How badly will submitting secondaries in 3-5 weeks hurt my chances at Top-20 schools?

[tech370]

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I submitted my AMCAS primary on 6/21 and was verified on 7/24, but I did a horrible job of staying on top of secondaries (I didn't pre-write them, and I work a full-time job) and ended up submitting fewer than half of my 32 secondaries within 2 weeks of receiving them. I sat on several top-10 and top-20 school secondaries for close to 30 days before submitting them (in fact, I still haven't submitted a Duke secondary from 7/24...)

How much will this hurt my chances of getting interviews at top-10 and top-20 schools? I'd like to think that my LizzyM score of 82.2 can compensate slightly for my delayed secondary submissions, but I'm honestly worried because these schools get many highly qualified applicants.

 

[Wahed]

Return time on secondaries doesn't matter, if that's what you're asking. Schools don't care how long you sit on secondaries. The only thing that matters is the general timeline.

 

[Wahed]

That is incorrect for several reasons

1) many schools have expected, recommended, or required turnaround times. While they will unlikely reject you based on this, some adcoms will take note of when secondary is sent and when it is returned.
2) Additionally, these return dates are mostly used for planning in the workload of these applications that need to be reviewed. Since applications are often evaluated, reviewed, and invited for interviews both on when received and priority of applicant , returning later past your expected dates can push you back in when you will be looked at. With a finite number of interview slots and assignment done on a rolling basis, being later can only decrease your chances.
3) At highly selective schools, being complete by Labor Day is the usual rule of thumb as to when you at least be assured of being evaluated and reviewed by Thanksgiving. This becomes important as by Thanksgiving schools must move from pre-interview review to post-interview admissions decisions.
4) Submitting secondaries in 3-5 weeks is just about when the first admissions decisions start being released.

That's not what you said here: Speed of secondary turnaround as a barometer of interest.

Lets clear this up. These return by dates are primarily for used by schools to plan workloads of application review. Schools have thousands of applications, must plan meetings to review, and therefore try to get a handle on it by having return dates. A school might say two weeks to return, then plan two weeks for eval, so your app will be on the agenda for the adcom meeting in a month. If your not there, you most likely get rolled over to next meeting. And if you miss that, likely your application gets put at bottom of pile under the assumption it wont be submitted. If it shows up, they will review.

My general sense of this, is if you get to not being there on the second “call” and you show up later they may notice it. But even then it is unlikely to be any impact. Your negative impact will just be from the lateness in the cycle

 

[Fall_of_Dorian_Gray]

I second @gonnif on everything.

1) Remember it's not the verified date that matters so much as when you are marked complete.

2) It's going to vary school-from-school whether ADCOMs take notice of how long you were sitting on a secondary (It's... impossible to know which schools do what as it might be a person-to-person difference).

3) Labor Day is a great "guideline" to be complete by but your chances don't suddenly drop to zero the day after Labor Day.

4) MOST IMPORTANTLY: OP chill~ I know that it may be stressful and that it probably isn't the most ideal of situations, but most things in life don't go the way we plan anyway. Worrying about something you cannot change will most likely affect your already weary writing for the worse. My suggestion are either get the remaining secondaries done ASAP OR cut your losses if you really feel you cannot continue writing (I know I"m sick of writing these secondaries and I only decided to put out 27 schools....but... I'm also a California resident hence the higher number). 32 is a bit overkill if you're not from a IS non-friendly state anyway

Best of luck and don't let the stress get to you!

 

[Fall_of_Dorian_Gray]

@gonnif

I have completed all of my secondaries but one and am STILL waiting on my LORs to be sent by my school to be complete. They said they anticipated being done by the end of August but despite many attempts to get in touch with their office this week and get an update, I haven't heard anything. I'm starting to get really frustrated because it's looking like I won't be complete before Labor Day. Is this really going to put me at a disadvantage?

Yes, but there is nothing you can do about it so don't stress. And today is end of August haha did you check?

