early vs late amcas; just spent an hr browsing amcas thread

[Dulcina]

Ok i just spent way too long trying to browse through the 2008-2009 amcas help thread, so I'm just gonna ask here, and hope someone is nice enough to answer this question for the millionth time...

what is considered "early" for submitting your amcas? what is "late"?

approximately when do your chances start getting hurt? late july? august? I read that it can take up to 6 weeks for amcas processing, so when should I aim for?

thanks =)

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[bozz]

I also heard that it can take 4 days only for verification if you submit early (1st half of june) .. is this true?

 

[Dulcina]

ughhhh so i just waded through that thread for a bit longer, and the unavoidable stress of reading SDN posts is setting in.

Why does it seem like so many people are done with their AMCAS in may, and just waiting for it to open up so they can submit? They freak me out!!! Someone reassure me that I'm still ok, despite the fact that I need to fix my activities list, and WRITE my personal statement (have a draft, was told by an advisor to rewrite).

Also, I gathered from a few posts that submitting even in late June is considered "early"... true/not true? Is July late, or "normal"?

Thanks guys, I better get my a$$ in gear.

 

[Picklesali]

ughhhh so i just waded through that thread for a bit longer, and the unavoidable stress of reading SDN posts is setting in.

Why does it seem like so many people are done with their AMCAS in may, and just waiting for it to open up so they can submit? They freak me out!!! Someone reassure me that I'm still ok, despite the fact that I need to fix my activities list, and WRITE my personal statement (have a draft, was told by an advisor to rewrite).

Also, I gathered from a few posts that submitting even in late June is considered "early"... true/not true? Is July late, or "normal"?

Thanks guys, I better get my a$$ in gear.

I submitted my AMCAS in late July last year - it took exactly 3 weeks to be verified. People who submitted after me had to wait even longer. I think if you submit any time in June you are fine - even July is still fine. The part that really matters is when you are submitting your secondaries. The people who are getting in the earliest will get early interviews - these are the people who have a HUGE advantage at rolling admissions schools. OF course, not all schools will even have their secondaries out until much later (think california schools and duke) so you'll be waiting for those anyway. TO be in the middle of the pack you will be submitting your secondaries in August and September. Depending on what you are doing next year (senior year vs. working) you may want to finish the bulk of your secondaries before school starts - it is a huge pain to be working on them while in classes.

 

[Picklesali]

Oh - and I would really get a move on your PS. Try to get as many people as possible to read it.

 

[ar2388]

dude! seriously! i also freaked out when i saw how many people had everything done already! wtf?!?! i gave myself the first 2 weeks in june to do everything before submitting but now i feel as if i suck.. hah.. i thought i was crazy, but you guys with everything done by june 1 have me beat.

 

[bozz]

Everyone says submit in June and you're ok...

but submitting during the first week of June HAS TO give you some advantage, doesn't it?

 

[silverlining1]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=413112&page=15 That's the AMCAS verification thread from last year. You can see that people who submitted during the first few days got verified in 1-3 days. Once you get into July, it takes about 3 weeks.

Oh, and someone made a graph of submission date vs. time to verify. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=5414376&postcount=458

 

[bozz]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=413112&page=15 That's the AMCAS verification thread from last year. You can see that people who submitted during the first few days got verified in 1-3 days. Once you get into July, it takes about 3 weeks.

Oh, and someone made a graph of submission date vs. time to verify. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=5414376&postcount=458

wow nice... but that doesn't mean you start getting secondaries immediately after verification right?

 

[silverlining1]

wow nice... but that doesn't mean you start getting secondaries immediately after verification right?

Right. I don't think schools necessarily get your information right after verification, especially if you submit so early. Also, schools vary in when they release their secondary (for example, I don't think Stanford released theirs until late July or something). So, my impression is that submitting the first day versus mid-June won't make much of a difference. But if you were to submit in the second half of July, for example, you probably wouldn't be verified until mid-August and then receive secondaries around the end of August.

This might still be "early" (there's no definite delineation), but if you're still going to be in school next year, it's nice to get your secondaries out of the way before school starts.

 

[TheRealMD]

Submitting in June is fine. I submitted July 2nd and had to wait 2 weeks. The other important thing is that transcripts take forever to be marked as received (also 2 weeks for me). So I'd send them ASAP when possible.

 

[silverlining1]

Submitting in June is fine. I submitted July 2nd and had to wait 2 weeks. The other important thing is that transcripts take forever to be marked as received (also 2 weeks for me). So I'd send them ASAP when possible.

Super, super good advice. It doesn't matter if you're not ready to submit yet; get those transcripts in so that they're ready when you are.

 

[DocRunner07]

Well if it makes any of y'all fretting about not having it in yet feel any better I will not be done with my Apps until mid July, and even at that point I will not have MCATS (8/15) on there and will most likely be missing one LOR.

 

[elderjack21]

Super, super good advice. It doesn't matter if you're not ready to submit yet; get those transcripts in so that they're ready when you are.

I had one set of transcripts that didn't show up for weeks...definitely send those in now.

Also...it is better to wait a week to send in your final AMCAS, then it would be to rush it and send in something that hasn't been properly proof-read and re-written, etc...you can't make any real changes to your application once you hit send and the admissions folks on the other end see hundreds even thousands of applications. Don't give them a reason to dismiss yours.

 

[Dulcina]

hmm. ok, I actually feel better after reading an SDN thread!!

I've got my transcripts sent already (I ordered them May 25, one was sent May 27, the other I have no clue), and I'm waiting for them to receive them.

I freaked out when I discovered that I'm missing a LOR that I thought was written 2 yrs ago... I really hope she still remembers me, and has a copy of that recc I'll be so sad if she jsut forgot to write it.

I guess its time to start workin on activities lists, PS, and that dang list of schools that seems so hard to narrow down.

*stress stress* *deeeeeeep breath*

 

[MCATsMyMistress]

Just my .02, but I would not worry too much about the exact date you submit (begining of a certain month vs end). It's been said before on SDN that there is a large number of the people (not all) on this site that are really hardcore and may not represent the majority of people applying/getting accepted to medical school. I would reccommend applying when you are ready instead of rushing to get your application in by some phantom date. I have read a lot in the past on SDN that submitting your primary September and later is still very possible (I actually know many people with low stats that didn't have a problem getting in after they applied late), but obviously gives you a slight disadvantage at schools with a rolling admission policy. If there is not rolling admission, then it doesn't matter when you submit. Don't worry, you'll get in somewhere!

 

[bozz]

Is it that time to start reminding professors -_-

 

[dienekes88]

Submitting in June is fine. I submitted July 2nd and had to wait 2 weeks. The other important thing is that transcripts take forever to be marked as received (also 2 weeks for me). So I'd send them ASAP when possible.

QFT.

Transcripts are annoying as heck.

I think people were essentially done, because they had an idea of the prompt (is it the same every year?) and had write ups of all the work/activities blurbs.

 

[bioteach]

I submitted in June and the turn around time was less than one week. The MD interview that resulted in an acceptance wasn't until April. So who knows if it would have made a difference if I submitted later or not. Just glad I submitted early so I wouldn't always wonder if late submission prevented me from getting into a school of my choice.

 

[silverlion]

Exactly three weeks for me...I submitted on the 5th of August...