Committee letter won't be sent until end of June most likely

[radioactive15]

My committee interview is scheduled the last week of May, and I'm worried that I may not qualify for the early interview dates (Aug- Sept) because my letter would be received late.

My committee takes about 1 month from the time of interview to send the letter, and could be even longer because we have a lot of premeds in our school.

Can I go ahead and submit the AMCAS on June 1, and still expect to receive early interviews if my committee letter is sent to AMCAS in late June/early July?

I'm aware you can submit the primary without any letters, and also that your secondaries will not be complete until after the letters are received. Will I be at a disadvantage for early interview dates if my letter gets sent in early July (assuming I complete my secondaries within 2 weeks of receiving them, etc)

EDIT: In addition, How long does it usually take after my committee mails the letter for AMCAS to receive, process, and send to individual schools? 2-3 weeks?

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[ciestar]

My committee letter wasn't sent into AMCAS until the end of July. I got 10 interviews. You'll be fine.

It's also done electronically and is sent to all schools you select it be sent to. How long it takes a school to mark your application complete is at their discretion.

 

[Lancer]

My committee letter wasn't sent until mid August.

 

[Glandzburg]

Most schools don't even send out their secondaries until the AMCAS transmission date, which in the past has been the very end of June or early July. Having all of your secondaries complete by mid-July, including letters, is still very early. A lot of schools don't send their committee letters until August or later, so you will most definitely not be adversely affected.

 

[Lawpy]

As long as the committee letter is in by Labor Day, you'll be fine.

Source:

Committees can have short turn arounds... on the other hand, some write all the letters and upload them in a batch at the end of the summer. Either way, here's a new LizzyM rule for you: committee letters should be in by Labor Day. This is a long season and having an interview with a committee on July 1 is not the end of the world.

 

[Nels10]

Most schools don't even send out their secondaries until the AMCAS transmission date, which in the past has been the very end of June or early July. Having all of your secondaries complete by mid-July, including letters, is still very early. A lot of schools don't send their committee letters until August or later, so you will most definitely not be adversely affected.

AMCAS transmission date is June 24th this year!

 

[Cookiess]

You'll need your committee letter by the time you submit your secondaries, with some wiggle room. Assuming you submit your primary AMCAS application in early June, your application will be transmitted to medical schools around June 24th. Secondaries will start coming in at the end of June/early July. Even if you have your secondaries submitted and committee letter submitted by mid July, you'll be fine. That leaves 6-8 weeks for your committee letter to be sent to AMCAS and medical schools, which should be enough time.

 

[quicheduty]

Echoing the above, obviously the earlier the better, but don't feel distressed if you don't get "early" interviews and even so, a July committee letter is still pretty early (I was complete in September). If it helps your last question, my letter was sent electronically and I was complete at most schools the next day, and my first II came a day after. Focus on what you CAN control, so prewrite those secondaries!

 

[ReadyforMed]

Another thing you have to consider is how your school does the committee letters. At my school the letter writer won't interview you until she has your 3 rec letters from professors, a pre-application, and a rough draft of your PS. To but you in the queue for writing she needs your interview, official MCAT score and a VERIFIED copy of your AMCAS application. I was one of the first non-ED applicants from my school to get their letter in. Mine was submitted on August 11.

In my case, I was lucky. I have plenty of friends who didn't have letters get in until after November 1st even though they had all their stuff in by September. So, pay attention to how your committee does it. It can be the difference between getting in and not getting in...which is quite drastic.