Apply to 1 school for verification then add in more later...WHy?

[lolasmommy]

I have searched the posts and I know this has been asked before but what was not addressed was the WHY aspect for me… bullet points
-I plan to take the MCAT on June 17 making results available around mid July

-All my transcripts and a good number of LORs will be submitted to AMCAS by the first or second week of June ( I know this should have been in earlier but you cannot control how quickly someone sends your LOR. Ive been on it for months now!)

-So it is suggested that I apply for ONE school for the time being so my application can be verified and once the MCAT score comes in add in the rest of the schools.

Question time!
1. Why is the ONE school option suggested and not the whole list of schools I intended to apply to?
2. Would listing all the schools affect anything?
3. And if I do opt for the ONE school option, do you suggest it be my number one choice or some other school?
4. Do ALL of my transcripts and LORs have to be submitted before I submit my application for verification by AMCAS or can they be coming in while it is being verified?
Thank you all and good luck

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[EmersonAnne]

I have searched the posts and I know this has been asked before but what was not addressed was the WHY aspect for me… bullet points
-I plan to take the MCAT on June 17 making results available around mid July

-All my transcripts and a good number of LORs will be submitted to AMCAS by the first or second week of June ( I know this should have been in earlier but you cannot control how quickly someone sends your LOR. Ive been on it for months now!)

-So it is suggested that I apply for ONE school for the time being so my application can be verified and once the MCAT score comes in add in the rest of the schools.

Question time!
1. Why is the ONE school option suggested and not the whole list of schools I intended to apply to?
2. Would listing all the schools affect anything?
3. And if I do opt for the ONE school option, do you suggest it be my number one choice or some other school?
4. Do ALL of my transcripts and LORs have to be submitted before I submit my application for verification by AMCAS or can they be coming in while it is being verified?
Thank you all and good luck

Simpy put -- because you won't know your MCAT score. Imagine spending $800 on application fees only to get a 24 MCAT.

 

[235009]

here is the reasoning behind it: since you don't know what you will get on your MCAT (which is huge in determining your chances) you shouldn't waste your money applying to schools you might have no shot at. However, getting your app in earlier is always better and verification takes time so by submitting as early as you can you can get verified more quickly and by selecting only one school (usually a school you would apply to no matter what you get on the MCAT) you don't waste money on schools you might end up not having a shot at once you see your MCAT score and you will end up applying to a balanced list of schools given your scores.

 

[tremulousNeedle]

What they said; plus, to address your forth question.

I believe you can submit whenever (on/after June 1), but verification is largely dependent on all of your transcripts being submitted. So if you are missing a transcript that will halt the verification process for you. LOR are not needed for verification.

 

[lstone13]

Along with the other posters, it is a good idea to wait until you receive your MCAT score before adding schools. That way, you have a better idea of the schools in your safety and reach zones, and you don't have to worry about spending to much money on schools you wish you hadn't applied to.

Also, it's important to go ahead and submit your application and transcripts ASAP because the longer you wait to submit it, the longer it takes to get your application verified, and therefore, it slows down the review of your application if you wait to submit your application until after your MCAT score comes in.

Note that your LORs do not have to be submitted in order for your application to be verified. However, most schools will not review your file until all your LORs are in, so it's important to get those in ASAP as well.

 

[lolasmommy]

Thanks to all of you who posted. So, if Im going to list the ONE school simply for the sake of getting my app. verified early do you suggest it be my number one choice or the bottom of the list choice? How did you all decide (assuming youre on the same boat as I am) which one school to list down? Curious...

 

[KPCOFGS]

Thanks to all of you who posted. So, if Im going to list the ONE school simply for the sake of getting my app. verified early do you suggest it be my number one choice or the bottom of the list choice? How did you all decide (assuming youre on the same boat as I am) which one school to list down? Curious...

Just apply as if you got your lowest estimate MCAT score. That probably means the safest of the safeties.

 

[mspeedwagon]

I would NOT list your number one school. I would lean toward the safety. If you get a lower than expected score (and need to re-take), you probably don't want to get screened out by your number one choice.

Thanks to all of you who posted. So, if Im going to list the ONE school simply for the sake of getting my app. verified early do you suggest it be my number one choice or the bottom of the list choice? How did you all decide (assuming youre on the same boat as I am) which one school to list down? Curious...

 

[Real Madrid]

My friend asked me this same question the other day....

So MCAT is June 17.

Say you apply to one school June 1. You dont get results till July 20 for example...Say you get the 34 that you wanted...

Now you add the rest of the schools July 21...This means you are still working on secondaries in august...Is that not late?

 

[rockaction]

My friend asked me this same question the other day....

So MCAT is June 17.

Say you apply to one school June 1. You dont get results till July 20 for example...Say you get the 34 that you wanted...

