Do any schools start reviewing secondaries without letters?

[Shockwave456]

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Does anyone know of any schools that start reviewing verified primary/secondary apps if letters have not been uploaded yet? Is there any advantage to submitting the secondary before the letters are uploaded? I know Duke doesn't want letters until you are invited to interview.

Thanks!

 

[DAPI]

Does anyone know of any schools that start reviewing verified primary/secondary apps if letters have not been uploaded yet? Is there any advantage to submitting the secondary before the letters are uploaded? I know Duke doesn't want letters until you are invited to interview.

Thanks!

The general consensus is that schools will review the primary app w/o letters to screen you for a secondary. After you submit the secondary, the are going to want letters before they start to review that. This is how most med schools work, and I cannot think of one that does not work that way, but as you pointed out Duke does not, so there may be other, but not likely if they participate in the AMCAS letter service due to how information is transmitted to schools.

 

[mybubbles627]

The general consensus is that schools will review the primary app w/o letters to screen you for a secondary. After you submit the secondary, the are going to want letters before they start to review that. This is how most med schools work, and I cannot think of one that does not work that way, but as you pointed out Duke does not, so there may be other, but not likely if they participate in the AMCAS letter service due to how information is transmitted to schools.

That will only be true of schools who actually screen for secondaries. Very few schools actually do that. Most will automatically send you a secondary because they want your money.

 

[Shockwave456]

The general consensus is that schools will review the primary app w/o letters to screen you for a secondary. After you submit the secondary, the are going to want letters before they start to review that. This is how most med schools work, and I cannot think of one that does not work that way, but as you pointed out Duke does not, so there may be other, but not likely if they participate in the AMCAS letter service due to how information is transmitted to schools.

So, generally speaking, there wouldn't be any advantage to submitting a secondary before the letters are uploaded? My school is running late...

 

[DAPI]

Probably not, but I would counter with the question of "what's the advantage to waiting?"

If your LORs are not in, you can take a little more time in writing your answers, but I would still get them in promptly.

 

[RockMed Doc]

I got an interview invitation last year the morning after my letters were all in. I can only think that the school had already decided to invite me and was just waiting for the app to be complete. I don't know for sure, but it seems to make sense. The letters were sent at 4 pm one day and I had an invite 9 am the next. So logic tells me they had already reviewed my app.