At what point will this hurt me?

[ciestar]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Yes, neurotic pre-med applicant over here. My UG appears to be dragging its feet when it comes to submitting my LORs/Committee Packet. At what point will this negatively affect my chances? Please put my mind at ease and tell me it's not already screwing me over. I am already freaking out a little....

 

[Mad Jack]

If you're submitting for this cycle, it's already hurting you. I'm sorry. The longer they take the worse the impact will be, unfortunately. If your stats are solid, it shouldn't kill you just yet though.

 

[WedgeDawg]

It happens to a lot of people. Nothing you can really do at this point so try not to worry about it too much.

 

[ReadyforMed]

Totally understand. At my undergrad, you don't get interviewed for your letter until all your letters of rec from faculty are in. Then, you still have to wait for a verified amcas and MCAT scores before they put you in the queue. It can then take anywhere from 4-8 weeks for your letter to get into AMCAS.

I am just trying to get my secondaries in so that there is nothing else holding my application up when it finally gets uploaded.

 

[inky]

If you're submitting for this cycle, it's already hurting you. I'm sorry. The longer they take the worse the impact will be, unfortunately. If your stats are solid, it shouldn't kill you just yet though.

So how do applicants with committee letters deal with it?
I'm a reapplicant who does not have solid UG stats. Last year my letter was submitted at the very end of august and some schools didn't mark me as complete until October (all secondaries were in well before the committee letter was).

This year, I emailed the head of the pre-med committee about my concerns and he said he's never heard of schools not getting the letters immediately and that as long as I'm complete by september my chances are the same as everyone else. After a lot of pushing he promised I'd be in the first batch uploaded mid-july (still waiting).

But the point is, my school has a well known committee process, I can't skip it and they refuse to upload for anyone before "mid-july". What are we supposed to do?


Sorry, this came across a little ranty, I'm just so frustrated by the process. I do not blame not getting in last cycle on the letter my application has it's own weaknesses, but I do feel like getting everything in early (all secondaries I have received have been submitted already) is the only to give myself to best shot possible.

 

[WedgeDawg]

So how do applicants with committee letters deal with it?
I'm a reapplicant who does not have solid UG stats. Last year my letter was submitted at the very end of august and some schools didn't mark me as complete until October (all secondaries were in well before the committee letter was).

This year, I emailed the head of the pre-med committee about my concerns and he said he's never heard of schools not getting the letters immediately and that as long as I'm complete by september my chances are the same as everyone else. After a lot of pushing he promised I'd be in the first batch uploaded mid-july (still waiting).

But the point is, my school has a well known committee process, I can't skip it and they refuse to upload for anyone before "mid-july". What are we supposed to do?


Sorry, this came across a little ranty, I'm just so frustrated by the process. I do not blame not getting in last cycle on the letter my application has it's own weaknesses, but I do feel like getting everything in early (all secondaries I have received have been submitted already) is the only to give myself to best shot possible.

You just have to wait and hope for the best. There will be certain parts of this process that are outside your control - this is one of them.

 

[tea guzzling traveler]

I think it's a little irresponsible for committees to be the limiting factor on med school timelines. There are some schools that start the process last Fall to avoid exactly this problem.

 

[ciestar]

Good news: VirtualEvals received my letters yesterday afternoon. So AMCAS should download them soon.

 

[Banco]

I would say realistically if you have solid stats (30+, 3.7+), then being complete within August is okay. September+ and things start to get dicey.

If you got your letters in today then you are more than okay.

 

[ciestar]

I would say realistically if you have solid stats (30+, 3.7+), then being complete within August is okay. September+ and things start to get dicey.

If you got your letters in today then you are more than okay.

Just being neurotic, I guess. Or impatient? You decide.

But 3.73/3.79/31(11/8/12)

 

[GrapesofRath]

Just being neurotic, I guess. Or impatient? You decide.

But 3.73/3.79/31(11/8/12)

You were competitive last cycle(no the 8 verbal is not why you didn't get into a single med school). The late application had something to do with not getting in but there's a definitely chance there were other things wrong(ie missing something like clinical exposure, applying way too top heavy, not applying to enough schools etc)

 

[ciestar]

You were rather competitive last cycle(no the 8 verbal is not why you didn't get into a single med school). The late application had something to do with not getting in but there's a definitely chance there were other things wrong(ie missing something like clinical exposure, applying way too top heavy, not applying to enough schools etc)

I didn't apply last cycle...
didn't take my MCAT until November of 2014.

 

[GrapesofRath]

I didn't apply last cycle...
didn't take my MCAT until November of 2014.

Aaaaaaaaannnnddd this is what happens when people hijack threads.

Apply broadly and thoroughly, I think you'll get II's.

 

[ciestar]

Aaaaaaaaannnnddd this is what happens when people hijack threads.

Apply broadly and thoroughly, I think you'll get II's.

hahaha whoops!
Thanks!