dilemma help!! delay submitting AMCAS or not

[CBear44]

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I'm just about ready to submit the AMCAS app but I don't have shadowing experience and I'm planning to shadow starting in mid july. my stats are decent (3.76GPA/3.67sGPA, 31S mcat, tons of research, good ECs) but I'm worried submitting my app in august will hurt my chances 🙁

If I start shadowing mid july what's the earliest time I could include that on my app?
(Mid july is the earliest I can shadow because right now I'm finishing up an internship and studying to retake the mcat on july6th.)

my top four pick schools are: case western (college program), Maryland (my state school), Mt. Sinai, Columbia
I'm planning to apply to a wide range of schools with most being mid-tierish

So should i submit my app now or wait to submit in ~two months so I can include shadowing?
any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks!!

 

[zeppelinpage4]

I have no experience myself, but you could probably submit, and then mention the shadowing in secondaries or send an update letter.

 

[Fivo]

lol. Are you really asking if you should delay your app for TWO months to add in some shadowing? Not sure if serious...

NO, Do not delay your app. Adding shadowing experience is not worth the 3+ month verification (If you submit in 2 months, it will take a month or more to get verified).

 

[ceasefire]

The big question: do you have any clinical experience with volunteering or paid employment?


If not, you may want to get some STAT. It tells adcoms that you at least have some idea about what you're getting involved with. They need to know that you know medicine isn't marshmallows and rainbows, among other things.

 

[CBear44]

Yep I have a year of clinical volunteering experience.

I understand delaying two months sounds stupid..the thing is, seems like now if I submit it'll actually take longer to get verified (~a month) then if I submit in august since now they're reaching peak times in terms of verification

 

[BABSstudent]

If you submit now then yes, it may take a month.

If you submit in August, then it will take less time. Probably mid to late August verification

HOWEVER!!!!
Turning it in a month and turning it in August will leave a few weeks difference of when medical schools receive your application/secondary, which could mean big things.

 

[NCMED101]

I thought submitting now will get it verified in 1-2 weeks?

 

[Praefectus]

Save it for an update letter.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Why does nobody on SDN check their facts/data? If you're going to suggest something to someone, at least have something to verify your claim. Don't be a cancer to the forums.

Here's the data from last year. Although this year's application opened 6/5, expect the same 'trend' to occur.

The most recent verification is

coolster0040 Submitted: 6/5 (12:30 PM EST), Transcripts Received: 6/7, Verified: 6/18

That is a 9 day turnaround, which is ~2 days later than typical. But if you take into account the weekend, if it'd been submitted just a tad earlier it may have made it Friday, which is a full day ahead of schedule.

However, that could be anywhere during the work day on 6/7 as a submission. We'll assume it was at noon for a simplification.

Tomorrow they should be working on more 6/7 and possibly 6/8 submission dates and verifying them. We'll have more of an idea how close the trend is later this week since there was a backload from 6/5, but chances are we'll end up being right on the exact same trend.

Therefore, if you'd submitted today, you would be looking at a 13 day turnaround. That would be a verification on ~July 2nd/3rd (post-weekend).

The last day to have a chance of getting verified before/on 6/29 was likely early yesterday. Of course, this could be faster/slower than it actually ends up being in actuality.

Now, if you wait until mid July, you may be looking at a month or more for them to verify it, as shown in the graph.

I'd suggest submitting as soon as you're ready, you can always send a secondary/update letter with such info. Each day you wait now basically adds another day to your verification time. So waiting a week, not only are you submitting a week later, but it'll also take a full extra week to verify. This trend seems to hold true until mid-July, when it peaks. Don't rush it, but be aware of it.

 

[phillies1]

I had the same issue. I did some shadowing for a few hours so I put that in, but I'm also going to shadow another physician in July. I just put "Scheduled to shadow blahblah in July". I figured that it couldn't hurt. If you have a section related to clinical experience, perhaps you could mention it in the description.

 

[CBear44]

hm, I guess I should submit soon then..just still feeling very uneasy about the lack of shadowing =/

@phillies1: that's a really good idea..I just don't know how badly they look upon "future activities" on the AMCAS. I know its a no-no to put a planned activity as one of our ECs but not sure if briefly mentioning it in another event description would be considered the same thing..

I also had this idea that I could pre-write my secondary essays while I waited to submit the AMCAS app. That way I could hopefully get my secondaries submitted by late aug (given the worst case scenario that my verification takes a month). Would that still be considered late?

 

[Ismet]

Yep I have a year of clinical volunteering experience.

I understand delaying two months sounds stupid..the thing is, seems like now if I submit it'll actually take longer to get verified (~a month) then if I submit in august since now they're reaching peak times in terms of verification

If you submit now, you probably have a max turnaround of 2 weeks.
If you submit in August, you would be facing a month turnaround.