Now you add the rest of the schools July 21...This means you are still working on secondaries in august...Is that not late?

tell your friend to start working on the secondaries ahead of time...all the essay prompts will be posted in the School-Specific Forums here on SDN. those are the only time-consuming parts of secondaries. a lot of essays overlap between schools too...like a "greatest challenge" essay, a "describe how you are diverse" essay, a "describe your research" essay, etc etc

so really, just get cranking on those secondary essays during post-MCAT lull time. if you happen to write all of Duke's essays but decide to not apply there, the worst is that a few weeks ago you lost an afternoon or two

 

[Real Madrid]

tell your friend to start working on the secondaries ahead of time...all the essay prompts will be posted in the School-Specific Forums here on SDN. those are the only time-consuming parts of secondaries. a lot of essays overlap between schools too...like a "greatest challenge" essay, a "describe how you are diverse" essay, a "describe your research" essay, etc etc

so really, just get cranking on those secondary essays during post-MCAT lull time. if you happen to write all of Duke's essays but decide to not apply there, the worst is that a few weeks ago you lost an afternoon or two

Still though...you're sending in apps to other schools July 21, and they wont ask for secondaries for a couple of weeks. That means you are sending in secondaries in August. Is that still "on-time" or considered late

 

[harvman11]

I think you need to realize that people on SDN are not the average pre-med... I saw a post a couple days ago worrying that submitting their AMCAS on June 2nd was going to hurt them. If all your secondaries are done by the end of August, I'd say you're pretty on top of things... maybe not "early", but you'll certainly be ok. On a side note, I don't think schools have a set cut-off for "on-time" versus "late", so there's little reason to think like that. Most schools don't start interviewing until the end of August at the earliest, and because they can sort the applications they receive by MCAT / GPA they're generally able to cherry-pick the "best" (numerically) out of the pile, no matter when they submitted their application.

Last year, I submitted my AMCAS (didn't get it verified, SUBMITTED it) in mid-late August, and it was verified early-mid September. Based on what I had read here, I thought I was screwed. I got most of my secondaries in before October, but I was still really worried. I added about 5 more safety schools to my list based on this. In the end, it was a complete waste of money. I got plenty of interviews, the only place I felt applying late had hurt me was UCSF, and that's because getting their secondary takes about 6 weeks. If I did it again, I would've waited just as long, because that's when I was confident in the quality of all my primary essays. I think a later, stronger application was more useful to me than an earlier, weaker application would've been. This of course will be dependent on the individual, but it should be taken into consideration.

Long story short: if you can get your app in early, great, but don't sweat it if you turn it in late... if you think you're secondaries will all be done by August, you'll be fine. This "get all your apps done the day it opens" thought that pervades SDN can really stress you out for no good reason.

Also, here's a possible solution to your perceived problem: submit AMCAS to 1 school now (probably a safety or state school, one you'd apply to no matter what), and if you don't want to wait until you get your MCAT score back, just wait til you take it and go with your gut feeling on how you did to determine which schools to apply to. This way you don't wait as long, but still have at least some input from your MCAT to guide you. You could even submit it to schools that give out secondaries / interviews earlier, and wait on ones that do things later in the application cycle.

 

[Gabby]

Still though...you're sending in apps to other schools July 21, and they wont ask for secondaries for a couple of weeks. That means you are sending in secondaries in August. Is that still "on-time" or considered late

No, it's not late. Chill out guys, seriously. The vast majority of schools will not be sending secondaries prior to July 21st.

 

[MilkmanAl]

The vast majority of schools will not be sending secondaries prior to July 21st.

That's not true, but there are plenty of schools that take until early July to get their secondaries out. I wouldn't say they're the "vast majority," though. The first wave of interview invites typically comes in late July, it seems. In any event, submitting your secondaries in early August is about average. It won't hurt you as long as you have the essays done beforehand and can submit the secondaries as soon as you get them.

 

[byurazorhog]

It really cracks me up how some people decided that they were going to take the MCAT in the summer right at the start of the application season and then kept asking if it was going to be late this or late that. If that's what you're concerned about, don't even apply this cycle or you should've taken that fateful test months ago. Take some responsibility for yourself...you make a decision so roll with it...don't expect people to babysit you. Get studying and kill that MCAT you're about to take and let the chips fall where they may. There's nothing you can do about it if you're not going to have that MCAT score until later anyways. Get real people.

 

[empty p orbital]

So I plan on applying next year but I am going to take the MCAT in January so I know my scores early and can send my Texas applications out in early May. In my situation is there any reason NOT to apply to all the schools I want all at once, since I'll know my MCAT by the end of February and will have a realistic school list already?

 

[lolasmommy]

It really cracks me up how some people decided that they were going to take the MCAT in the summer right at the start of the application season and then kept asking if it was going to be late this or late that. If that's what you're concerned about, don't even apply this cycle or you should've taken that fateful test months ago. Take some responsibility for yourself...you make a decision so roll with it...don't expect people to babysit you. Get studying and kill that MCAT you're about to take and let the chips fall where they may. There's nothing you can do about it if you're not going to have that MCAT score until later anyways. Get real people.

This is hilarious! Are you serious! Read my other posts. I took the MCAT at the earliest available date offered this year. It is an international testing site which limits the amount of times the MCAT is offered to 2 dates! The dates were not announced until a month or two before the exam. Did you not think that I was considering how important the date on the MCAT was. International dates were listed as "tentative" (or something of that nature) for a long while before it was offered. I took the exam and I am applying this cycle! I am not complaining about the dates I was simply asking for suggestions. You need not reply with such negativity. It doesnt matter, thus far I feel confident in my application and have gotten great responses. Good luck to all out there and dont let comments like the ones above question your moves