Am I an early, average, or late applicant?

[ImagineThis]

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I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it other than in the D.O. form. So I am applying to 20 schools (all MSTP). So far, I have completed only 8 of my secondaries (although I should have 4 more finished by this sunday). Why so few? Well, I have been doing full time research this summer and have one heck of a commute (around 2 hours) and by the time I get home, I am usually overtired and have very little energy to effectively write essays. Also, even though I submitted my AMCAS primary on June 7th, my Committee letter wasn't processed until August 4th, so I wasn't even complete at the program that I submitted to on July 2nd until the 5th.

I dont think this is late. After all, most deadlines aren't until November, but have I dropped the ball? Is this going to affect my chances? I should have everything else finished within 2-3 weeks (my research job is ending so I will actually have some time to work on secondaries before I go back up to school). Will that be OK? Will I be an "early" applicant then, or average/late?

Thanks for your help in advance and sorry for the potentially stupid questions, I just really haven't been able to get even a semi-clear answer on this.

 

[Choculitis]

I sure hope you're okay. I only submitted my AMCAS 3 weeks ago and i still hasn't been verified. I submitted 1/17 secondaries and I have a few more that are virtually ready to go.

 

[BrightandClear]

I've been fretting over this too lately. I spent three hours in the back row of class this morning searching and compiling old interview threads. Looks like for the most part, invites don't start going out until the beginning of September. So, I think we are all fine and just need to relax...😛

 

[Fencer]

Rather than applying "all MSTP", your 20 applications should have been more focused upon the area of expertise that you are thinking. I can assure you that there are many NCI designated cancer centers with plain "MD/PhD" programs with 5-10 slots per year than are better than some of the cancer programs associated with some MSTP. The same applies to each of the fields... Some programs have CTSA but no MSTP, and some programs have MSTP but no CTSA. What applicants do not realize is that the actual number of MSTP slots has not increased since 1992.

 

[MSTPlease]

Unless you're thinking of withdrawing/starting over (highly unadvised) don't worry about it and try to get stuff out as fast as possible. I had never heard about the 2 week secondary rule, so I had some apps finished in mid july and my last one was the end of august/beginning of september.