Apply Early so you can hurry up and wait!

[SleepPsych72]

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You hear all this unmitigatable balderdash about applying early from this forum, when the reality is unless you are doing early decision you have about 6 months to apply. People are going to take shots at me and my post but the truth is that if you havn't applied its not to late and will not be too late until about mid November. This seems to be especially true in the south where I am from. Applying early may have special significance to private institutions but the state schools do not seem to place any special significance on applying early. Most of the state schools that I know of have hardly even finished with the early decision program and here it is mid-October. So apply whenever the hell you are good and ready to apply and to hell with what everybody else says. Apply early, apply early, give me a break!

 

[dajimmers]

1. Many schools require that your primary is in by October 15, so November would be too late.
2. Many schools, especially rolling schools, have already had or scheduled many of their interviews, and will be giving out decisions as early as this Saturday.

Ex: UofMichigan. 444 interviews have been scheduled, leaving only 299 interview slots for those who are just applying now, and they have to compete with any of the current applicants who don't have interviews for those spots.

Early doesn't really matter for non-rolling schools (though some of them are partially rolling- Northwestern tells some people in November, then waits till winter to tell the rest...), but applicants are significantly disadvantaged if they apply late or take the Aug MCAT for rolling schools.

 

[blee]

Early matters. Fully 1/3 of the schools to which I've applied invited me to an interview, all of them before October 15. The other schools seem to be dragging their heels a bit, but applying early was a great idea and a very helpful one in my own experience.

 

[Kleintje]

I know first hand of several applicants whom did not get their secondaries in until Oct and weren't complete at most schools until Nov and did not get accepted to any schools that year. Then they applied the following year, and the ONLY thing that changed was that they applied EARLY (june/july, secondaries in by end of Aug) and they got many interviews and many acceptances. (They did not retake the MCAT and their GPA did not change significantly.)

Take it for what its worth. If it was me and my future, I would not risk applying late.

There are two other things to consider with applying late (if you're an April MCAT test taker): Adcom have MORE applications to look at and decide on and August MCAT takers scores are released Mid Oct, which will exponential increase the number of applications being looked at.

The BEST Advice I can give anyone in this process is the APPLY EARLY.

This is just my opinion - I know there are exceptions, they just seem few and far between.

 

[Kleintje]

You hear all this unmitigatable balderdash about applying early from this forum, when the reality is unless you are doing early decision you have about 6 months to apply. People are going to take shots at me and my post but the truth is that if you havn't applied its not to late and will not be too late until about mid November. This seems to be especially true in the south where I am from. Applying early may have special significance to private institutions but the state schools do not seem to place any special significance on applying early. Most of the state schools that I know of have hardly even finished with the early decision program and here it is mid-October. So apply whenever the hell you are good and ready to apply and to hell with what everybody else says. Apply early, apply early, give me a break!

I'm not sure which state schools you are talking about, all the ones I know of are rolling admissions and applying early greatly increases your chances of being interviewed and accepted.

PS - have you ever thought about how it looks to an Adcom when you apply late? Doesn't exactly send the message that you're excited about med school or that you care enough to make the application process a priority. Do you think they want someone who waits until the last minute to get things done?

That said, I'm sure you'll get into your top choice and then you can look back and laugh at all of us who applied early and had to wait (3 extra weeks) to hear if we were accepted (vs waiting months for an interview).

I just did not want to take that risk. But hey, that is me, neurotic and anal.

By the way, have you received any interview invites yet?

 

[LJDHC05]

I know first hand of several applicants whom did not get their secondaries in until Oct and weren't complete at most schools until Nov and did not get accepted to any schools that year. Then they applied the following year, and the ONLY thing that changed was that they applied EARLY (june/july, secondaries in by end of Aug) and they got many interviews and many acceptances. (They did not retake the MCAT and their GPA did not change significantly.)

This actually is me: didnt get complete til about this time last year, I got two MD/PhD interviews (tufts and UMass, waitlisted at both) and 18 rejection letters. I was complete in Sept this year (thanks to my advisor dragging his ass for a month and a half with my composite letter) and already have an interview offer at Gtown. my gpa did not change, I didnt take the MCAT and I havent published yet either...(stupid experiments that just wont end).

 

[hsvpan]

Not true at all. I interviewed at Tulane this week and they said that the class will be filled by December. Anyone interviewing starting in late November is probably interviewing for the wait list.

 

[RayhanS1282]

I sort of agree with the OP. Early applications make a significant impact if you have stella, wow-me stats. If you are an average or mediocre applicant, you have to wait till the end of time (or the application season) before you hear anything. And this I speak from personal experience. Although, there are differing views, this is what I feel. All that take about sending you stuff in early is way overrated.

