Applying late- not a problem

[premedrose]

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I heard that all the interviews will be during fall- after school opens. So, why hurry in appying too early? Won't you still have your interview about the same time those applying late- july and august? And thus won't your chances of acceptance be the same compared to others, since you will have about the same interview times and you will be compared to other students when adcoms are deciding to accept you?

 

[JJMrK]

Pretty sure that some schools interview in August/September.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I heard that all the interviews will be during fall- after school opens. So, why hurry in appying too early? Won't you still have your interview about the same time those applying late- july and august? And thus won't your chances of acceptance be the same compared to others, since you will have about the same interview times and you will be compared to other students when adcoms are deciding to accept you?

The things is that your application will be put at the bottom of the pile. So if a thousand people apply before you, then they will fill a substantial number of interview dates before they even get to look at your application.

Applying July/August won't KILL you, but it's definitely to your advantage to apply as soon as possible.

 

[nogolfinsnow]

I've heard directly from someone who does applicant screening for an MD/PhD program; He says every year there are very good applicants who don't get interviews b/c their applications come in late (meaning September, October) and there just aren't interview slots left for them.

 

[binko]

Hint: it's a type of admissions.

 

[Siverhideo1985]

just apply early...why take the risk? you gotta do the work at some point...doing it later doesn't make it easier.

 

[236116]

It takes forever to get verified sometimes. Especially if there are issues.

As to interviews: first come, first served. Even on rolling.

 

[zpiff]

I heard that all the interviews will be during fall- after school opens. So, why hurry in appying too early? Won't you still have your interview about the same time those applying late- july and august? And thus won't your chances of acceptance be the same compared to others, since you will have about the same interview times and you will be compared to other students when adcoms are deciding to accept you?

My first interview was in early-mid august. It does help to apply early.

 

[dragonfly99]

It helps to apply early.

 

[ButImLETired]

I heard that all the interviews will be during fall- after school opens. So, why hurry in appying too early? Won't you still have your interview about the same time those applying late- july and august? And thus won't your chances of acceptance be the same compared to others, since you will have about the same interview times and you will be compared to other students when adcoms are deciding to accept you?

Well, the problem with this idea is that if you apply in say, September (assuming you're actually complete in September) you'll be at the bottom of a pile made up of the hundreds of apps received since June. You won't get the Sep. interview- you'll get the November, or even December interview. If the school is rolling, you'll have missed at least a couple of acceptance rounds by the time the adcom meets to make a final decision about your file. The bar will have been raised, and there will be fewer spots available.

If you're only applying to non-rolling schools and/or your stats are out of this world (including EC's), it won't make a difference. If you're a mere mortal, apply early.

 

[LizzyM]

Interviews begin in August and September and some schools begin offering admission in October! At one school, over 2,000 applications arrive on the first day! You are at the bottom of a large stack of applications if you hold off your application until August.

 

[Chodan]

I'm not a stellar applicant, but "I'm told" by "people that know" that my application is "good enough to get into several schools" but my "late application has sabotaged me this cycle". So, if I do end up reapplying, you can bet I will "apply early, apply broadly". 😀

 

[WannaBePreMed]

Hint: it's a type of admissions.

You get cool points I was laughing so hard haha

 

[binko]

It takes forever to get verified sometimes. Especially if there are issues.

As to interviews: first come, first served. Even on rolling.

Especially on rolling, or?

That was what I was trying to illustrate anyway.

 

[slick27]

Since you're a reapplicant you should be able to apply June 1st. Most schools will even let you forward previous years letters to your current file. That will get you application complete as soon as possible. You might want to add a new letter on top of that.

 

[Excelsius]

I think you guys need to read this from UCSD website about applying early:

1. There is no advantage in terms of your chances of being accepted. All applicants who submit their AMCAS application by November 1, 2007 will be considered for admission. No preference is given to any applicant based on their application date or interview date. However, our Recruitment and Admissions Committee reviews files in order of completion. Therefore, the earlier your application is complete with us, the earlier you will hear from us regarding your status.
   
   Admissions decisions are made on a "rolling" basis. Typically we will start to offer acceptances in late October. However, whether your interview is in late September or late March, the Recruitment and Admissions Committee will still complete the evaluation of your application in the same manner. Students interviewing at any time throughout the year may receive an offer of acceptance as their "initial decision".

 

[Siverhideo1985]

lol thats one school

...someone who came to talk at my school about medical school admissions said that an early applicant at his medical school is 7 times more likely to be accepted than one that submits on the last day. Also just one school...but why take a chance either way?

Did I miss something? Does delaying your application make the secondaries easier?

 

[handetalc]

I heard that all the interviews will be during fall- after school opens. So, why hurry in appying too early? Won't you still have your interview about the same time those applying late- july and august? And thus won't your chances of acceptance be the same compared to others, since you will have about the same interview times and you will be compared to other students when adcoms are deciding to accept you?

I can tell you from first-hand experience that applying late is a MAJOR disadvantage.

 

[handetalc]

If you're only applying to non-rolling schools and/or your stats are out of this world (including EC's), it won't make a difference. If you're a mere mortal, apply early.

