Can't submit June 3rd

[Donald Kimball]

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I don't think my app will be where I want it on Jun 3rd.

At what point are you at a serious disadvantage if schools don't receive your app on Jun 28th? Is it a problem if they get it July 7th? August 7th?

,

 

[Goro]

My read of the MD app cycle is that June and July are good, early August is OK, band end of August is pushing it.

I don't think my app will be where I want it on Jun 3rd.

At what point are you at a serious disadvantage if schools don't receive your app on Jun 28th? Is it a problem if they get it July 7th? August 7th?

,

 

[Heplayer92]

Besides a faster verification process...does it really matter if you submit early June versus mid-late June or even July?

Some schools don't even send out secondaries until July right?

 

[justAstudent]

Besides a faster verification process...does it really matter if you submit early June versus mid-late June or even July?

Some schools don't even send out secondaries until July right?

Depends on the school.

 

[DoctorWhoo]

It is late May and I still am not certain of where I am going... I blame this in part on putting things off so much. Get things in as early as you can, future you will be happier that way.

 

[samurkai]

Besides a faster verification process...does it really matter if you submit early June versus mid-late June or even July?

Some schools don't even send out secondaries until July right?

Many/most schools won't send out secondaries until you are verified. Given the longer verification times associated w submitting in late June/early July, that means you won't even be receiving secondaries until August. So yeah, it does matter! (Source: submitted my secondaries in early July)

 

[mk2015]

According to my advisor unless you're one of the students who is going to be extremely competitive for the top tier schools and want to have a choice between them then as long as your application is in by early august you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[samurkai]

According to my advisor unless you're one of the students who is going to be extremely competitive for the top tier schools and want to have a choice between them then as long as your application is in by early august you shouldn't have a problem.

This year there were significant delays by early July- my application took over 6 weeks to be verified. AMCAS states that verification may take up to 6-8 weeks. This means that a late June/early July submission date could result in not even receiving secondaries until mid-late August. You can prewrite them and have them ready to submit as soon as your primary is verified, but it's still not an ideal situation.

Also, to be honest, I completely disagree with your advisor. If you're at the very top of the applicant pool (38+ MCAT, 3.9+ GPA, very strong ECs) you'll probably stand out to most schools enough to receive interview invitations and acceptances even in October. For applicants who are more borderline (read: most applicants), the later you submit, the more likely you are to fall through the cracks. You're simply in a much larger pool of candidates when you submit later in the cycle and the odds are significantly worse.

 

[samurkai]

According to my advisor unless you're one of the students who is going to be extremely competitive for the top tier schools and want to have a choice between them then as long as your application is in by early august you shouldn't have a problem.

Also, full disclosure: my advisor said the exact same thing to me last year, which is why I submitted in early July. I got into a great medical school that I'm incredibly excited and lucky to attend, but I still spent the entire cycle kicking myself over not applying a couple of weeks earlier and I probably would have received more interviews/acceptances had I applied literally 2-3 weeks earlier.

 

[ace12345]

Last year was really a mess. I would apply as soon as possible regardless.

 

[mk2015]

Also, full disclosure: my advisor said the exact same thing to me last year, which is why I submitted in early July. I got into a great medical school that I'm incredibly excited and lucky to attend, but I still spent the entire cycle kicking myself over not applying a couple of weeks earlier and I probably would have received more interviews/acceptances had I applied literally 2-3 weeks earlier.

As a point of clarity. I do agree that you should apply as soon as possible regardless of situation but worst case scenario I wouldn't get too worked up about applying a little later than ideal.

 

[Member 0922]

I submitted my primary July 2 last year and was not verified until mid August (and so schools didn't receive my app until then). It's fine if you don't submit the first day, but in order to get your secondaries in July & early August, you should submit within the first couple of weeks I would say. Don't sacrifice quality in your app to make sure it is submitted June 3 exactly.

 

[Ismet]

Pretty sure you gave some pre-meds a heart attack with your thread title

The application you submit should be the best it can be. If that means you won't be ready to submit on June 3, so be it. In order to still be relatively early, try to submit within the first couple weeks of June 3. If you're verified by July 7, you're still extremely early. If you're verified by August 7, it's not considered late, but it's also not early. Some schools start interviewing in early to mid August.

 

[Heplayer92]

This graph is pretty helpful!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2012-verification-data-graphed.955913/#post-13158801

 

[mdambitions]

If your app really isn't ready, then don't submit it. You don't want to look unprepared and foolish. But if you're being neurotic and nit-picky for no good reason, get over it. I submitted my application at the end of June last year, and it still took >6 weeks to get verified. I had a lot of transcripts... Oddly enough, the school I really wanted to go to, immediately sent a secondary, long before I was verified. They also had a 2 week required turnaround, which meant they had my finished secondary, before they had my verified primary. Probably one of the few schools that operate like that; but I was slightly unprepared to start receiving secondaries.

Anyway. The point is, don't unnecessarily hesitate. I'm certain that submitting as early as possible helped me get accepted. A few more weeks to sit on my submission, wouldn't have changed anything about the application I had spent years preparing. I had a below average MCAT, and probably would have been outright rejected had I waited until the end of summer. A friend of mine, with an otherwise solid app (and probably better than mine statistically), applied in mid-August, didn't get verified until October, and had zero luck this cycle.

 

[LostinLift]

I don't think my app will be where I want it on Jun 3rd.

At what point are you at a serious disadvantage if schools don't receive your app on Jun 28th? Is it a problem if they get it July 7th? August 7th?

,

I submitted late July, wasn't complete until End of September at the earliest, late October at the latest. I received a good amount of II, but I feel an earlier app would have netted me a few more.

It's not like any one thing will guarantee success. Everything just adds up. The earlier the better.