Also, it's been said multiple times on sdn by multiple people that Labor Day which HAS NOT past yet is a "safe" bet as to when you are complete. Don't let the anxiety get the best of you, you've done everything you can do on your part to get your apps ready so all you can do now is wait. Remember not to start getting neurotic until AT LEAST Thanksgiving. After then all bets are off, but it's still relatively early

 

[Unlimited Apps]

I submitted my AMCAS primary on 6/21 and was verified on 7/24, but I did a horrible job of staying on top of secondaries (I didn't pre-write them, and I work a full-time job) and ended up submitting fewer than half of my 32 secondaries within 2 weeks of receiving them. I sat on several top-10 and top-20 school secondaries for close to 30 days before submitting them (in fact, I still haven't submitted a Duke secondary from 7/24...)

How much will this hurt my chances of getting interviews at top-10 and top-20 schools? I'd like to think that my LizzyM score of 82.2 can compensate slightly for my delayed secondary submissions, but I'm honestly worried because these schools get many highly qualified applicants.

Lol welcome to the club, I have been sitting on Duke since July as well. Been complete everywhere else for atleast 1-2 weeks now lol.

 

[tech370]

Thank you to everyone who replied! You've really assuaged my concerns!

I second @gonnif on everything.

4) MOST IMPORTANTLY: OP chill~ I know that it may be stressful and that it probably isn't the most ideal of situations, but most things in life don't go the way we plan anyway. Worrying about something you cannot change will most likely affect your already weary writing for the worse. My suggestion are either get the remaining secondaries done ASAP OR cut your losses if you really feel you cannot continue writing (I know I"m sick of writing these secondaries and I only decided to put out 27 schools....but... I'm also a California resident hence the higher number). 32 is a bit overkill if you're not from a IS non-friendly state anyway

Best of luck and don't let the stress get to you!

I'm a California resident, too. My school's pre-health adviser said that the average premed at our university applies to about 31 medical schools. I initially submitted my AMCAS to 25 schools, but then I panicked that my list wasn't long or balanced enough and added 7 more schools with quick secondaries. I've since decided to forgo 2 of my secondaries, so I now have 2 left to do.

Best of luck to you, too!

Lol welcome to the club, I have been sitting on Duke since July as well. Been complete everywhere else for atleast 1-2 weeks now lol.

It's a tough secondary. I prioritized my secondaries by easiness (probably not the best strategy in hindsight, but hey, there's no point in stressing out about it now), so it was natural that I'd save Duke's for last...

 

[PreMedMissteps]

It’s a 3 day weekend. Get off SDN and finish those secondaries....

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Isn't it optimal to submit AMCAS on June 1 and have your secondaries in by August 1?

 

[chemdoctor]

@gonnif MCAT summer prior to applying? Wtf

The score is already a year old!!!

I thought it’d be (have an idea roughly of what your GPA and MCAT would be), spend two-three months reviewing secondaries and submit your PS June 1st... and then prewrite secondaries

 

[chemdoctor]

@gonnif MCAT summer prior to applying? Wtf

The score is already a year old!!!

I thought it’d be (have an idea roughly of what your GPA and MCAT would be), spend two-three months reviewing secondaries and submit your PS June 1st... and then prewrite secondaries

And MCAT the spring before applying... but then again if you need to retake, that doesn’t give you much time so I guess it makes sense

 

[chemdoctor]

Having taken all MCAT prereqs by end of junior year, then spend summer after junior year to prep and take MCAT before semester starts. That gets it done without distraction of school work. Additionally, nobody has a good idea of what their MCAT score is until they actually haveca score. Using practice test scores as a guide is risky to say the least. You also need time to research target schools in depth, something most applicants rarely do. This research should help tailor your secondaries and overall themes to show why your background will fit the school.

Again, you want optimal, this is it.

Yeah I suppose so. Makes sense... practice exams don't mean anything if your actual score is terrible.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Practice exams mean something. I scored within two points of my last practice test; I've known about twenty people who took AAMC practice tests and later took the real deal. They usually score somewhere between 2 points below and 4 points above their last practice test. It's a solid ballpark if you are using official AAMC practice tests.