Even with stats out of this world, you will likely get interviews, but will only be interviewing for waitlist positions.

 

[Delo_Ohm]

Applying late will unnecessarily hurt your application. There are schools that consider your completion date alongside GPA, MCAT, PS, etc... Apply as early as possible.

Applying early you know you have done everything you can, and you'll likely (hopefully) get yourself out of the rat race (with an early acceptance) while so many others are still stressing out about interviews later on.

 

[Excelsius]

Applying late will unnecessarily hurt your application. There are schools that consider your completion date alongside GPA, MCAT, PS, etc... Apply as early as possible.

Applying early you know you have done everything you can, and you'll likely (hopefully) get yourself out of the rat race (with an early acceptance) while so many others are still stressing out about interviews later on.

You guys may be right, but I just don't understand why a medschool would choose to accept just anyone early vs waiting until later and accepting a "better" candidate. I mean they have no deadlines. What would be the motive? The one I can think of is too many applications to go through. But this will only make sense if they do not even look at the applications that come in later.

 

[dw2158]

Applying late will unnecessarily hurt your application. There are schools that consider your completion date alongside GPA, MCAT, PS, etc... Apply as early as possible.

Applying early you know you have done everything you can, and you'll likely (hopefully) get yourself out of the rat race (with an early acceptance) while so many others are still stressing out about interviews later on.

i think the bolded part is a mischaracterization. they "consider" it in the sense that being complete earlier will help you because they'll look at you sooner, interview you sooner, accept you sooner, etc., but it does not become a statistic, like "oh, he has a 3.68, a 33P, and he was complete August 7th."

 

[Handy388]

an analogy of medical school admissions.

there are 130 cake factories in the united states, if you got into the cake factory you can eat cake for the rest of your life.

people line up outside of the cake factory the day lines are opened, there are more than twice amount of people wanting to get cakes than the amount of cakes that is there.

people who had their cake awhile ago will be picking the people who's gonna have cake base on their intelligence, work ethnics, personality and compassion toward others.

would you like to be the last guy in the cake line?

 

[FlowLimited]

You guys may be right, but I just don't understand why a medschool would choose to accept just anyone early vs waiting until later and accepting a "better" candidate. I mean they have no deadlines. What would be the motive? The one I can think of is too many applications to go through. But this will only make sense if they do not even look at the applications that come in later.

It's the definition of rolling admissions. They review applications as they receive them and make decisions continuously throughout the year. What you're describing is essentially the process of non-rolling admissions. They wait until they've seen all their applicants before making a decision so that they can be confident that they've taken the best of the best.

In regards to the bolded portion above, rolling admissions doesn't mean schools are settling for less. They're still accepting students who meet their acceptance criteria and rejecting the ones that don't. It's not a coincidence that the schools who place a major emphasis on matriculating the most statistically impressive students are also the ones that tend to have non-rolling admissions.

 

[Longshanks]

I think you guys need to read this from UCSD website about applying early:

1. There is no advantage in terms of your chances of being accepted. All applicants who submit their AMCAS application by November 1, 2007 will be considered for admission. No preference is given to any applicant based on their application date or interview date. However, our Recruitment and Admissions Committee reviews files in order of completion. Therefore, the earlier your application is complete with us, the earlier you will hear from us regarding your status.
   
   Admissions decisions are made on a "rolling" basis. Typically we will start to offer acceptances in late October. However, whether your interview is in late September or late March, the Recruitment and Admissions Committee will still complete the evaluation of your application in the same manner. Students interviewing at any time throughout the year may receive an offer of acceptance as their "initial decision".

They are still rolling. All they're saying here is that you don't get brownie points for applying early, but naturally if you apply late you're SOL if they already filled up their class. Apply as late as you'd like, just know that there's thousands of people who've applied ahead of you and have already either been denied, interviewed, or accepted, and the more interviewed and accepted before you the greater disadvantage you are at. These people did not receive any special treatment compared to you, their application has simply been reviewed and decided upon before yours has even entered the door. Therefore its in everyone's best interest to be completed as early as possible.

 

[LittleRocker]

I pretty much submitted all my secondaries at the deadline and wasn't complete till late November. (not by choice, but because of my school's idiotic premed committee). The stress of seeing everybody else get interviews months before you're even complete should be enough to deter you from applying late at all costs. People had already been accepted before I even BEGAN getting interview invites. Fortunately, of the 20 schools I applied to I got interviews at 13 and have been accepted at 4, with as many waitlists. Even though it didn't really hurt me in the end, the stress of feeling like you're in limbo is bad enough. Apply early.

 

[branch]

The official transcript MUST be received before AMCAS sends off your application to the specified schools right? I'm asking this because I'm a Canadian applicant, and my school's final exams finish on May 8th, and the final marks for my junior year likely won't be available till after May 20th. How long does it take AMCAS to verify your transcript information? Or is that done after submission of the whole application (i.e. June 1st or later)?

It would be great if someone could clarify these questions for me, thanks.

 

[FlowLimited]

The official transcript MUST be received before AMCAS sends off your application to the specified schools right? I'm asking this because I'm a Canadian applicant, and my school's final exams finish on May 8th, and the final marks for my junior year likely won't be available till after May 20th. How long does it take AMCAS to verify your transcript information? Or is that done after submission of the whole application (i.e. June 1st or later)?