 

[riceman04]

You hear all this unmitigatable balderdash about applying early from this forum, when the reality is unless you are doing early decision you have about 6 months to apply. People are going to take shots at me and my post but the truth is that if you havn't applied its not to late and will not be too late until about mid November. This seems to be especially true in the south where I am from. Applying early may have special significance to private institutions but the state schools do not seem to place any special significance on applying early. Most of the state schools that I know of have hardly even finished with the early decision program and here it is mid-October. So apply whenever the hell you are good and ready to apply and to hell with what everybody else says. Apply early, apply early, give me a break!

You are worrying too much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take a vacation or do something else that will calm your nerves.......Do you realize that this is still october????????
Yes you may have applied early and may not have heard anything from the schools yet, but you still have a VERY LONG WAY TO GO. My friend did not get a call for an interview at Emory until late december, Case until early feb., and USC till early march......She still was accepted into all three!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Give the process time!!!!!!!

 

[riceman04]

Early matters. Fully 1/3 of the schools to which I've applied invited me to an interview, all of them before October 15. The other schools seem to be dragging their heels a bit, but applying early was a great idea and a very helpful one in my own experience.

Congratulations on your success thus far!!!!
That goes to show you that depspite having a rough start you can still get interviews (and possibly acceptances) from med schools.

Good luck with the rest of the process........

It takes alot of heart to not give up!!!!!!!!!!!

congrats

 

[1Path]

PS - have you ever thought about how it looks to an Adcom when you apply late? Doesn't exactly send the message that you're excited about med school or that you care enough to make the application process a priority. Do you think they want someone who waits until the last minute to get things done

I imagine that the adcoms understand that not everyone has a mom, dad or family member standing by with a check book in hand waiting to pay all the fees associated with applying. While some 80% of all applicants to med schol have parents that make more than enough money to help them out with fees, not everyone has it like that. Even with free AMCAS apps/secondary fees (and these are dam hard to get from what I understand)there's still the issue so GETTING to and from the interview, hotel expenses, cab fees, ect.ect.

 

[SleepPsych72]

I agree with some of the previous posts, perhaps I am getting a little impatient but 4 months is a long time to wait. I have a lot riding on this decision as does everyone else I'm sure. I can tell you that in Louisiana the deadline for secondary is Dec. 15th. I was e-mailed by the dean of admissions and he said that EDP went out first of course but he also said that e-mail interview invites will not begin until late Oct. or early Nov. so either way I had plenty of time to take the August MCAT if I needed to and I could have submitted 5 or 6 LOR's from even the most idle of professors and employers. Even U. of Arkansas said that the very fist letters for out of staters will not go out until Dec. 15th! So like I say in my case it was hurry up and wait!
I've also noticed that most people on here apply to 15-20 schools and spend thousands of dollars on interviews to private schools so this forum is in no way representative of the general population. You can look at Tulane and then both LSU's here in Louisiana you will see dozens more applicants to Tulane posted here when in reality LSU-NO and LSU-S graduate nearly twice as many doctors each year. By the way it costs about $170,000 to get a medical degree from Tulane where its only about 80-100 at either LSU. So in conclusion, (and correct me if I'm wrong here I'm open minded) the data from the applicant pool of SDN is definately skewed.

 

[Tigerstang]

I imagine that the adcoms understand that not everyone has a mom, dad or family member standing by with a check book in hand waiting to pay all the fees associated with applying. While some 80% of all applicants to med schol have parents that make more than enough money to help them out with fees, not everyone has it like that. Even with free AMCAS apps/secondary fees (and these are dam hard to get from what I understand)there's still the issue so GETTING to and from the interview, hotel expenses, cab fees, ect.ect.

60% of all statistics are made up.

 

[1Path]

60% of all statistics are made up.

Ok, so drop the 80% and leave it at most the fact that people applying to med school have parents that afford to help them get their stuff in early.

 

[shantster]

60% of all statistics are made up.

So how do we know that you didn't make that one up? 😛 😉

 

[peptidoglycan]

Just FYI, Tulane gets nearly 7 times more med school applications per year than LSU. This makes Tulane more competitive. LSU may graduate more doctors, but Tulane turns down more applicants up front. Do what you will with that info.

I agree with some of the previous posts, perhaps I am getting a little impatient but 4 months is a long time to wait. I have a lot riding on this decision as does everyone else I'm sure. I can tell you that in Louisiana the deadline for secondary is Dec. 15th. I was e-mailed by the dean of admissions and he said that EDP went out first of course but he also said that e-mail interview invites will not begin until late Oct. or early Nov. so either way I had plenty of time to take the August MCAT if I needed to and I could have submitted 5 or 6 LOR's from even the most idle of professors and employers. Even U. of Arkansas said that the very fist letters for out of staters will not go out until Dec. 15th! So like I say in my case it was hurry up and wait!
I've also noticed that most people on here apply to 15-20 schools and spend thousands of dollars on interviews to private schools so this forum is in no way representative of the general population. You can look at Tulane and then both LSU's here in Louisiana you will see dozens more applicants to Tulane posted here when in reality LSU-NO and LSU-S graduate nearly twice as many doctors each year. By the way it costs about $170,000 to get a medical degree from Tulane where its only about 80-100 at either LSU. So in conclusion, (and correct me if I'm wrong here I'm open minded) the data from the applicant pool of SDN is definately skewed.

