Advice to people applying soon?

You can fill it out then, but you can't submit it until early june... I'm sure you have your PS almost done, but start working on the EC summaries too. It'll make things go faster!

Good Luck, cerb... May this application cycle bring you tons of luck!

 

Im with Cerb, should we start filling out the app before we get our mcat scores?

 

yes

 

Totally, fill it all out. The only thing you need to do is wait until you find out whether you'll be taking the MCAT again. If you are, you indicate that on the app and send it out...

 

Just the standard advice: write your personal statement now, get your transcript requests together (especially if you have multiple schools) even if you can't send them out yet, etc. Aside from the much reported "it helps your application to get it in early," it'll also help your anxiety levels. Imagine how nice it would be to know in OCTOBER that you got into medical school!!! I didn't know until January, and the intervening months when others were getting accepted and I didn't know were acutely painful. Oh, if you don't already have your letters of recommendation together, now would be a good time for that -- ask for about twice as many as you need, then pick and choose which ones to send if by some miracle you happen to get all of them!

Don't try too hard to make yourself stand out -- stay away from gimicks. Keep in mind that medicine is a pretty conservative field, and one of the questions these people are asking is, "Is this a person I would trust my dying grandmother with." Also stay away from sensitive topics to the extent you can (like politics and prior histories of alcohol abuse, etc.). Don't include anything in your application that you aren't comfortable talking about at length.

Whenever you will be interviwing (fall or spring term), run the fact that you're going to be interviewing by your professors early so they understand when you say, "I gotta go for an interview, can I make up the midterm." Some profs have a really hard time with it and get bent out of shape, but most of them will tell you that if you approach them early in term... so give them a chance to get you that information.

Be nice to everyone at your interview. Thank the people who organized it on the way out -- they won't be on the receiving end of your formal thank you letter, but will greatly appreciate the fact that you noticed their level of commitment to making the interview day smooth.

Keep in mind your first interview won't go as smoothly as later interviews. Just take it in stride. Be willing to stop and think about questions you don't already have answers to. Don't sound to well rehersed (even though you need to have your act together, people have gotten dinged for sounding like they had their "why I want to be a doctor" speech memorized. At later interviews, try to remain enthusiastic even though you are thoroughly sick of the entire process.

Keep in mind when you fill out your AMCAS that you'll be footing the bill for any travel to and from interviews, and think about how much your pocketbook can handle. There are people who can spend >$5k on travelling to and from interviews. I, for one, applied only on the east coast and the single school I interviewed at in the midwest cleaned out my meager savings (U Chicago, which was worth it, but *ouch*). You might save a whole lot of money by applying based on geography.

Start looking now for a suit if you don't already own one, to give you time for finding a good deal. Get it altered professionaly; it will look almost taylored. Get the person behind the counter to help you pick the current fit if you aren't sure. Nothing is worse than an ill-fitting suit. Black with cream or white shirt and a red, conservatively pattered tie will go anywhere for a guy. For women, black skirt suit or (not my personal favorite, but seems to be allowed...) pant suit.

What else? Keeping organized will help you stay lower stressed. Again, apply early -- if not because it improves your chances, because you will find out earlier where you stand.

I wish I would have applied early decision to my top choice school... it would have saved a lot of money (it's where I'm going next year anyway).

Best,
Anka

 

I figure if you can get a S-T on the WS of mcat, You can write a good PS in a little over 30 minutes..

 

just chill, have some good sleep. You won't have them when all the stress come in ;O

 

you wont get mcat scores till about june 24, but you can submit starting june 1-5th or so. its up to you if you want to wait for your april mcat scores or not before submitting.

RETURN ALL SECONDARIES. YOU NEVER KNOW WHO WILL GIVE YOU AN INTERVIEW...DONT REJECT YOURSELF!! TRUST ME.

 

So that's why it took me soo darn long.... stupid 'O'.

 

NOt neccessarily. The MCAT writing portion is about writing a formulaic essays, but personal statement for med school app is not like that at all.

 

i was joking.. I actually have a different problem. I wrote my personal statement a while back and have been making changes to it ever since. The problem is I don't know what to cut out, so I'll probably end up doing it over.

 

Yea don't sweat the Personal statement. I did it in 2 hours and it turned out ok for me.

 

hey guys,

the UCSF site says we can start submitting transcripts to AMCAS in mid March (two weeks ago)

But I hear AMCAS will not accept them until early May..who is correct?

 

AMCAS is correct. Don't send it in until mid to late May.

 

So a list of things that we need to do:
1) Write PS for AMCAS
2) Submit transcripts to AMCAS in late May
3) Submit AMCAS in early to late June
4) Get letters of rec for secondaries


A couple questions...
1) If we can get a committee letter, should we get still LORs from other science profs? from non-science? from employers?

2) Why not submit transcripts as soon as we get grades for this semester?

3) So we only need LORs for secondaries or do they get sent to amcas?

Thanks

 

They are for the secondaries. I sent my first batch in mid-late July.

 

Oh, wow. Is this normal? I don't think my school writes their committee letter until late August... am I screweD?

 

Don't know. I just took a look again. To the best of my knowledge, the schools need the secondary and the letters. So, when I received a secondary, I e-mailed my school to send the packet of LORs out. I just now looked in my inbox to see when some of the secondaries came:
. UCI secondary 7/24/03.
. GW secondary 7/18/03.
. WU secondary 7/15/03.
I hope that helps for the start dates.

 

Great advice so far! it is so important to send in transcripts as soon as amcas allows for often times these transcripts get lost or your school does not send it etc..your application will not even be glanced at unless ALL transcripts from ALL schools (to include AARTS and SMART for military folks attention to that detail if you are prior military). Start on the PS ASAP it takes a while and have at least three people proof read it, make it interesting but no gimmicks, the adcom has to *want* to continue reading it (imagine getting 1000's of these...). Submit amcas ASAP and as send back secondaries as they come folks, it is so important to send them in soon before you are back in school. I completed ALL my secondaries before school started and I applied to 30 schools it can be done and interviews were rolling in real quick! you do not want to sit on secondaries and then send them in when everybody and their grandmother is also sending them in..then you have to wait more for interviews etc..Also, have stamped envelopes with your advisors address on it already and the address of the school requesting the LOR's this is an amazing time saver for your advisor. I had 30 envelopes ready for my advisor and all he had to do was put the LOR in there and of it went. Make a spread sheet with all schools applied, put in who and when they received amcas, when they sent secondaries and when you mailed it back, also put down when your advisor sent the LOR and call back within a couple of weeks to make sure the school received it very important! this way if something is amiss you will know ASAP! For interviews do not check your bag! invest in a cheap or not suit bag that you can carry on and carry your suit with you very very important. Make sure your suit is clean and fits right.