It would be great if someone could clarify these questions for me, thanks.

Yes, your application cannot be verified without the necessary transcripts. As long as you request your transcripts as soon as possible, you won't be behind at all.

Here's how it works: You submit your completed application online and request your transcripts (in whatever order). Once your transcripts have arrived, your application will be moved to the verification pile. If AMCAS receives your transcripts before you submit your application, your application will be moved directly to the verification process once you submit. They need your transcripts before you can be verified because they check the grades you inputted against your transcript and make any necessary changes. Once your application is verified, it's sent to the schools you indicated.

 

[branch]

Yes, your application cannot be verified without the necessary transcripts. As long as you request your transcripts as soon as possible, you won't be behind at all.

Here's how it works: You submit your completed application online and request your transcripts (in whatever order). Once your transcripts have arrived, your application will be moved to the verification pile. They need your transcripts before you can be verified because they check the grades you inputted against your transcript and make any necessary changes. Once your application is verified, it's sent to the schools you indicated.

Thanks for the reply!

So to clarify: the verification process does not begin before the first day applications can be submitted (June 1st) for all applicants, right? I.e. if someone got their transcripts in on May 15th, AMCAS won't verify it till the application is submitted?

 

[FlowLimited]

Thanks for the reply!

So to clarify: the verification process does not begin before the first day applications can be submitted (June 1st) for all applicants, right? I.e. if someone got their transcripts in on May 15th, AMCAS won't verify it till the application is submitted?

Correct. Applications are not verified until they are submitted. When your transcripts arrive, AMCAS merely indicates that they have been received on your status page. Nothing is done with them until you submit your application. So the benefit of getting transcripts in early is being able to move on to the verification process immediately once you submit.

 

[majestic red]

The official transcript MUST be received before AMCAS sends off your application to the specified schools right? I'm asking this because I'm a Canadian applicant, and my school's final exams finish on May 8th, and the final marks for my junior year likely won't be available till after May 20th. How long does it take AMCAS to verify your transcript information? Or is that done after submission of the whole application (i.e. June 1st or later)?

It would be great if someone could clarify these questions for me, thanks.

Yes, the official transcript must be received before AMCAS sends your application to your schools. But since AMCAS doesn't open until early June and didn't even begin sending out applications until the end of June, I think you'll be fine. Actually, my school is on a quarter system, so grades for Spring quarter aren't available until almost the end of the June. Since my grades were already pretty high, I just went ahead and applied before getting my junior year Spring grades, and then updated my schools later once I did get the grades. I don't think it's hurt me at all. So if you're in this situation, it may only be worth it to wait for your final grades if you think that they're going to push you over some sort of edge GPA-wise.

 

[branch]

Yes, the official transcript must be received before AMCAS sends your application to your schools. But since AMCAS doesn't open until early June and didn't even begin sending out applications until the end of June, I think you'll be fine. Actually, my school is on a quarter system, so grades for Spring quarter aren't available until almost the end of the June. Since my grades were already pretty high, I just went ahead and applied before getting my junior year Spring grades, and then updated my schools later once I did get the grades. I don't think it's hurt me at all. So if you're in this situation, it may only be worth it to wait for your final grades if you think that they're going to push you over some sort of edge GPA-wise.

Oh, so the schools don't require all your grades from the freshmen to junior years when they see your application?

 

[StealYourCarbon]

Yes, your application cannot be verified without the necessary transcripts. As long as you request your transcripts as soon as possible, you won't be behind at all.

Here's how it works: You submit your completed application online and request your transcripts (in whatever order). Once your transcripts have arrived, your application will be moved to the verification pile. If AMCAS receives your transcripts before you submit your application, your application will be moved directly to the verification process once you submit. They need your transcripts before you can be verified because they check the grades you inputted against your transcript and make any necessary changes. Once your application is verified, it's sent to the schools you indicated.

I understand that AMCAS needs my transcripts before I can be verified and that once verified the application will be sent to the schools chosen. I was wondering though, can you be verified and have your application sent to schools without an MCAT score? I am taking it June 18th, but I know I will have everything else in the application completed before mid-July, when I receive my scores. Can I submit my application as soon as it's ready, even it if means before my MCAT date/MCAT results? Does this benefit/hurt me at all?


Thank you!

 

[FlowLimited]

I understand that AMCAS needs my transcripts before I can be verified and that once verified the application will be sent to the schools chosen. I was wondering though, can you be verified and have your application sent to schools without an MCAT score? I am taking it June 18th, but I know I will have everything else in the application completed before mid-July, when I receive my scores. Can I submit my application as soon as it's ready, even it if means before my MCAT date/MCAT results? Does this benefit/hurt me at all?


Thank you!

You do not need to have your MCAT score before you submit your application. You can and will be verified even without it. What will happen is that, when schools receive your application, it will be placed in a "hold for MCAT" pile until your score arrives. At that time, they'll start to look things over. Furthermore, it's likely that you'll still receive a number of secondary applications even before your scores arrive.