Apply ASAP or apply slightly late after summer courses?

[plusalpha]

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(Posted this earlier as a post rather than a thread, but was hijacking someone else's thread, so I'm posting this now as a new thread to get more responses)

I'm debating whether I should just apply early in mid-June with the grades from just the first semester of my Master's (projecting a 4.0, as the end of semester is coming near), OR take like 3 classes over summer and get all A's (assuming here, of course) and then apply early August.
I'm still contemplating about this, because I have below average GPA' (sGPA: 3.1 and oGPA: 3.3) and was wondering if the advantage of those extra A's over summer could possibly outweigh the disadvantage of applying slightly late. Maybe a few more A's could have a stronger play in convincing the adcoms that I can adequately handle upper-level biology courses...? I really don't know.

HELP PLEASE!

 

[plusalpha]

You're probably better off applying as early as possible and listing the courses as in progress.

I think admissions get more selective much later in the cycle as the application pool and competition grows. You'll put yourself in a better position applying as early as possible in my opinion.

Thanks for your reply 🙂

 

[plusalpha]

Bumpity bump. Anyone else's thoughts? 🙁

 

[JLT223]

Applying in August is too late imo. Why not apply in June and take the classes over the summer? There's a planned coursework section in the application.

 

[sweetpeeas]

Apply earliest as possible. Not worth the wait IMHO. I e-submitted my app earlyish-mid July and didn't have my GPA calculated and app subsequently mailed out until August!! (I had several schools so maybe that's partially why, but also it might have been a prime time when everyone was submitting)

You can always update schools during the academic update when it opens in November, or personally send the schools you really like your summer grades.

 

[Bergman14]

I applied first week of august and had 2 november interviews and was invited to 2 in early december that I ended cancelling because I got accepted to my state school december 1st. I thought I had a pretty strong application so take that as you will. I applied to 10 schools and the other 6 that I applied to I didn't hear anything from until after January.

 

[PeachDMD]

(Posted this earlier as a post rather than a thread, but was hijacking someone else's thread, so I'm posting this now as a new thread to get more responses)

I'm debating whether I should just apply early in mid-June with the grades from just the first semester of my Master's (projecting a 4.0, as the end of semester is coming near), OR take like 3 classes over summer and get all A's (assuming here, of course) and then apply early August.
I'm still contemplating about this, because I have below average GPA' (sGPA: 3.1 and oGPA: 3.3) and was wondering if the advantage of those extra A's over summer could possibly outweigh the disadvantage of applying slightly late. Maybe a few more A's could have a stronger play in convincing the adcoms that I can adequately handle upper-level biology courses...? I really don't know.

HELP PLEASE!

Congrats on the projected 4.0 with master's work, that's great. However, I'm not sure that just a few classes over a summer will have that major of an impact on your overall GPA. I'm sure you've run the numbers on that, and even a .1 or .2 is helpful, but your sGPA will most likely remain <3.5 which can be problematic with adcoms when deciding interview fate. Personal experience, I decided that applying early outweighed everything else in my mind, so I was able to get mailed out 2nd batch. My reasoning for that wasn't GPA as I had 3.92 overall and science, but on the flip side my DAT was average at best (19AA) so I was hoping to get my GPA out in front and use that advantage with the adcoms. It worked as I got 11 interviews and 6 acceptances, bottom line in my mind is apply early!!

 

[fogorvostan]

I would apply early and list the classes as planned. You can always email the schools your grades if you get all A's or wait for the November academic update.

 

[dentist_dude]

I applied first week of august and had 2 november interviews and was invited to 2 in early december that I ended cancelling because I got accepted to my state school december 1st. I thought I had a pretty strong application so take that as you will. I applied to 10 schools and the other 6 that I applied to I didn't hear anything from until after January.

What were your stats if you don't mind me asking?