Earliest secondary apps received?

[IronLily]

Just curious, when was the earliest anyone received a secondary application and from what schools? What was the timeframe for submitting secondaries? I know submitting the AMCAS app early helps, but does submitting secondaries early affect ADCOM decisions about who to interview? Similarly, what are the earliests interview dates?

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[desertdweller]

Turn the secondaries around as fast as possible without compromising quality. Poorly written secondaries will keep you from getting interviews. It would help to pre-write or jot down bullet points for answers to commonly asked questions.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Just curious, when was the earliest anyone received a secondary application and from what schools? What was the timeframe for submitting secondaries? I know submitting the AMCAS app early helps, but does submitting secondaries early affect ADCOM decisions about who to interview? Similarly, what are the earliests interview dates?

THe school-specific threads from last year are your best friend. For the schools on your list, peruse these threads for an indication of timing of secondary releases and interview invites. The conventional wisdom is to turnaround the secondary no later than 2 weeks, but the earlier the better. Pre-write as much as you can.

 

[PreciousHamburgers]

Just curious, when was the earliest anyone received a secondary application and from what schools? What was the timeframe for submitting secondaries? I know submitting the AMCAS app early helps, but does submitting secondaries early affect ADCOM decisions about who to interview? Similarly, what are the earliests interview dates?

The date you are marked complete at schools is the only date that matters to ADCOMs in terms of being early. If you submit your AMCAS on day one, it doesn't matter if you take 2 or 3 weeks to submit your secondaries.

Some schools automatically submit secondaries right away. BU for example.

 

[IronLily]

Alright, thanks. I'll be sure to check out the school-specific threads. Assuming I did submit my AMCAS on the first day possible, would July generally be the earliest time to expect secondaries?

 

[PreciousHamburgers]

Alright, thanks. I'll be sure to check out the school-specific threads. Assuming I did submit my AMCAS on the first day possible, would July generally be the earliest time to expect secondaries?

July 1st, yes. A lot will come in that week and then more trickling in later.

 

[BurghMed]

Does anyone know if secondaries are sent out in order of AMCAS verification?

 

[nwts]

Does anyone know if secondaries are sent out in order of AMCAS verification?

I'm pretty sure medical schools have no way of knowing when you were verified. They just know what day they got your application from the AAMC. So basically, I'm pretty sure medical schools would have no way of knowing who was verified June 3rd and who was verified June 30th, they just know that they got all those applications on July 1st. Schools have some day that they start sending out secondaries (every school is different). On this day, they will send a secondary to everyone whose primary they have at that time. After that day, they will keep sending out secondaries as new primaries come in.

 

[emraldragon]

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that AAMC is slightly delaying the release to medical schools this year to account for the change in MCAT. Thus, your secondaries might not arrive from school X as early they had in years previous. I would definitely keep an eye on the school specific threads as people will be posting when their secondaries arrive, and then 30 minutes later they will be posting when they submit those secondaries back to the school (and then they will be complaining that the school's website is running slowly because 2000 other people are trying to do the same thing at the same time).

I have also heard the conventional 2 week wisdom. Most of my secondaries got submitted within the two week window, none within 30 min b/c I didn't prewrite (bad emraldragon, bad dragon!). Even though it seems some schools are not as strict about that time window, getting them back in swiftly seems to me to be a great way to show that you are interested in the school. If your secondaries are showing up over a month after you received them, my first conclusion wouldn't be "Gee, so and so must be really busy with work and/or school and are making time to write while they can," it would be, "Gee, so and so took four weeks to write two 200 word essays, maybe they wrote all their other secondaries first because they just really don't want to go here, or maybe they really don't want to go to med school at all because they just can't make time in their life."

Harsh, I know. Not all adcoms will think that way. Most may not. But part of winning this game is hard work on your part, the other part is luck in the right adcom finding your app and falling in love with it. Don't give the adcom looking for faults any reason to find one.

 

[vellez]

For me, it seemed like the two week window wasn't that critical, but maybe for others it was. I submitted them once I feel they were good, usually within 3 weeks of getting them.