How Badly Does a Late Application hurt?

[EndSong]

I'm wondering if there's a fundamental weakness in my application because I applied for the 2006 entering cycle and don't seem to be receiving a lot of love from the schools, only 2 interviews. No acceptances as yet. Was an August tester, complete at some schools around Nov/Dec

Stats:
35 S MCAT
3.72 GPA Cu
3.63 GPA BCPM

Research:
- 1 summer full time at Mol Bio at City of Hope
- 1 summer full time bioinformatics at Caltech
- 6 months part time working in HIV lab at City of Hope

Clinical:
- 2.5 years working volunteer rotations (ER, OBGYN, Internal, Peds) at Los Angeles County

Teaching:
- 6 months working with visually impaired, learning disabled college students
- 4 months working as Ochem and AP Chem teacher for Princeton Review
- 1 year of Ochem tutoring
- other misc tutoring throughout college

ECs:
- 5 years Martial Arts
- 12 years Piano
- Fraternity
- College Republicans
- library volunteer
- Other misc college groups

Awards:
- Misc Honor societies and scholarships

I'd personally really like to go to a top 20 school and am prepared to re-apply for the next cycle. And would like to get some ideas for strengthening my apps for the next cycle.

I am also still unsure of why I received the results I did this cycle. I applied to pretty much top 40 schools and think I got a broad range. Does a late application hurt this much? Or do I need to work on some deeper, fundamental issue?

Thanks a bunch

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[slb830]

My guess is that the problem is your late application - however top 20 schools are hard for even the early, most qualified applicants. How many schools did you apply to, and, what were they?

 

[blahhalb]

Yes, you'd want to get them in at least a month or two earlier - that timeframe can be crucial.

Also, the one side missing from what you've said so far is the writing - both yours and others. The personal statement and the letters of recommendation usually make up the difference when people get interviews despite their lower stats, or when people aren't getting enough mileage out of their stats.

 

[Severus]

I feel for ya, dude. The late application hurts... a lot. I never quite realized exactly how much it would hurt, but even being a fairly decent applicant doesn't seem to overcome a late application.

Better luck next year (should you have to apply again).

 

[ND2005]

August MCAT: Hurts

August MCAT + late apps: Hurts real bad

 

[LJDHC05]

Late applications to only the top 40 med schools will get you nowhere. Unfortunately, jumping through hoops is the name of the application game. The earlier you get your files complete, the broader the criteria for offering an interview. When you're complete in Nov/Dec (a byproduct of the Aug MCAT), you get shuffled in with a larger pool of applications, and really need to be super-human to stand out for an interview offer.

Next year, I'd broaden your range of schools, perhaps applying to 10 reach schools (top 40) and 10 realistic schools (gasp, some of those 86 'lower teir' schools). I call the top 40 reach schools because of the sheer volume of applicants (10,000+ amcas) that compete for their very limited seats, not because your application is weak. You dont have to go to a top 20 school to be an excellent physician or to get the residency you want. Dont worry about a stupid US News ranking, worry about finding a place that fits you well.

As far as timing goes, AMCAS is released in May, secondaries are released over the summer. Get your AMCAS done by mid June and try to hold each secondary for no more than 2 weeks so that you're completely finished by the end of september.

Oh and dont give up hope for this year either, there's still time! If you've been waitlisted, pester the schools with updates and show them that you're still interested. Good luck

 

[nikibean]

I think it's individual. Last year I applied in June: no love.
This year, my AMCAS was processed on Nov 4th, and I am interviewing at 2 UCs in the next two weeks, with one acceptance under my belt.
My friend Brendan applied in August last year and he's at Twin Cities - had interviews at other great schools too. Truly think it's individual. Good luck.

 

[RxnMan]

It depends if the school is rolling admissions or not. If it's not, then you may want to get as much on your app as possible, so you may want to delay it. Or you may miss a few ADCOM cycles and your application may get looked at a fewer number of times if it is a rolling admissions school.

 

[Wolfgang12345]

Hi Endsong,

I'm not sure why you've gotten so little love this cycle, but you might want to look into your personal statement and other short essays/essays on your AMCAS and secondaries. I think your information (MCAT/GPA/ECs) is extremely qualified, and is certainly much better than mine. I applied late as well (Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan) to 22 schools, and received seven interviews. Perhaps I could have had more if I had applied earlier, but I'm happy with 7.

The one major thing about your application which we can't see is how you present yourself through your writing - perhaps you are not presenting yourself in the most positive light - or perhaps you need a good "theme" to pull your application together better. I think with your stats and your ECs, you should be able to get in - definitely try again next year with a really good editor (unless you get in from one of your two interviews!) If you really review/edit your application - in combination with getting secondaries in earlier - you should have no problem... although there is always a bit of luck involved too

 

[p00psicleSTICK]

Yes, late applications hurt A LOT. Just apply really early next time and you should be fine with your stats/ECs.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm wondering if there's a fundamental weakness in my application because I applied for the 2006 entering cycle and don't seem to be receiving a lot of love from the schools, only 2 interviews. No acceptances as yet. Was an August tester, complete at some schools around Nov/Dec

