come till early March.

GPA 3.95, MCAT 36.

So I guess applying late is not such a big deal.
 
I did my secondaries in October-December; most were completed the day before the deadline. I ended up with 4 acceptances and 3 waitlists. My interviews were late though (obviously) and my first acceptance did not come till early March.

GPA 3.95, MCAT 36.

So I guess applying late is not such a big deal.

It wasn't a big deal for you because your stats jump out.
BTW, I like your username. I'm a fan of Alba myself.😉
 
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