How bad is it to not submit a secondary but still reapply next cycle?

[Afghan_Prince]

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So I'm kind of freaking out right now. This last cycle I applied to A LOT of schools to the point where when I was writing secondaries I was running out of money to submit them and it was getting too late into the cycle. So a lot of them got unfinished for me because I didn't think I'd get in with a secondary that late in submission. I made a lot of mistakes with my secondaries too (taking about a month for a lot of them because I thought quality > speed, but I didn't prioritize both). This time will be different and I think I'm going to make a smarter school list as well as completing all of my secondaries on time when I get them.

But...how much will that previous mistake be used against me? Will schools see that I didn't submit a secondary and then hold it against me? Really freaking out about this because if that's so then I feel like I've screwed myself out of A LOT of schools then. Please someone help?

 

[GreenDuck12]

So I'm kind of freaking out right now. This last cycle I applied to A LOT of schools to the point where when I was writing secondaries I was running out of money to submit them and it was getting too late into the cycle. So a lot of them got unfinished for me because I didn't think I'd get in with a secondary that late in submission. I made a lot of mistakes with my secondaries too (taking about a month for a lot of them because I thought quality > speed, but I didn't prioritize both). This time will be different and I think I'm going to make a smarter school list as well as completing all of my secondaries on time when I get them.

But...how much will that previous mistake be used against me? Will schools see that I didn't submit a secondary and then hold it against me? Really freaking out about this because if that's so then I feel like I've screwed myself out of A LOT of schools then. Please someone help?

What do you mean by hold it against you? If you're asking if they will see that you did not complete the secondary the year before and disqualify your application - then no. If you're asking if you would need to indicate that you previously applied to the school on a secondary application even though did not submit a secondary application - then yes. However, if they decided to look at your file from the previous year, they would see that you did not complete the process and were not fully evaluated.

 

[Afghan_Prince]

What do you mean by hold it against you? If you're asking if they will see that you did not complete the secondary the year before and disqualify your application - then no. If you're asking if you would need to indicate that you previously applied to the school on a secondary application even though did not submit a secondary application - then yes. However, if they decided to look at your file from the previous year, they would see that you did not complete the process and were not fully evaluated.

Yup that was exactly what I was asking thank you!

 

[Blueprint Med School]

This is going to vary from school to school. One of my friends (let's call him Fred) reached out to the dean of admissions at one of the medical schools he applied to, and the dean asked Fred why he didn't submit his secondary application in the year before. Apparently, that was the reason Fred hadn't been offered an interview yet in the second cycle.

Not every school will be like this, but yes, it can hurt you. However, don't let that be a reason not to reapply.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[mmchick]

This is going to vary from school to school. One of my friends (let's call him Fred) reached out to the dean of admissions at one of the medical schools he applied to, and the dean asked Fred why he didn't submit his secondary application in the year before. Apparently, that was the reason Fred hadn't been offered an interview yet in the second cycle.

To get at this point, OP, if you ever were asked to explain why you didn't complete a secondary, I would lean heavily on the cost-prohibitive limitations you mentioned as primary reason. Steer clear from using excuses like "didn't prioritize correctly", "didn't plan well", "ran out of time" etc. as these types of things could cast negative light on you as a candidate, perhaps something Fred mistakenly did. Otherwise, I don't see why schools would hold it against you. They shouldn't hold anything more against someone who never completed a secondary vs someone who did but was outright rejected. Seems like the lesser of two evils as far as being a reapplicant goes.