Stats:
35 S MCAT
3.72 GPA Cu
3.63 GPA BCPM

Research:
- 1 summer full time at Mol Bio at City of Hope
- 1 summer full time bioinformatics at Caltech
- 6 months part time working in HIV lab at City of Hope

Clinical:
- 2.5 years working volunteer rotations (ER, OBGYN, Internal, Peds) at Los Angeles County

Teaching:
- 6 months working with visually impaired, learning disabled college students
- 4 months working as Ochem and AP Chem teacher for Princeton Review
- 1 year of Ochem tutoring
- other misc tutoring throughout college

ECs:
- 5 years Martial Arts
- 12 years Piano
- Fraternity
- College Republicans
- library volunteer
- Other misc college groups

Awards:
- Misc Honor societies and scholarships

I'd personally really like to go to a top 20 school and am prepared to re-apply for the next cycle. And would like to get some ideas for strengthening my apps for the next cycle.

I am also still unsure of why I received the results I did this cycle. I applied to pretty much top 40 schools and think I got a broad range. Does a late application hurt this much? Or do I need to work on some deeper, fundamental issue?

Thanks a bunch

There are many possible reasons for someone's lack of success, and it was probably the late app, but you can't get a good assessment without someone having taken a more critical review of your app. For instance, a bad LOR could totally have tanked you. Bad PS or secondary essays could have tanked you. Did you say how many schools in the top 40 you applied to? A small number heavilly weighted toward the top few could cost you - there is no rule that a high MCAT score entitles one to top 20, so you need to hedge your bets and apply to a range. Of the two places that interviewed you, did you interview well?
In general, an August MCATer would want to try and have his AMCAS out the door prior to the test, to be complete the moment the scores are released. Lots of schools would have already scheduled the first three months worth of interviews by the time you were complete in December, so the spots you were vying for are significantly decreased by that point. However I know quite a few folks who were August test takers with late apps and got in.
Your best bet is really to find a dean at one of the schools that rejected you after the cycle is over, and ask them if they can suggest how you can improve for the upcoming cycle -- since they will have reviewed your app and know the reason for rejection, they are in a far better position to render you useful advice. Good luck.

 

[tigress]

Late applications hurt. I'll PM you.

 

[Dov]

I hear you dude. I have simmilar stats and only three interviews: 2 waitlists and one unknown.

 

[NapeSpikes]

Your best bet is really to find a dean at one of the schools that rejected you after the cycle is over, and ask them if they can suggest how you can improve for the upcoming cycle -- since they will have reviewed your app and know the reason for rejection, they are in a far better position to render you useful advice. Good luck.

For the OP, your app looks solid, so find out from the horse's mouth what's up. Also, you still had those two interviews--don't count yourself out just yet.

 

[beetlerum]

I think the other responses are overstating the effect of the late application. At many top 20 schools, it doesn't matter that much. Several of them are non rolling, and even some of the rolling ones will say it doesn't really matter. Hopkins, for example, is rolling, but they maintain that the application timing doesn't make a huge difference unless you're really really late (meaning like the day before the deadline).

The late app was probably part of the problem, but there must be something else going on.

 

[gossmer]

Hey, I'm in the same boat. Aug MCAT, similar stats, and very little love. I do think it's the late app. And my personal statement kicked ass, if I do say so myself. Are you in Cali? Sounds like it. I think I should have counted all the UCs as one school when applying. They are so hard to get into, it's almost not worth including them in the "I've applied to XX schools so I'm sure I'll get in" arithmetic.

 

[beetlerum]

I don't know how you can reach that conclusion when you applied to so few schools, several of which are extremely hard to get into. I mean, you could end up getting into UCSF.

Hey, I'm in the same boat. Aug MCAT, similar stats, and very little love. I do think it's the late app. And my personal statement kicked ass, if I do say so myself. Are you in Cali? Sounds like it. I think I should have counted all the UCs as one school when applying. They are so hard to get into, it's almost not worth including them in the "I've applied to XX schools so I'm sure I'll get in" arithmetic.

 

[EndSong]

Thanks guys. Right now, I think there were a couple flaws but nothing major.

- I didn't have a Letter of Rec from any of my former PIs (all were way too busy and I felt that reminding them all the time was a bit much)

- No letter of rec from clinical experience, I think I have some great clinical experience and got a lot of good first hand exposure; but unfortunately the program I got in for volunteering only gives you a crappy form letter: "Dear Med School... XX did Blah-Blah Hours at our wonderful hospital."

- Personal Statement was good, but could have been better. When I shopped it around to my advisors, they either felt lukewarm to it or loved it.

Right now I'm focusing on a Plan of Action for 2007 re-app if necessary:

1) do more biomed research, either as a lab tech, research associate, volunteer, etc., try and get a good letter of rec from PI and grad student (possibly combo letter?)

2) Continue teaching for the princeton review, probably work as a Bio teach too

3) shadow a respectable physician, get good letter of rec

4) Improve mandarin, learn spanish

5) Do some international volunteering for global health exp, I'm thinking India, Xinjiang or Xi'an

How does that sound for improving the ol app?

Also planning:

1) improve martial arts
2) try and get short stories published (really not sure if I'm any good)
3) go for some buddhist religious training