 

[MoosePilot]

Yeah, applying early sucks. So does the acceptance.

 

[45408]

yeah, it really sucks knowing on October 15th that you're going to be a med student next year. It's much better to wait until August 10th. 🙄 A former classmate of mine was pulled from a waitlist a week before school started, and he hadn't moved to that state, so he's now commuting quite a ways each day to class.

 

[neovenom]

i'm new to SDN, and when i saw how much people pushed for early application (in regular decision), i was surprised. i know people who didn't interview until jan that still got in. in fact, my school's pre-med committee doesn't even send out its LOR until november.

i suppose it really depends on where you want to go though. like the original poster said, early application isn't as important in certain schools, esp those in the south.

 

[Termwean]

Early is important...because it puts you at the top of the pile once they start looking at them......I think the ONLY reason I got in was b/c I met with Dean before applying and followed it up by applying early (not EDP).

i'm new to SDN, and when i saw how much people pushed for early application (in regular decision), i was surprised. i know people who didn't interview until jan that still got in. in fact, my school's pre-med committee doesn't even send out its LOR until november.

i suppose it really depends on where you want to go though. like the original poster said, early application isn't as important in certain schools, esp those in the south.

 

[angietron3000]

4 months is a long time to wait.

I'm glad I applied early and I'd happily wait 4 months rather than waiting til next year to apply again!

 

[airflare]

Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but when people advise to apply early, what time period does "early" refer to?

 

[Iwy Em Hotep]

Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but when people advise to apply early, what time period does "early" refer to?

I suggest July 1 as the deadline for your primary and ASAP for secondaries.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

I wish I would have submitted AMCAS by early July and submitted all secondaries by early August. I didn't, and I recently was "complete" at my last school. 👎 An acceptance at this point would do wonders for my state of being.

 

[PhotoMD]

Why would anybody *not* apply early? You're either waiting to hear from schools or you're waiting to work on your application. Either way, you're waiting, so you might as well get the perceived advantage.

 

[Dr.BBasket]

Hello,
This year was my third time applying for medical school and I submitted my AMCAS on June 1 (10 schools) and my AACOMAS on May 25 (2 schools). I had all my secondaries completed by the first week in August. As of today, I have had only two rejections, and 7/10 interviews invites. I got into MSUCOM Sep 29 and when I received my acceptance call from them and the admissions counselor and I were talking, she said she truly believes that my applying early played a huge part in my getting into MSUCOM. She further stated that if someone came along behind me, with similiar stats, she doubts they would be admitted.

Point: My MCAT scores are not spectacular. Not in the least. But my dedication to becoming a doctor rang through because I was determined to be Class of 2010, since I hadnt gotten into Class of 2009. And let it be said that when I was completing my AMCAS in May, I was crying about not getting into my final school I had left on my list at that point: UIC. And hmmm,do I have have another interview there this Friday. Hmmm? And would I pick MSU osteopathic medical school over them. Yep.
APPLY EARLY!!! You always want to be at the top of this list, than at the bottom, no matter is you have a 24, 30, or 35 on the MCAT. They cant see you as clearly on the bottom, as they would if you were on the top.

And yes, I am willing choosing a DO med degree over a MD degree. The school's fit (and the fact that it is #9 in the country right now for primary care) is really important to me. PM for additional info.


___________________________________________________
"This Wolverine might just become a Spartan."

 

[DrMike24]

The only reason someone should not apply early is if they cannot afford, which is a legit reason. Otherwise, get your stuff in as early as possible. There are two reasons I have heard of as to why you wouldnt want to apply day 1: First reason, you will be applying with all of the overachievers. Second reason, a 1/3 of the adcom is new, and you dont want them making a mistake on your app. These are things I have heard at med college forums, etc. So I would def recommend getting your primary app in mid june to mid july. The sooner you apply, the more spots are available. Its quite simple mathematics. Overwhelmingly, when I ask med students, residents, etc, about advice for applying to med school, apply early is the number one advice given. So yes, it is important to apply early, especially for state schools.

 

[Saluki]

Why would anybody *not* apply early? You're either waiting to hear from schools or you're waiting to work on your application. Either way, you're waiting, so you might as well get the perceived advantage.

I submitted my AMCAS in September and then added more schools after I found out my MCAT scores in October. It hasn't made any difference. I haven't heard anything from the schools in either batch.

 

[MoosePilot]

I submitted my AMCAS in September and then added more schools after I found out my MCAT scores in October. It hasn't made any difference. I haven't heard anything from the schools in either batch.

I don't understand what you're saying. Neither batch was early, so that's not really a good test for the theory at the heart of this thread.